Max Verstappen Triumphs in Marathon Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia

Max Verstappen claimed his first victory of the Formula 1 season with a commanding performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix, hosted at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. For the Red Bull driver, this marks his second consecutive win at the Malaysian venue, having also triumphed in 2017 during the last running of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The race near Kuala Lumpur began after an extensive delay of over an hour and a half, initially triggered by a violent tropical storm that hit the circuit shortly before the scheduled start. Several cars ground to a halt during the initial formation run, prompting further delays before the entire grid was finally able to get going.

Once the race finally got underway, it delivered non-stop action, featuring wheel-to-wheel battles and two Safety Car interventions. Verstappen took the chequered flag ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton, who completed the podium at Sepang.

Charles Leclerc and Isack Hadjar finished fourth and fifth, with the remaining points positions after the marathon battle filled by Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris, and back-row starter Arvid Lindblad. George Russell was forced to retire late on with a mechanical failure while running in third place behind Verstappen and Antonelli.

The British driver surrendered a crucial 18 points to his teammate Antonelli in the championship battle heading into the final seven rounds of the season. Antonelli leads the standings on 320 points, holding an 84-point cushion over Russell, with Hamilton third, 106 points behind. Verstappen sits in sixth place with 188 points to his name.

In the constructors' championship, Mercedes lost some ground to Ferrari but still holds a comfortable 151-point lead over the Scuderia on 556 points. Reigning two-time champions McLaren occupy third place with 316 points, 18 ahead of Red Bull.

The Formula 1 season resumes in a week's time with the Singapore Grand Prix, where Marina Bay will also play host to the final Sprint of the year.

Key Highlights from the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix:

The start of the race was delayed by 40 minutes due to a tropical downpour hitting the track shortly before lights out. Standing water forced the race to begin with formation laps behind the Safety Car, with all drivers starting on intermediate tyres.

Formation Lap 1 – Hadjar spun off at Turn 3 after losing rear grip but managed to keep his car out of the gravel trap. The Frenchman rejoined the track and regained his starting position, as the incident occurred during the formation lap.

Chaos in the Pack – Verstappen slowed on the exit of Turn 9 with an apparent mechanical gremlin before regaining power. Hamilton suffered a similar issue shortly after, cruising at low speed and being swallowed up by the majority of the pack.

Red Flag – Multiple cars stopped on track with technical issues, leaving the Race Director with no choice but to red-flag proceedings midway through the second formation lap. All cars returned to the pit lane.

Just before the red flag was shown, Hamilton managed to get back up to racing speed. Everyone safely returned to the pits, though several drivers had only completed one of the two formation laps.

Following a further 40-minute stoppage, drivers returned to a circuit that remained damp, particularly over the kerbs. Despite the tricky conditions, several drivers—including Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Piastri, Gasly, Bortoleto, Alonso, Stroll, Hülkenberg, Bearman, Bottas, Perez, and Colapinto—opted for slick tyres.

The original starting grid was reinstated, with the race distance trimmed from 56 to 55 laps. The race officially got underway behind the Safety Car.

1/55 – On slicks, Gasly slid off at Turn 5 due to a severe lack of grip. The Frenchman rejoined, dropping four places to Bortoleto, Lawson, Alonso, and Sainz. At the end of the lap, Perez pitted to ditch his slicks for intermediates.

2/55 – Race Control announced the Safety Car would come in at the end of the lap for a standing start. Piastri, Bortoleto, Stroll, and Hülkenberg pitted for intermediates, while Gasly regained his starting spot following his earlier off.

Start – As expected, those starting on slicks lost ground off the line. Antonelli retained the lead ahead of Russell, Verstappen, Lawson, and Hadjar.

3/55 – Lawson attempted a move on Verstappen at Turn 4, but the Dutchman defended stoutly. Antonelli and Russell were instructed to work together. Drivers who started from the pit lane on intermediates caught the slick runners by the middle of the lap. Leclerc abandoned his slick gamble and pitted for intermediates at the end of the tour.

4/55 – Hadjar dived down the inside of Lawson at Turn 9, briefly snatching fourth before losing out on corner exit. Hamilton was called into the pits but elected to stay out, despite losing over 20 seconds a lap.

5/55 – Out front, Antonelli led by 1.9 seconds over Russell, who had Verstappen right on his rear wing.

6/55 – Verstappen executed a clean pass on Russell at Turn 4 to take second place. Hadjar also completed a successful overtake, slipping past Lawson for fourth into the final corner.

7/55 – Having pitted for intermediates, Leclerc caught and breezed past teammate Hamilton, who was still struggling on slicks.

9/55 – Safety Car! Bottas spun off and beached his car in the gravel at Turn 13. Every driver except Hamilton pitted for fresh rubber, with the entire field switching over to slick tyres.

10/55 – Following the flurry of stops, Antonelli led from Verstappen, Russell, Hadjar, Lawson, Ocon, Lindblad, Sainz, Bortoleto, Piastri, Stroll, Albon, Hülkenberg, Perez, Hamilton, Norris, Leclerc, Bearman, Alonso, Gasly, and Colapinto.

12/55 – Restart! Although the pack had not fully bunched up behind the Safety Car, the Race Director opted to restart the race at the end of the lap.

