Max Verstappen Triumphs in Marathon Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia

Max Verstappen clinched his first victory of the Formula 1 season with a commanding display at the Bahrain Grand Prix, staged at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. For the Red Bull driver, it marked a second consecutive win at the Malaysian venue, having previously triumphed here in 2017 during the last official Malaysian Grand Prix.

The race near Kuala Lumpur got underway after a massive delay of over an hour and a half, triggered initially by a violent tropical storm that lashed the track shortly before the scheduled start. Several cars ground to a halt on the circuit during the initial start attempt, causing further disruption, though all drivers ultimately took part in the race.

Once the action finally commenced, it did not disappoint, delivering plenty of wheel-to-wheel battles and two Safety Car interventions. In the end, Verstappen crossed the line ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton, who joined him on the Sepang podium.

Charles Leclerc and Isack Hadjar came home fourth and fifth, while the remaining points from the marathon encounter went to Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris, and back-row starter Arvid Lindblad. George Russell suffered a heartbreaking late retirement due to a mechanical failure while running in third place behind Verstappen and Antonelli.

Russell's DNF proved costly, losing him 18 points to teammate Antonelli in the championship battle with just seven rounds remaining. Antonelli leads the standings on 320 points—84 clear of Russell—with Hamilton third, 106 points adrift, while Verstappen sits sixth on 188 points.

In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes saw their lead over Ferrari trimmed slightly but still maintain a 151-point cushion atop the standings on 556 points. Two-time reigning champions McLaren hold third on 316 points, 18 ahead of Red Bull.

The Formula 1 season continues in a week's time with the Singapore Grand Prix, where Marina Bay will also host the final Sprint weekend of the campaign.

Key Highlights from the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix:

The start was pushed back by 40 minutes due to a tropical downpour hitting the circuit moments before the scheduled formation lap. With standing water across the asphalt, the race began behind the Safety Car for a series of formation laps, with the entire field opting for intermediate tyres.

First formation lap – Hadjar lost the rear and slid off at Turn 3, narrowly avoiding the gravel trap. The Frenchman rejoined the track and reclaimed his position, as the incident occurred during the formation lap.

Chaos in the pack – Verstappen slowed dramatically on the exit of Turn 9 with an apparent technical glitch before managing to accelerate again. Hamilton was struck by the same issue shortly after, crawling around the circuit and dropping through the field.

Red flag – With several cars coming to a standstill with various technical issues, the race director had no option but to halt proceedings with a red flag midway through the second formation lap. The entire field returned to the pit lane.

Hamilton managed to pick up speed just before the stoppage. All cars returned safely to the pits, though several drivers completed only one of the two formation laps.

Following another delay of more than 40 minutes, the drivers returned to a drying circuit, though moisture lingered around the kerbs. Despite the tricky conditions, several drivers—including Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Piastri, Gasly, Bortoleto, Alonso, Stroll, Hülkenberg, Bearman, Bottas, Perez, and Colapinto—bravely opted for slick tyres.

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

1/55 – Struggling for grip on slicks, Gasly ran off at Turn 5. The Frenchman rejoined after losing four places to Bortoleto, Lawson, Alonso, and Sainz. At the end of the tour, Perez pitted to ditch his slicks for intermediates.

2/55 – The race director confirmed the Safety Car would come in at the end of the lap for a standing start. Piastri, Bortoleto, Stroll, and Hülkenberg all ducked into the pits for intermediate tyres, while Gasly took back his original starting spot following his earlier off.

The Start – Predictably, drivers on slicks struggled for traction off the line and plummeted down the order. Antonelli led into the opening complex ahead of Russell, Verstappen, Lawson, and Hadjar.

3/55 – Lawson had a look at Verstappen into Turn 4, but the Dutchman held firm. Mercedes instructed Antonelli and Russell to work together out front. Meanwhile, the drivers who pitted for intermediates were catching the slick runners hand over fist by mid-lap. Leclerc surrendered on his slicks and pitted for intermediates at the end of the tour.

4/55 – Hadjar lunged down the inside of Lawson at Turn 9, momentarily grabbing fourth before losing the position on exit. Hamilton was called into the pits but stayed out, despite losing upwards of 20 seconds a lap on his slicks.

5/55 – Out front, Antonelli built a 1.9-second gap over Russell, who had Verstappen right in his mirrors.

6/55 – Verstappen pulled off a clean overtake on Russell at Turn 4 to snatch second place. Hadjar also made a decisive move, diving past Lawson for fourth into the final corner.

7/55 – Having pitted for intermediates, Leclerc rapidly caught and passed teammate Hamilton, who continued to battle on slicks.

9/55 – Safety Car! Bottas spun off into the gravel trap at Turn 13. Every driver except Hamilton took the opportunity to pit for fresh tyres, with the entire field returning to the circuit on slicks.

