Race Report & Results 2026 Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix

Max Verstappen scored his 72nd Formula 1 race win today at the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang. The Dutchman converted pole position into his first victory of the 2026 season and his second win at the Sepang International Circuit, nine years after winning the last Malaysian grand prix held here in 2017. It was Red Bull Racing's 131st Formula 1 victory and the team's sixth win at Sepang.

Kimi Antonelli finished second to extend his championship lead to 84 points after George Russell retired, while Lewis Hamilton recovered from a disastrous opening tyre gamble to finish third for Ferrari.

Verstappen Masters Sepang Chaos as Russell Suffers Title Blow

Malaysia, Sepang, 4th October 2026, Race start of the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, during race day of the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit, Copyright Marco Talluto/Alamy Live News

Max Verstappen survived rain, strategic chaos, two Safety Cars and a final four-lap sprint to win an extraordinary Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang, beating championship leader Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton after one of the most unpredictable races of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

Formula 1 had waited nine years to race at Sepang again. Malaysia then appeared determined to squeeze most of those missing years' drama into a single afternoon.

Heavy rain delayed the start, slick-tyre gambles sent front-runners tumbling down the order, Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon triggered Safety Car interventions and George Russell suffered a devastating power-unit failure with only six laps remaining.

Through it all, Verstappen remained the reference. Once the Red Bull driver fought his way back past both Mercedes cars after the first Safety Car, he controlled proceedings until the late interruptions wiped away his advantage and forced him to effectively win the race twice.

Sepang Rain Throws the Race Into Chaos

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - OCTOBER 04: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (3) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB22 Red Bull Ford Powertrains leads Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy driving the (12) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W17 at the restart during the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain in Malaysia at Sepang Circuit on October 04, 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202610040322 // Usage for editorial use only //

The first battle was simply getting the Grand Prix started.

Heavy rain and standing water arrived before lights out, forcing Race Control to delay proceedings as the Medical Car repeatedly assessed conditions. The track temperature, which had approached 60°C during practice, dropped into the mid-30s as the tropical storm swept across Sepang.

An initial attempt to begin the starting procedure behind the Safety Car only added to the confusion.

Hadjar slid through the gravel, Verstappen briefly reported a power issue and Hamilton's Ferrari suffered a software problem that left him crawling around the circuit as cars stacked up behind. Race Control eventually suspended the procedure and returned everyone to the pits before confirming that the original grid order would be restored.

The eventual standing start came at 16:33 local time, more than 90 minutes after the originally scheduled race start.

By then the rain had stopped and Sepang was drying rapidly, but patches of standing water remained. It created exactly the sort of crossover conditions that turn strategists grey.

Red Bull and Mercedes chose intermediates. Ferrari gambled with soft slicks for Hamilton and Leclerc, while McLaren sent Norris and Piastri out on mediums.

One group had read the conditions correctly.

It was not Ferrari or McLaren.

Antonelli Leads as Slick Gamble Backfires

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - OCTOBER 04: Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy driving the (12) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W17 passes Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (3) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB22 Red Bull Ford Powertrains for the lead at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain in Malaysia at Sepang Circuit on October 04, 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Sam Bagnall/Sutton Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202610040299 // Usage for editorial use only //

When the race finally got under way, the intermediate runners disappeared.

Antonelli launched into the lead ahead of Russell, while Verstappen struggled for traction and initially found himself fighting Liam Lawson. Hamilton, starting alongside Verstappen on the front row, dropped to tenth almost immediately as his slicks searched unsuccessfully for grip.

Norris suffered the same fate.

Within a handful of laps, Hamilton and Norris were already more than a pit stop behind the leaders. Leclerc eventually abandoned his slick gamble for intermediates, but a slow Ferrari stop dumped him to the very back of the field.

For a brief period, Mercedes appeared to have cracked the race.

Antonelli led Russell while Verstappen recovered to third, passing Lawson before setting off after the two Silver Arrows.

Russell was the first to fall. Verstappen passed him on Lap 6 before immediately homing in on Antonelli.

By Lap 8, the gap was seven tenths.

Sepang was drying quickly, however, and the race was about to change complexion again.

Bottas Safety Car Triggers the Crossover

Valtteri Bottas provided the next twist when his Cadillac snapped away on soft tyres and ended up in the gravel.

