Previewing the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia: Back-to-Back for Russell?
2026 Bahrain GP Facts & Figures
The 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix will finally occur in 2026, but it will be a bit different. Still, it will be the 16th round of the F1 calendar and comes up after a race with a dramatic finish in Azerbaijan.
It will be the 22nd edition of the Bahrain F1 round, and it will certainly be unique. Since Bahrain lost its April date due to concerns over the conflict in Iran, the race will go ahead in October, but will be hosted in Malaysia, backed by the organisers of the Bahrain GP.
This will be the 30th time that a Formula 1 race will be held in a country that is different from the one that appears in the official title of the race. The most common example was the 26 editions that Imola (Italy) held of the San Marino Grand Prix.
Also, the 1982 Swiss Grand Prix makes this list, as it was held in France. Moreover, the Nurburgring hosted two editions of the Luxembourg Grand Prix, in 1997 and 1998.
Now, Sepang and its stunning circuit will host an F1 race for the 20th time, having hosted the Malaysian GP 19 times between 1999 and 2017.
The race's official title is the Formula 1 Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain in Malaysia.
The first Bahrain Grand Prix in Formula 1 history came in 2004, with Michael Schumacher winning the race for Ferrari. The Bahrain round has opened a Formula 1 season six times, after hosting the first race in 2006, 2010, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Fernando Alonso followed Schumacher’s win in 2004 with two straight triumphs in 2005 and 2006 for Renault. Then, Ferrari returned to victory in Bahrain, with Felipe Massa taking consecutive wins in 2007 and 2008.
Jenson Button won for Brawn GP in 2009, while Alonso won in his Ferrari debut in 2010, in the Endurance layout of the circuit. The 2011 race was canceled due to social issues before Vettel and Red Bull took wins in 2012 and 2013.
Hamilton won in Bahrain in 2014 after a stunning fight with his then-Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg. Hamilton won again in 2015, while Rosberg succeeded in 2016.
Vettel won for Ferrari in 2017 and 2018 before Hamilton and Mercedes struck back with three consecutive wins from 2019 to 2021. Charles Leclerc won for Ferrari from Pole in 2022, and his teammate Carlos Sainz completed a 1-2 for the Maranello-based team, ahead of Mercedes' Hamilton.
Last year, Oscar Piastri won for McLaren, with George Russell second for Mercedes, ahead of the other McLaren driver, Lando Norris.
In the 2020 race in Bahrain, Haas’ former driver, Romain Grosjean, had a miraculous escape after a crash on the first lap of the race that luckily ended with the Frenchman suffering only burns on his hands.
Who Holds the Record for Most Bahrain GP Wins?
Max Verstappen Malaysian GP F1/2017
Among drivers, Hamilton leads the table in the Bahrain Grand Prix with five victories, while Ferrari leads the teams with seven wins, followed by Mercedes with six and Red Bull with four.
At Malaysia, four-time champion Sebastian Vettel leads the drivers' standings with four wins. He won three times with Red Bull (2010, 2011, 2013) and won the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix to take his first win with Ferrari.
Max Verstappen won the most recent F1 race in Malaysia, winning for Red Bull in 2017.
Also with seven wins, Ferrari is the most successful team in Sepang, followed by Red Bull's five wins at the venue.
Circuit Layout
The Sepang International Circuit is a permanent race track with a 5.543 km lap distance. The venue has 15 corners, with nine being medium-speed turns.
The track was designed by Hermann Tilke and entered F1 in 1999, hosting the Malaysian Grand Prix uninterruptedly until 2017. The circuit features two consecutive long straights, united by a sharp left-hand corner, which is the final turn of the lap.
The lap records at the venue were both posted in its most recent event in 2017. Lewis Hamilton set a pole lap record with a 1:30.076 lap in the Mercedes W08, while Sebastian Vettel established the Fastest Lap of the race with a 1:34.080 in the Ferrari SF70H.
To comply with the 2026 regulations, the track will have four Straight Mode zones and one Overtake zone.
What Tyres and Weather Will Shape the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia?
Pirelli's dry tyres for the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia will be the C2 as P Zero White hard, C3 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C4 as P Zero Red soft.
Friday, Oct. 2nd - FP1 & FP2
Conditions: Periods of rain
Max. temperature: 32°C
Chance of rain: 71%
Saturday, Oct. 3rd - FP3 & Qualifying
Conditions: Cloudy with a thunderstorm in parts of the area
Max. temperature: 31°C
Chance of rain: 55%
Sunday, Oct. 4th - Race
Conditions: Cloudy with a couple of showers
Max. temperature: 33°C
Chance of rain: 77%
Who Are the Favourites for the Bahrain GP Podium?
Formel 1 - Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, Großer Preis der Niederlande 2026. Kimi Antonelli, George Russell
Formula One - Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, 2026 Dutch GP. Kimi Antonelli, George Russell
Kimi Antonelli arrives in Malaysia after finishing fifth in a tricky Azerbaijan GP, where he crashed out of Qualifying and saw his Mercedes teammate, George Russell, win the race.
