Red Bull’s Max Verstappen survived a chaotic 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia to clinch his first victory of the season.
A torrential rain shower and chaotic start procedure caused the race start to be delayed 100 minutes but Verstappen lost the lead to Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell off the line on lap three, following two formation laps under the safety car.
Verstappen however recovered his lead on a safety car restart on lap 13 and proceeded to cruise to his first victory of the season from Antonelli, which marked Red Bull’s first win in F1 under their own power unit.
Lewis Hamilton recovered from a strategic blunder at the start to salvage third on lap 53 from Isack Hadjar who finished fifth after he was passed by Charles Leclerc on the penultimate lap, with Russell having been set to finish third until his power unit failed on lap 50 under a second safety car.
Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten.
In the drivers’ standings, Antonelli extended his title lead over Russell to 84 points with seven rounds left of the season.
The start procedure was delayed 40 minutes due to a prolonged torrential rain shower and once the first formation lap commenced, Lawson stalled his Racing Bulls car on the grid and lost team radio communication whilst Verstappen complained that he “can’t accelerate” in the conditions.
Hadjar meanwhile momentarily aquaplaned at Turn Three but but was able to regain control and avoid the gravel trap, albeit down to 11th but he was able to recover to his original eighth position.
Ferrari, Audi, Haas and Cadillac drivers meanwhile all encountered software and throttle issues which caused Hamilton, Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas to stop in the third sector, and prompted race director – Rui Marques to suspend the start procedure and reset the grid to original order.
The FIA subsequently released a statement explaining that various factors were behind the start procedure issues.
“On the formation lap ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, an unprecedented combination of low engine speed, low-grip conditions, wet-weather energy management settings and the Sepang Circuit’s sector configuration led to an unintended loss of power for a number of cars.
“As a result, the FIA Technical Department removed the energy limit constraint in the affected sectors through an updated software release distributed to all competitors during the race delay caused by heavy rain enabling teams to make the necessary changes to the power unit before the start of the race.
“This issue had not been detected by the FIA or the teams during testing or during the laps to the grid. The FIA, together with the teams and power unit manufacturers, will undertake a full review of the issue.”
The start procedure recommenced 47 minutes later and once the race properly got underway with a standing start after two laps under the safety car, Verstappen on the intermediate tyres got a slow getaway which allowed Antonelli and Russell to blast into the lead on their intermediate tyres.
Verstappen consequently saw off Lawson and Hadjar to sit third ahead of the pair plus Carlos Sainz, Ocon, Alex Albon and Lindblad who too started on the intermediates.
Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto, Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez all missed the standing start as they pitted to switch from slick to the intermediate tyres, which saw them quickly pass those who opted to take the start on the soft tyres such was the damp track conditions.
Up front, Verstappen quietly regrouped into a settled rhythm after his scruffy start and caught Russell by lap six with an inside move at Turn Four, whilst Hadjar cleared Lawson for fourth on the back straight.
Verstappen soon afterwards caught up to Antonelli who ran wide through the final corner on lap eight but the Italian clung on just before the safety car was deployed on the next lap, after Bottas spun out at Turn 13.
Everyone who was on the intermediate tyre for the standing start or pitted on lap 3 for that tyre consequently made their stops on lap 10, with those on slicks having also opted to pit under the safety car except for Hamilton.
Racing resumed at the start of lap 13 and Verstappen quickly cleared Antonelli into the first corner only for the Italian to fight back through Turn Two, before Verstappen found more traction around the outside of Turn Three to snatch the lead, with Russell following through two corners later.
Sainz meanwhile got spun around by Bortoleto at Turn Two to ruin his hopes of claiming points, whilst the Brazilian received a ten-second time penalty.
Hamilton meanwhile stayed out on the soft tyres that he started on and fell as low as 17th before he recovered to 12th on the safety car restart and by lap 23, he found himself fifth without having made a stop which he eventually did on lap 32 alongside Hadjar who he had caught up to at that point.
The seven-time champion’s switch to medium tyres initially wasn’t to his liking but he managed to find pace yet couldn’t pass Hadjar who mounted a resilient defence.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed on lap 43 after Albon suffered a gearbox failure which prompted Verstappen to pit for fresh soft tyres on lap 44, and gave the lead to Antonelli who pitted a lap later as did Russell and Hadjar to restore the top four to the order prior to the deployment.
Piastri however had stayed out on the hard tyres and found himself fifth when the safety car was deployed on lap 45 and led him to pit for the soft tyres, which left him seventh on the restart as Leclerc jumped him and Norris for sixth after the reigning champion too pitted under the safety car.
Russell’s race however came to a shock end on lap 50 after his power unit failed across the start-finish straight which forced him to pull over on the inside of the first corner.
Norris meanwhile ran wide at the same corner after Hadjar, Hamilton, Leclerc and Piastri suddenly slowed up in the wake of Russell’s sudden decision to pull over, just as the Brit was warming up his tyres and forced him to take evasive action to avoid a collision with Piastri and slipped to 11th.
Racing resumed on lap 52 and a lap later, Hamilton swept round the outside of Hadjar into Turn One to take third much to the euphoria of the crowd, with Leclerc following through on the next lap to take fourth.
Up front, Verstappen clung on to achieve his second win around Sepang International Circuit after he won F1’s last visit in 2017 under the Malaysian GP branding.
F1 now concludes the first of three triple-headers with a trip to Marina Bay for the 2026 Singapore GP from 9-11 October, which includes the first sprint weekend to be held around the streets of Singapore.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 55 | 1h 47m 14.808 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 55 | + 2.307 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 55 | + 4.919 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 55 | + 7.258 |
| 5 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | 55 | + 8.571 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 55 | + 9.454 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 55 | + 12.753 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 55 | + 13.372 |
| 9 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 55 | + 13.993 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | 55 | + 15.928 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | 55 | + 17.404 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 55 | + 18.052 |
| 13 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 55 | + 18.997 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 55 | + 22.305 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 55 | + 22.532 |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 55 | + 23.315 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 55 | + 25.431 |
| 18 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 55 | + 28.233 |
| 19 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | 56 | + 29.310 |
| RET | George Russell | Mercedes | 49 | Power |
| RET | Alex Albon | Williams | 41 | Gearbox |
| RET | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | 7 | Spin |
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