Max Verstappen ended a long drought of victories in Formula 1 by winning the Bahrain Grand Prix, held in Malaysia, while Kimi Antonelli took an important step towards the title after the retirement of George Russell.
The Dutchman Max Verstappen returned to the top of the podium by winning the Bahrain Grand Prix, his first victory of the season and the first since the last race of the last championship. The victory came on a day marked by rain, delays and the abandonment of George Russell.
Verstappen was leading the race with five laps to go, followed by Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and Russell, when the Briton had to stop his car. According to Mercedes via radio, Russell would have suffered a problem in the power unit.
The situation allowed Antonelli to finish second and extend his championship lead over his teammate from 66 to 84 points, with seven races still to go, including those in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The Red Bull driver had to come back from the beginning. After a difficult start, he lost positions to Antonelli and Russell, but later managed to overtake the Briton and engaged in an intense battle with Antonelli after a safety car restart.
“Good job, guys. Wow,” Verstappen celebrated on the radio, thanking the team for a “fantastic weekend.”
A race marked by rain
The first rain race of the 2026 season started more than 90 minutes late due to weather conditions. The start was initially postponed for 40 minutes due to heavy rain and was later suspended again when several cars had software problems during the formation lap.
The Grand Prix was held at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia after the race was moved due to the war between Iran and Israel. Formula 1 thus returned to the Malaysian track for the first time since 2017.
Hamilton completes Ferrari comeback
Lewis Hamilton completed the podium by finishing third for Ferrari, ending a streak of five races without a podium finish for the Italian team.
The result had even more merit after Ferrari initially opted for dry track tires when the asphalt began to lose water. The strategy left Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in the last positions during the first part of the race.
Leclerc finally managed to climb back to fourth position, while Isack Hadjar finished fifth for Red Bull.
Oscar Piastri was sixth for McLaren, followed by Liam Lawson, seventh for Racing Bulls. Fernando Alonso achieved the best result of the season for Aston Martin by finishing eighth.
Lando Norris finished ninth after going off the track and losing several positions, while Arvid Lindblad completed the top ten.
