The Bahrain Grand Prix, hosted in Malaysia at Sepang, has concluded with plenty of drama. Max Verstappen has picked up his first win of 2026 for Red Bull Racing as George Russell suffers his third mechanical DNF of the year.
Credit: F1
Max Verstappen claims win number 72 at Red Bull Racing
The start of the race was delayed by over an hour due to the track being far too wet for it to be safe to race on. The cars did eventually go out for their formation lap, however chaos struck before the race could even begin. Several drivers struggled to maintain speed on the formation lap, which the FIA have revealed was due to a fault in the software that they provide. The starting procedure was therefore suspended and when they returned to the pitlane all of the cars were a disorganised mess, multiple drivers being far away from their starting positions. This led to the mechanics having to wheel the cars up and down the pitlane to get them into the right staring order once more.
During this time off track, the conditions seemed to be improving enough for some teams to start considering slick tires so it was not surprising to see the mix of compounds as the drivers went out for the second attempt at starting the Grand Prix. Max Verstappen on pole went for the intermediates, much like most of the grid, but Hamilton in second was on the softs as was his teammate Leclerc. Mclaren had also opted for the slicks, however they went for the mediums.
A standing start took place 2 after two laps behind the Safety Car and Piastri pitted to get rid of his mediums, already deciding slicks were a mistake. Lando Norris was left out on mediums despite saying he wanted to start on the intermediates before they had even left the pitlane.
The start itself was a disaster for polesitter Verstappen, who got away slowly and was jumped by both Antonelli and Russell instantly. Luckily for Verstappen, those on the slicks did not have good starts either and went tumbling down the order. Hamilton, who started in second, fell down to 10th in the first few corners. Hadjar climbed to fifth with Sainz, Albon, Ocon and Lindblad trailing.
Leclerc made an early switch for intermediates on lap 4, while Norris and Hamilton stayed out despite being over a pitstop behind the race leaders already. This was not a bad call for Ferrari as Piastri was in the points after pitting early, which is some damage limitation for the papaya team.
Hamilton had a different approach though and insisted that Ferrari leave him out, saying that they need to take the gamble and hope that things get better as the damage has already been done.
By lap 6 Max had passed Russell for second and was chasing Antonelli down for the lead of the Grand Prix. A lap later Hadjar claimed fourth from Lawson and Leclerc passed Hamilton on his fresh inters for fourteenth.
On lap 9 Verstappen was so close to passing the Italian, however his attack was thwarted by Bottas heading into the gravel and getting beached. A Safety Car was thrown before the leaders got to the final corner so naturally they all came tumbling in for new tires. Antonelli and Russell went out on the mediums, Verstappen and Hadjar were on the softs. Everyone made the switch from inters to slicks, and some slick runners put on fresh tires too. Interestingly, Hamilton stayed out.
The restart was a disaster for Antonelli as he was passed by both Verstappen and Russell by turn 3, meaning the Dutchman now leads on lap 13. Antonelli slowly recovered and overtook his teammate on lap 21, now trailing Max by around 4 seconds. In the meantime Hamilton had recovered to sixth. On lap 24, he made that fifth as he moved past Lawson.
For the next laps of racing, Verstappen built a gap to Antonelli as he himself built a gap to Russell behind. By lap 32 Hadjar was told to pit to cover Hamilton, who was steadily closing the gap for fourth meanwhile Ocon had just pitted and was fighting Lindblad.
On lap 41 a Virtual Safety Car was deployed for Alex Albon as he had pulled off the track with a gearbox problem. Almost everyone pitted under the VSC, which turned into a full Safety Car a couple of laps later as the Marshall’s struggled to move Albon’s Williams.
Drama struck for Russell once again when his Mercedes came to a halt heading into turn 1 behind the Safety Car. He had been running in third in the Grand Prix and has been working to climb back into the championship fight with his team mate over the past few races, however this DNF is a huge hit for his chances at a comeback.
Credit: F1
George Russell climbing out of his broken Mercedes. It is believed to have been another Power Unit failure
The cars slowed down as they saw the Mercedes stopped on track but one driver who did not see due to being further down the pack was Norris. He was caught out by the slow pace and nearly slammed into the back of Piastri, however he managed to turn left onto the curb and then onwards into the gravel. He rejoined in 11th.
When the race resumed, Verstappen comfortably held P1 from Antonelli. On the next lap, Hamilton passed Hadjar to claim third. He had an incredibly impressive recovery drive considering Ferrari’s strategy faux pas. Leclerc also passed Hadjar for a Ferrari 3-4 finish.
Piastri took sixth with Lawson and Alonso behind him. Norris recovered to 9th after his Safety Car mistake with rookie Arvid Lindblad clinching the final point in tenth.
Russell’s DNF is especially hard for him to take as last week out he trimmed Antonelli’s lead from 82 points to 66, but following this result the gap has once again risen to 84 points. There are 7 rounds remaining in the Formula One 2026 season and the Brit is running out of races and opportunities to cut his team mates huge lead down.
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