The Sepang F1 Circuit was designed by the German firm, Tilke Engineering & Architecture, the same people who designed Estoril in Portugal and Nurburgring in Austria. It is the world's first purpose-built Formula One circuit and the only circuit in the world that is allowed to incorporate the letters "F1" in its name.

"The initial design of the track was inspired by the Pacman video games." said managing consultant, Herman Tilke, a former touring car racer. The idea was to draw the spectators closer to the race action by watching from inside of the track instead of outside, which you see of all race tracks today.

Former world champion F1 driver, Michael Schumacher was also consulted on the design of the track in his capacity as a member of the Formula One Drivers Safety Commission and he was impressed by the final design.

Tilke further said, "It is a very modern circuit, very different from the existing circuits. Every bit of designing the facility was very challenging in the sense we had to consider carefully where to place the fast straights and posotion the slow and fast corners".

The mammoth grandstand can accommodate 30,000 spectators while the natural hillslopes that look down on the circuit can accommodate another 100,000 fans with good vantage points. There are 18,000 parking bays available for cars.

Facilities provided at the pit building are state-of-the-art. The ground level has 30 pit areas, 15 team rooms and several photography areas. The mezzanine floor houses the control room, time-keeping room, winners' podium, 12 offices, 2 very large conference rooms, the Royal Lounge, a posh hospitality area and a media centre that can house 600 journalists and photographers.

A "Welcome Centre" was also designed as a pedestrian mall bridging the four-storey double -frontage grandstands, capable of accommodating restaurants, bars, exhibition areas and retail outlets. The circuit also boasts of 50 garages measuring 4x8m each and a comprehensive medical centre which features an X-ray room, facility for burnt patients, doping control centre, observation room, waiting rooms and laboratories.