Five takeaways: Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia
Grab your popcorn and prepare your umbrellas, because for the first time this season, we had a Grand Prix under wet conditions.
This past weekend in Sepang, the skies darkened and opened up just in time for the ultimate rainy-day race setup, something that may not have been unfamiliar for Formula One drivers, but was certainly foreign for the 2026 cars under this year’s brand new regulation set.
Here are DIVEBOMB’s five takeaways from the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Verstappen claims Red Bull’s first win of the season
Nine years ago, Max Verstappen willed his Red Bull to a stunning victory around the Sepang Circuit, and this past weekend he did the same thing on this season’s Malaysian tour.
Verstappen has been on the podium multiple times this season, but had been winless until this round. Ahead of the Grand Prix weekend, the Red Bull outfit had just finished a strong weekend in Baku, with both drivers on the podium. During Saturday’s qualifying, Verstappen seized pole ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, marking a historic front-row lineup.
The beginning of the Grand Prix was all but straightforward for Verstappen, as the Mercedes duo surpassed him into the first turn of the race. Still, the Dutchman kept his cool, sticking close to the Silver Arrows and ultimately regaining his position at the front of the grid.
Verstappen had a small scare towards the end of the Grand Prix, as a late Safety Car forced a restart, but thankfully for him, he was able to keep the prowling Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli behind on the restart. The four-time champion went on to keep a firm grip on the lead all the way until the chequered flag.
Following the victory, Verstappen was all smiles while reflecting on his first win of the season.
“It’s a really nice one, after the year that we’ve had and the progression that we’ve made. I’m incredibly proud of everyone, and it’s just super nice to win here,” he shared.
Hamilton bounces back from 17th to steal the final podium slot
If you decided to tune into the race after the opening sequence, you would likely be wondering how Ferrari’s Hamilton dropped from the front row all the way down to seventeenth place.
If you stuck with the broadcast, though, you would be in for an instant classic as the seven-time champion clawed his way back up to the podium in spite of it all.
Hamilton’s Saturday session efforts got him to a front-row start behind Verstappen, a highly anticipated duo to kick off Sunday’s starting grid. Unfortunately for Hamilton, his chances of battling with Verstappen dissolved almost instantly, as he was quickly surpassed by the large chunk of the field who opted for intermediate tyres at the race start.
On slicks and navigating a wet track, Hamilton fell to the back of the grid as he struggled for grip. Ferrari offered to pit the Briton early for intermediate tyres, but Hamilton opted to take the risk and stick it out on the slicks as the evolving track began to dry.
Hamilton’s roll-of-the-dice decision ended up paying off beautifully, as the integrity of the slick tyres began coming to life later in the Grand Prix.
From there, he kept his head down and moved through the field car by car, lap by lap, until he found himself at the back of Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull in fourth place. Following Russell’s DNF and Hadjar’s struggle with tyres, Hamilton was able to move into third and lock in the final spot on the podium.
Although he provided a strong recovery drive, Hamilton still deemed the result as “bittersweet,” reflecting over what could have been had the right starting tyre call been made.
"We had an opportunity and ultimately didn’t maximise it,” he explained.
"I had a tough [time] at the beginning, but after the race got going and I managed to keep it on track — which, I’m telling you, was so, so hard.
“I didn’t think that I’d be able to get back to third place, so I’m very, very grateful for that and very happy with it,” he concluded.
Russell retires, left rueing over championship chances
It was around this time last week that Mercedes’ George Russell was seeing his championship chances start to make an encouraging shift, following a Grand Slam-weekend in Azerbaijan. Unfortunately for the Briton, one strong weekend can never quite guarantee safety in this sport.
Russell qualified eighth on Saturday, clearly off the pace of his teammate who qualified fourth, and with Hadjar’s penalty applied, the two drivers moved up a spot each. Despite a subpar qualifying for the team, with the new upgrades Mercedes brought to the weekend, a strong start was imminent as the pair made light work of Verstappen’s Red Bull into Turn 1 during Sunday’s race.