The resulting Safety Car arrived at almost the perfect moment for the leaders to switch from intermediates to slicks.

Mercedes fitted mediums to Antonelli and Russell. Verstappen and Hadjar went aggressive with softs, while Lawson took the opposite route on the hard tyre.

That difference mattered immediately.

Antonelli initially controlled the restart, but Verstappen's softs came alive rapidly. On Lap 13 the Red Bull attacked around the outside into Turn 1, hung on through Turn 2 and emerged with the lead.

It was the move that ultimately decided the race.

Antonelli then drifted away from the clean line and struggled for traction, allowing Russell through into second as the Mercedes championship rivals suddenly found their positions reversed.

Verstappen needed no second invitation.

He began disappearing up the road.

Antonelli Recovers and Passes Russell

Antonelli regrouped impressively after the restart error.

By Lap 19 he was back within a second of Russell and making it clear over the radio that he believed he had more pace. Mercedes did not impose team orders, leaving the championship rivals to settle the matter on track.

Antonelli did exactly that on Lap 21, attacking into Turn 4 and reclaiming second place.

By then Verstappen was several seconds clear.

His advantage grew to more than seven seconds before Antonelli made another small error at the final corner, running deep and clipping the bollard near the pit entry. Russell briefly closed again, but Antonelli quickly restored his advantage over his team-mate.

The title leader might not have had Verstappen's pace, but he was comfortably the stronger Mercedes driver.

Hamilton Begins an Extraordinary Recovery

Behind them, Hamilton's afternoon was transforming.

Ferrari's opening gamble had effectively dropped him from second on the grid towards the rear of the field, yet once the circuit dried he began carving his way back through traffic.

By Lap 24 Hamilton had reached fifth after passing Lawson, having already worked his way through Piastri, Lindblad and others.

Leclerc was performing an equally impressive recovery.

The Monegasque had been dead last after his slow intermediate stop, but steadily picked off cars as the race settled into dry conditions.

Ferrari had made almost the worst possible strategic start to the race. Both cars were somehow dragging themselves back into contention.

Verstappen Takes Control

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - OCTOBER 04: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (3) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB22 Red Bull Ford Powertrains leads Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy driving the (12) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W17 and George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W17 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain in Malaysia at Sepang Circuit on October 04, 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/LAT Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202610040309 // Usage for editorial use only //

The second round of conventional pit stops began shortly after half-distance.

Hadjar and Hamilton came in together, Russell stopped a lap later, and Verstappen and Antonelli followed on Lap 34. Both leaders returned to used softs and emerged comfortably ahead of Russell.

With the strategies aligned, there was little doubt about the fastest car.

By Lap 36, Verstappen led Antonelli by more than ten seconds, with Russell another four seconds behind. Hadjar was defending strongly against Hamilton, while Leclerc and the McLarens continued their recovery further back.

The race appeared to have finally settled.

At Sepang, that was optimistic.

Albon Failure Erases Verstappen's Advantage

Alex Albon stopped with a gearbox problem on Lap 44 and triggered a Virtual Safety Car.

Verstappen reacted immediately, diving into the pits for another set of used softs. Mercedes initially left Antonelli and Russell out, temporarily handing Antonelli the lead and dropping Verstappen between the two Mercedes cars.

A lap later, Mercedes changed course and stopped both cars under the VSC.

Then Albon's stranded Williams required heavier recovery equipment and the Virtual Safety Car became a full Safety Car.

Verstappen was back in front, Antonelli second and Russell third. Hadjar, Piastri, Hamilton and Leclerc lined up behind them.

Verstappen's comfortable advantage had disappeared.

The race would effectively restart with the championship leader immediately behind him.

Then Mercedes suffered a far more serious problem.

Russell Retirement Blows Title Fight Apart

On Lap 50, while the field was still circulating behind the Safety Car, Russell suddenly slowed on the main straight.

The Mercedes came to a stop.

A power-unit issue had ended his race.

Russell climbed from the car and immediately put his hands on his helmet. He knew exactly what it meant.

Only one week earlier, his victory in Baku had cut Antonelli's championship advantage to 66 points. At Sepang, Russell was heading towards third place and another useful reduction in the deficit.

