Grab Malaysia has provided details on how its operations helped in supporting the return of Formula 1 racing to Sepang International Circuit after a nine-year absence, deploying technology, shuttle buses, and thousands of driver-partners across the race weekend, involving locations in both the Long Term Car Park (LTCP) and the circuit itself, with teams working to move racegoers smoothly and safely throughout the event.
How Grab Malaysia Solves The Sepang Logistical Challenge
Moving tens of thousands of people around the venue is no easy task – right before the race weekend begins, Grab’s engineering and mapping teams updated GrabMaps with custom drop-off points, dedicated pick-up zones, and optimized routing, which gave racegoers clear guidance on where to stop and be dropped off, while also giving driver-partners clarity on the best routes and zones to operate in.
To tackle the challenge of finding a specific ride in a crowd of thousands, Grab introduced PIN & RIDE during race week. The system is a smart queue-management feature that organizes the passenger queue and matches users with available drivers. Instead of hunting for a specific car, passengers simply hand a four-digit PIN code from the app to their driver-partner.
A fleet of 50 shuttle buses ran non-stop from 7am on Friday until past midnight on Sunday, making continuous trips between the LTCP and the circuit. Over three days, those buses covered 39,000km – the equivalent of more than 140 laps around the Sepang track – and transported over 50,000 racegoers in total.
On the ground, Grab staff were responsible for keeping queues organized, briefing racegoers on how to get back, and “made sure spirits are high.” When rain hit, as it often does at Sepang, Grab staff formed an umbrella line to shield passengers as they walked to the buses. Grab also distributed over 30,000 bottles of water, courtesy of Jaya Grocer, amounting to 9,000 liters across three days to keep racegoers hydrated throughout the event.
Beyond the shuttle loop, Grab’s driver-partners handled the wider Sepang and airport area. Over 20,000 driver-partners served the broader zone across the race weekend, bridging the gap between KLIA, transit hubs, and the circuit. By the end of the weekend, those partners had completed 84,000 rides in total.
Pokdepinion: One does wonder how did the “keeping spirits high” bit even work.