13/55 – Verstappen pulled off a brilliant move around the outside of Turn 1 to claim the inside line for Turn 2. The pair went wheel-to-wheel down into Turn 3 where Verstappen completed the pass, with Russell taking advantage of the scrap to also overtake Antonelli into Turn 5.

15/55 – Race Control deemed track conditions sufficiently dry, enabling full active aerodynamics and overtake modes.

16/55 – Hamilton climbed into the points, first capitalizing on a pit stop by Bortoleto before passing the latter's teammate Hülkenberg to take ninth.

18/55 – Antonelli reported over team radio that he had superior pace to Russell, with both Mercedes drivers now trailing leader Verstappen by 3.1 seconds.

19/55 – Running the soft tyres, Hamilton dispatched hard-shod Piastri into Turn 4 for eighth. By the end of the lap, the seven-time champion also overtook Lindblad, who was running the hard compound as well.

20/55 – Ocon proved no match for Hamilton either, as the Briton slipped past the Haas into the final corner to claim sixth and set his sights on Lawson.

21/55 – Antonelli executed a decisive overtake on Russell at Turn 4 to reclaim second place. The medium-shod Mercedes duo now sat five seconds adrift of Verstappen on softs.

24/55 – A mistake from Antonelli at the final corner cost him over two seconds, extending his deficit to Verstappen to 7.3s.

28/55 – At the halfway mark, Verstappen held an 8.7-second lead over Antonelli, who had built a 4.0-second gap over Russell despite his earlier error. Hadjar ran 7.7 seconds back in fourth, with Ferrari's Hamilton closing in behind.

29/55 – Piastri challenged Lawson for sixth into the final corner but ran deep, allowing the Kiwi back through. However, Piastri utilized superior straight-line speed on the main straight to make the move stick, albeit sitting over 14 seconds behind Hamilton.

31/55 – Hadjar and Hamilton pitted for fresh slicks. Hadjar opted for another set of softs, while Hamilton switched over to the medium compound.

32/55 – Russell made his pit stop from third, switching from mediums onto the soft tyres.

33/55 – Race leader Verstappen and Antonelli pitted for fresh rubber. Both rejoined on soft slicks, separated by 10.4 seconds with 22 laps remaining.

34/55 – Despite setting the fastest lap of the race, Hamilton voiced frustration over the feeling of the medium compound, but was told by the pit wall to nurse them to the finish as he caught Hadjar in the fight for fourth.

36/55 – Alonso overtook Ocon to claim 11th, trailing Lindblad for the final points position.

38/55 – Hülkenberg pulled off a superb double overtake at Turn 4, climbing to 12th at the expense of Stroll and Ocon.

39/55 – Hamilton closed right onto Hadjar's tail after the Red Bull driver was instructed to manage his front-left tyre.

40/55 – Alonso entered the points positions by overtaking Lindblad into the long Turn 1. The Racing Bulls driver countered into Turn 2, but Alonso executed a clever switchback on corner exit to make the move stick.

42/55 – Hamilton attacked Hadjar around the outside of Turn 1 and tried a switchback into Turn 2, but Hadjar defended resolutely to keep the position.

43/55 – Virtual Safety Car! Albon pulled off track with a gearbox failure, triggering a Virtual Safety Car. Verstappen pitted for fresh tyres, ceding the lead to Antonelli, who stayed out. Hamilton followed Verstappen into the pits, losing position to Piastri but returning to the soft compound he favored earlier.

44/55 – Antonelli, Russell, and Hadjar all pitted for fresh tyres ahead of the sprint to the flag, handing the lead back to Verstappen. Hadjar held onto fourth ahead of Hamilton, with Piastri on hards separating the pair.

45/55 – Safety Car! Due to the recovery position of Albon's car requiring heavy machinery, the full Safety Car was deployed. Piastri took advantage of the neutralization to pit for fresh slicks.

46/55 – Following the pit stops, Verstappen led Antonelli, Russell, Hadjar, Hamilton, Leclerc, Piastri, Norris, Lawson, Alonso, Hülkenberg, Lindblad, Stroll, Bearman, Colapinto, Ocon, Gasly, Sainz, Bortoleto, and Perez, with the latter trio a lap down.

47/55 – Lapped cars were permitted to unlap themselves. Perez was adrift of the pack and required nearly a full lap to catch up and clear the leaders.

50/55 – Late Drama! Russell stopped with a mechanical failure at the end of the start-finish straight, forcing him to retire. Meanwhile, Norris ran off the track and dropped places to Lawson, Alonso, Hülkenberg, and Lindblad after being caught off guard by cars bunching up behind Russell's stranded Mercedes.

51/55 – Restart! With Perez unlapping himself and Russell's car being cleared, the Safety Car period was extended, finally peeling in to set up a four-lap sprint to the finish.

52/55 – Verstappen delivered a flawless restart, leaving Antonelli with no opportunity to mount a challenge. Further down the order, Lawson attacked Piastri, but the McLaren driver retained sixth following a hard-fought duel.

53/55 – Hamilton slipped past Hadjar at the end of the main straight to take third place behind Verstappen and Antonelli, trailing the leaders by nearly two seconds.

54/55 – Hadjar lost another position, this time to the second Ferrari of Leclerc, who moved up to fourth place.

Chequered Flag – Max Verstappen secured his first victory of the 2026 season ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton, who completed the podium in Malaysia.