Instead, he scored nothing while Antonelli finished second.

The gap is now 84 points.

With the season moving into its closing stages, Russell's championship challenge has gone from difficult to requiring something approaching a miracle.

The timing made it particularly cruel. His Mercedes had already survived nearly three hours of delays, changing conditions and strategic uncertainty. It failed while effectively doing nothing more strenuous than following the Safety Car.

At almost the same moment, Norris slid into the gravel as the field concertinaed behind the leaders, dropping the McLaren outside the points before the final restart.

Verstappen Faces One Final Sprint

The Safety Car finally peeled in at the end of Lap 51.

Only four racing laps remained.

Verstappen judged the restart perfectly, immediately opening enough of a gap to prevent Antonelli from attacking into Turn 1.

Behind them, the battles exploded.

Hamilton attacked Hadjar for third and swept past the Red Bull down the main straight on Lap 53, completing one of the most unlikely podium recoveries of the season.

One lap later, Leclerc followed him through on Hadjar at Turn 1 to take fourth.

Antonelli refused to let Verstappen relax. The gap fell towards one second in the closing laps, but the Mercedes never became close enough to launch an attack.

Verstappen crossed the line 1.6 seconds clear.

After everything Sepang had thrown at him, he had finally won in 2026.

Hamilton Turns a Lost Race Into a Podium

Hamilton's third place deserves more than a footnote.

Ferrari's opening slick gamble had been disastrous. The seven-time champion later admitted that he watched the intermediate runners disappear while he fell roughly a minute behind.

At that point, points looked optimistic. A podium bordered on absurd.

Hamilton simply kept going.

As the circuit dried, he steadily worked his way through the midfield. Ferrari's pace improved, Safety Cars returned him to the fight and when the final opportunity came against Hadjar, Hamilton needed no invitation.

Third place represented a remarkable recovery.

Leclerc's fourth was scarcely less impressive. He had been running last during the opening phase and still finished directly behind his team-mate.

Ferrari got the most important strategic decision of the afternoon wrong and somehow left Malaysia with P3 and P4.

Hadjar Fifth as McLaren Misses the Podium

Hadjar finished fifth after another impressive weekend for Red Bull.

The Frenchman had qualified third before his five-place engine penalty dropped him to eighth on the grid. He recovered strongly, ran in podium contention for much of the race and defended superbly against Hamilton before finally losing out in the closing sprint.

Piastri finished sixth after an afternoon spent moving between different tyre strategies, while Lawson took a strong seventh for Racing Bulls.

Fernando Alonso produced one of the more understated drives of the day to finish eighth, holding off a much faster Norris on the final lap.

Norris recovered to ninth after his late gravel excursion, while grabbed the final point with a last-lap pass on Nico Hülkenberg, denying Audi at the finish.

Gabriel Bortoleto's own points hopes had already disappeared after receiving a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Carlos Sainz at the earlier Safety Car restart.

Verstappen Finally Gets His 2026 Victory

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - OCTOBER 04: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates on arrival in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain in Malaysia at Sepang Circuit on October 04, 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202610040323 // Usage for editorial use only //

Verstappen had come close several times this season.

In Baku he finished only a tenth behind Russell. At other rounds Red Bull had threatened without quite producing a complete winning weekend.

Sepang was different.

Verstappen topped FP1, took his first pole of the season and then proved equally formidable when Sunday's conditions bore almost no resemblance to those of qualifying.

He chose intermediates when several rivals gambled on slicks, recovered from losing positions at the eventual start, passed Russell and Antonelli on track, made the soft tyre work brilliantly and nailed the restart when a late Safety Car erased his lead.

“Incredibly proud” was Verstappen's verdict afterwards. He described the race as hectic, but stressed that Red Bull made the correct call on intermediates and then gradually took control.

Nine years ago, Verstappen started third at Sepang and beat Lewis Hamilton to win the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix.

This time he arrived on pole, survived just about everything Malaysia could throw at him and won again.

Antonelli leaves Sepang with an 84-point championship lead. Hamilton leaves with a podium that looked impossible after the opening laps. Russell leaves with perhaps the most damaging retirement of his title campaign.

And Verstappen leaves with something he had been chasing all season: a Grand Prix victory.