After that, Russell’s main concern was his teammate, as the two were strictly instructed by Team Principal Toto Wolff not to battle too closely with each other. Although Russell was ultimately able to make the move on Antonelli for second position, his pace began to trundle significantly as the Grand Prix progressed.
At the Safety Car restart, Russell sat in third behind Antonelli, with a solid shot at fighting for the race win, but disaster struck as his Mercedes rolled to a halt for the third time this season. What’s worse? The retirement was from no fault of his own, simply another reliability issue within the Mercedes power unit.
“Another failure, when we were on course for a pretty certain podium. It's a tough one to take. It's unfortunately happened too many times this season, and, yeah, this is just where we are,” said a defeated Russell after the race.
The DNF not only put Russell out of points contention for the Grand Prix, but also increased a more manageable 66-point championship deficit to a daunting 84 points.
“Never say never, but yeah, it's just pretty relentless this season with the amount of things that have gone away from us, that have been outside of our control.”
Alonso scores Aston Martin’s highest finish of 2026
The 2026 season has brought various challenges to many of the teams on the grid, but for Aston Martin it’s been a trial since the very beginning.
Despite the team’s best efforts, it’s been difficult to get both cars to the end of the race; mechanical failures have been prevalent, and points-scoring finishes rare. This weekend, though, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso delivered a performance that proves Aston Martin is finally taking steps in the right direction.
Alonso has won three times with three different teams in Sepang, so his eighth-place finish on Sunday was a welcome addition to his stats around the circuit.
While eighth may not seem revolutionary to some, it means everything to a team that has been fighting just to make it out of Q1. Both Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll progressed to Q2, and although Stroll finished the Grand Prix outside the points, his Saturday pace was well-received by the team.
During Sunday’s Grand Prix, Alonso spent the majority of the race in his own lane, benefiting from the misfortune of others as the race progressed. With the advantage of fresher soft tyres in the closing laps of the session, Alonso was able to keep Lando Norris’ McLaren behind to seize eighth position.
“We have been more competitive this weekend, and P8 is a good result for us,” Alonso stated after Sunday’s race.
“There are not many weekends where we can score points, so we executed well and took the opportunity. Let’s see if we can keep up this pace into Singapore, where on paper we have some hope.”
Rain rain, go away
When Malaysia agreed to take up the Bahrain Grand Prix, one of the biggest topics of discussion was the weather. Rain was forecast in decently high percentages across the weekend; however, the first two days of running were clear.
Combine that with the fact that the drivers had not yet raced in wet conditions under the new regulations, and you have the potential for a true thriller in Sepang come race day.
Surely enough, a heavy downpour hit the circuit about an hour before the projected start time for the Grand Prix. Given the humidity, teams expected the track to dry quickly despite the rain, and therefore began planning what tyres they would start on once the FIA’s weather delay was lifted.
The delay pushed the race start back an hour and a half, with the drivers attempting an earlier formation lap that ended in chaos. Aside from expected slipping and sliding, a handful of cars simply came to a halt on the main straight, which later was revealed to be the cause of a shared software and engine turbo issue due to the conditions.
Once the race was finally set to begin, all eyes were on the wide array of tyres littering the grid, as teams elected differing strategies in terms of what tyre to start on. Some opted for intermediates, projecting that the track would still be too wet to race on. Others, like Ferrari, went with slick tyres in hopes that the track would be dry enough to maintain grip.
Once the lights went out, it was clear that intermediates were the preferred choice, as the intermediate runners flew ahead while those on slicks fell to the back of the pack, setting the grid up for a long stretch of pit stops and tyre changes.
Looking ahead
Up next is Singapore, the third and final race of the triple header. With Russell’s DNF, Antonelli inches ever closer to the title, but will the heat of Singapore bring more shake-ups to the grid?
All that and more, coming up when the lights go out this Sunday on the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Edited by Meghana Sree
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