Due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the Bahrain Grand Prix, which had to be cancelled earlier this year for security and safety reasons, has now been held in Malaysia at the Sepang circuit, near Kuala Lumpur, which last hosted a Formula 1 round back in 2017. The event still bore the name of the Gulf state as well as Malaysia, as it was funding most of the costs, and it proved to be Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who emerged with the victory spoils after heavy rain had delayed the start.

Franco Colapinto arrived at Sepang already knowing that he would have to serve a five-place grid penalty after causing an accident in Baku which eliminated his Alpine teammate, Pierre Gasly, and McLaren’s Lando Norris as well as his car. The Argentinian driver immediately apologised to his team and the other drivers involved, but an angry Norris called for him to receive a race ban before apologising for his own comments after seeing a replay and calming down. At the same time, the Alpine team was understandably critical of the bitter overreactions about Colapinto posted on social media. Colapinto was also to suffer a further power unit-related grid penalty, as were Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad.

Mercedes had introduced numerous upgrades to its cars in Malaysia, but it was nevertheless Verstappen’s Red Bull which topped the timing screens after Friday’s opening free practice session ahead of a reinvigorated George Russell following his win in Azerbaijan for the Brackley-based outfit. In the second practice, teams experimented with differing strategies, as evidenced by Russell and Kimi Antonelli being only seventh and eighth quickest for Mercedes, but for the record, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc posted the quickest time, 0.099s faster than Hadjar. Lewis Hamilton received a warning from the stewards for his latest ontrack impeding incident, in which he blocked the flying Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto, and his team was fined 10,000 euros for not warning its driver of the latter’s high-speed approach.

In Saturday’s final practice hour, the Drivers’ Championship leader, Antonelli, set the fastest time, with Verstappen the best of the rest, but, when the subsequent qualifying hour followed, the Dutch maestro was in imperious form, setting the quickest time in Q1, Q2 and Q3. It was his and Red Bull’s first pole position of the year, with his old nemesis, Hamilton, joining him on the front row, albeit 0.298s adrift. Hadjar was third fastest, but his grid penalty dropped the Frenchman to eighth on the grid, alongside Russell.

Kimi Antonelli extended his Drivers’ title lead at Sepang

The Grand Prix was set to start at three pm local time (8am back in the UK), but heavy rain and lightning meant that it had to be delayed. The team strategists had been worried about low grip levels and high tyre degradation, but now there was a far greater concern, namely the sheer amount of water on the circuit, which initially made it far too dangerous for racing. It was always going to be a physical as well as a mental challenge for all the drivers, but it’s amazing how a mighty dose of adrenaline helps to overcome such adversity.

The initial attempt to run two formation laps proved chaotic, not helped by some of the hybrid power units struggling to cope with the extreme conditions, but, when those famous red lights were ultimately extinguished, it was the fast-starting Mercedes cars of Antonelli and Russell which led the pack into the opening corner for the first time ahead of Verstappen.

With the track still damp in places, all the drivers on intermediate tyres had a definite advantage compared to those who’d gambled on slicks. Russell was on intermediates, but the similarly shod Verstappen soon claimed second place from him before the safety car was called into action after Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac had ground to a halt in the trackside gravel. This triggered multiple “cheap” pitstops before racing resumed four tours later, and Verstappen then quickly swept past Antonelli into the lead.

At this point in the race, Verstappen started to increase his advantage over the two Mercedes to ten seconds and a clear-cut victory looked assured. However, when Alex Albon’s Williams car retired trackside with a broken gearbox, a virtual safety car period began, and delays in removing the stricken car led to this becoming a further full safety car intervention.

This eliminated Verstappen’s comfortable lead as the pack bunched up, and the restart was then further delayed after Russell’s Mercedes had suddenly retired near the pitlane exit with a suspected power unit issue. This was followed by a four-lap sprint to the chequered flag, during which both Ferraris passed Hadjar’s Red Bull, and Hamilton joined Verstappen and Antonelli on the post-race podium. Leclerc, Hadjar and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the top six finishers.

Antonelli’s second-place finish and Russell’s retirement meant that the young Italian’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship increased to 84 points, with Mercedes still comfortably ahead on the Constructors’ front.

The Formula 1 season continues next weekend with its annual visit to another hot and humid destination, Singapore, where the ontrack action will include a Sprint race as well as the Grand Prix.



2026 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1hr47m14.808s
2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +2.307s
3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +4.919s
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +7.258s
5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +8.571s
6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +9.464s
7 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +12.753s
8 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +13.372s
9 Lando Norris (McLaren) +13.993s
10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +15.928s
11 Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) +17.404s
12 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +18.052s
13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +18.997s
14 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +22.305s
15 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +22.532s
16 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +23.315s
17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +25.431s
18 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +28.233s
19 Sergio Pérez (Cadillac) +29.310s
20 George Russell (Mercedes) Retired
21 Alex Albon (Williams) Retired
22 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) Retired



2026 Drivers’ Championship
1 Kimi Antonelli 320
2 George Russell 236
3 Lewis Hamilton 214

2026 Constructors’ Championship
1 Mercedes 556
2 Ferrari 405
3 McLaren 316