10/55 – Once the pit stops played out, 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 field had not completely bunched up behind the Safety Car, the race director brought the pack back to green flag conditions at the end of the lap.

13/55 – Verstappen pulled off a stunning 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 sealed the lead. Russell capitalised on the battle to slip past Antonelli at Turn 5.

15/55 – With track conditions deemed dry enough, the race director enabled full active aerodynamics and the overtake mode.

16/55 – Hamilton moved into the points, capitalising on Bortoleto's pit stop before sweeping past Hülkenberg to claim ninth position.

18/55 – Antonelli radioed in that he had superior pace to teammate Russell, with both Mercedes drivers now 3.1 seconds adrift of leader Verstappen.

19/55 – Hamilton, running soft tyres, surged past the hard-shod Piastri into Turn 4 to move up to eighth. By the end of the lap, the seven-time champion also dispatched Lindblad, who was also on hard slicks.

20/55 – Ocon offered little resistance against Hamilton, who dived past the Haas into the final corner to take sixth, setting off in pursuit of Lawson.

21/55 – Antonelli made an assertive move on Russell into Turn 4 to reclaim second place. The medium-shod Mercedes duo were now five seconds adrift of Verstappen on the softs.

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

28/55 – At the halfway mark, Verstappen held an 8.7-second lead over Antonelli, who sat 4.0 seconds clear of Russell despite his earlier off. Hadjar ran 7.7 seconds behind the Briton, with a closing Hamilton right on his tail.

29/55 – Piastri attacked Lawson for sixth into the final corner but ran wide, allowing the Kiwi to cut back underneath. However, Piastri's straight-line speed on the start-finish straight proved decisive as he made the move stick, though he sat over 14 seconds behind Hamilton.

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

32/55 – Russell pitted from third, switching from mediums onto the soft tyres for his final stint.

33/55 – Race leader Verstappen and Antonelli pitted in tandem. Both re-emerged on soft slicks, separated by 10.4 seconds with 22 laps left to run.

34/55 – Despite setting the fastest lap of the race, Hamilton complained about the feel of the medium slicks, though Ferrari informed him he had to make them last to the finish. The Briton quickly caught Hadjar to resume their scrap for fourth.

36/55 – Alonso passed Ocon to take 11th, closing right up on Lindblad for the final points-paying position.

38/55 – Hülkenberg pulled off a brilliant double overtake into Turn 4, passing both Stroll and Ocon to claim 12th.

39/55 – Hamilton was glued to Hadjar's gearbox after the Red Bull driver was warned over the radio to manage his front-left tyre.

40/55 – Alonso moved into the points with a sweeping overtake on Lindblad around Turn 1. The Racing Bulls driver fought back into Turn 2, but Alonso executed a clever switchback on the exit to make the pass stick.

42/55 – Hamilton launched an attack on Hadjar around the outside of Turn 1 and attempted a switchback into Turn 2, but the Frenchman firmly shut the door on both attempts.

43/55 – Virtual Safety Car! Albon pulled off with a gearbox failure, prompting a Virtual Safety Car. Verstappen pitted for fresh tyres, temporarily conceding the lead to Antonelli, who stayed out. Hamilton followed Verstappen in, losing a spot to Piastri but returning to the soft compound he preferred earlier in the race.

44/55 – Antonelli, Russell, and Hadjar also made their pit stops for fresh rubber ahead of the final sprint, handing the lead back to Verstappen. Hadjar held onto fourth ahead of Hamilton, with hard-shod Piastri separating them.

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

46/55 – With pit stops complete, Verstappen led from Antonelli, Russell, Hadjar, Hamilton, Leclerc, Piastri, Norris, Lawson, Alonso, Hülkenberg, Lindblad, Stroll, Bearman, Colapinto, Ocon, Gasly, Sainz, Bortoleto, and Perez. Sainz, Bortoleto, and Perez were all a lap down.

47/55 – Lapped cars were permitted to unlap themselves. Having fallen significantly adrift, Perez required almost an entire lap to catch and pass the leaders.

50/55 – Late Drama! Russell ground to a halt with a mechanical failure at the end of the main straight, ending his race. Simultaneously, Norris ran off the circuit, rejoining behind Lawson, Alonso, Hülkenberg, and Lindblad. The reigning world champion was caught off guard by the sudden braking of cars ahead reacting to Russell's stricken Mercedes.

51/55 – Restart! With Perez needing to unlap himself and Russell's car being cleared, the Safety Car period was prolonged, but the race finally restarted with four laps remaining.

52/55 – Verstappen nailed the restart, leaving Antonelli with no chance to mount a challenge. Further down the order, Lawson attacked Piastri, but the McLaren driver held on to sixth after a thrilling multi-lap duel.

53/55 – Hamilton swept past Hadjar at the end of the start-finish straight to take third behind Verstappen and Antonelli, with the top two holding a two-second cushion over the seven-time champion.

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

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.