KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - More than 30 relatives of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have had to move hotels to make way for Formula One teams and fans arriving for the Malaysian Grand Prix, staff said on Monday.

Thirty-two family members, including Chinese nationals, have decamped from two hotels near Kuala Lumpur's international airport, which is also close to the Sepang racetrack, hotel and airline officials told AFP.

"The rooms have been pre-booked before this event happened," one hotel official said on condition of anonymity. A Malaysian Airlines spokesman also confirmed the relatives were moved.

The relatives have been staging a fraught vigil after the Malaysian Airlines flight with 239 people on board mysteriously vanished shortly after take-off on March 8, prompting a frantic international search effort.

Ministers and government officials working on the case have also been forced to leave the two conveniently located hotels, and daily media briefings have been shifted elsewhere.

The Malaysian Grand Prix is a high point of the country's sporting calendar and attracts thousands of workers and visitors.