Russell's victory cut Antonelli's lead in the World Drivers' Championship to 66 points, with 208 points still available (eight Grands Prix and Singapore's Sprint).
Can Russell fight his teammate until the final rounds of the season? Perhaps he found something in Baku, where he led convincingly from Pole Position before having to defend his lead and doing so perfectly.
Still, Antonelli remains the favourite to win the title and also to win this weekend in Malaysia. Russell is the second-favourite to win the Bahrain GP in Malaysia, followed by reigning F1 champion Lando Norris.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull, with their run of six podiums in the last eight races, have the fourth-best odds to win the event in Malaysia.
The unpredictable weather could still produce some surprises in Malaysia, which was common in past races at the venue.
What's Your Podium Prediction for the Upcoming F1 Grand Prix?
United States Grand PrixAustin · round 18 of 23The Predictor F1-Fansite data model
Championship form and recent form. The starting grid joins in after qualifying, then the chances update.
Kimi AntonelliMercedes · #1237%to win
Max VerstappenRed Bull · #314%to win
George RussellMercedes · #639.5%to winPredict the podium
You need a free F1-Fansite account to make your podium prediction and climb the season leaderboard.
Log in or sign upAll 22 drivers: win, podium and points chances
| # | Driver | Win | Podium | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimi AntonelliMercedes | 37% | 80% | 100% | P1 in the championship · 4 podiums in the last 5 |
| 2 | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 14% | 46% | 98% | P4 in the championship · 5 podiums in the last 5 |
| 3 | George RussellMercedes | 9.5% | 32% | 95% | P2 in the championship · 2 podiums in the last 5 |
| 4 | Charles LeclercFerrari | 8.2% | 28% | 93% | P5 in the championship · 1 podium in the last 5, 1 DNF |
| 5 | Lewis HamiltonFerrari | 7.7% | 29% | 93% | P3 in the championship · 1 podium in the last 5, 1 DNF |
| 6 | Lando NorrisMcLaren | 6.8% | 23% | 88% | P6 in the championship · 1 podium in the last 5, 1 DNF |
| 7 | Oscar PiastriMcLaren | 3.6% | 14% | 74% | P7 in the championship · no podium in the last 5 |
| 8 | Isack HadjarRed Bull | 3.2% | 11% | 66% | P8 in the championship · 1 podium in the last 5 |
| 9 | Liam LawsonRacing Bulls | 1.6% | 6.7% | 47% | P9 in the championship · no podium in the last 5 |
| 10 | Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls | 1.2% | 4.8% | 36% | P11 in the championship · no podium in the last 5 |
| 11 | Nico HülkenbergAudi | 0.9% | 3.4% | 26% | P14 in the championship · no podium in the last 5 |
| 12 | Pierre GaslyAlpine | 0.8% | 2.8% | 25% | P10 in the championship · no podium in the last 5, 1 DNF |
| 13 | Esteban OconHaas | 0.8% | 2.5% | 21% | P18 in the championship · no podium in the last 5 |
| 14 | Franco ColapintoAlpine | 0.8% | 2.9% | 22% | P12 in the championship · no podium in the last 5, 2 DNFs |
| 15 | Oliver BearmanHaas | 0.7% | 2.8% | 22% | P13 in the championship · no podium in the last 5 |
| 16 | Carlos SainzWilliams | 0.5% | 2.1% | 16% | P17 in the championship · no podium in the last 5, 1 DNF |
| 17 | Gabriel BortoletoAudi | 0.5% | 2.0% | 16% | P15 in the championship · no podium in the last 5, 1 DNF |
| 18 | Valtteri BottasCadillac | 0.4% | 1.4% | 12% | P22 in the championship · no podium in the last 5, 1 DNF |
| 19 | Fernando AlonsoAston Martin | 0.4% | 1.7% | 14% | P16 in the championship · no podium in the last 5, 2 DNFs |
| 20 | Lance StrollAston Martin | 0.4% | 1.4% | 11% | P23 in the championship · no podium in the last 5, 4 DNFs |
| 21 | Alex AlbonWilliams | 0.4% | 1.4% | 12% | P19 in the championship · no podium in the last 5, 3 DNFs |
| 22 | Sergio PérezCadillac | 0.4% | 1.3% | 13% | P21 in the championship · no podium in the last 5, 1 DNF |
Podium = chance of a top-three finish, Points = chance of a top-ten. Rounded; the win column adds up to 100%.
Season standings · 2026
How the Predictor works
No bookmakers, no odds: every number comes from the F1-Fansite results database. Each driver gets a strength score from the factors below; the race is then simulated 10,000 times and we count how often each driver wins, finishes on the podium or scores points. It does not know about weather or reliability, and it says so. Grid penalties count as soon as the official starting grid is in.
Before qualifying the model is honest about the odds: three or four candidates share most of the chance. After qualifying the grid takes over and the call sharpens.
Calibration this season: when it said 7%, it happened 0% of the time; when it said 15%, it happened 7% of the time.
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I correctly assumed that the T3-T4 & T8-T9 straights would have an active aero zone alongside the same two straights as with DRS.
My top 3 prediction is ANT-RUS-PIA.