Five winners, five losers: Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia
A soaked Sepang made an F1 cameo to remember. But who sank and who swam?
Winner: Max Verstappen
Not since F1’s last visit to Sepang just over nine years ago to the day had Max Verstappen been on such a barren run of no race wins. It is 15 races since the Dutchman last took the chequered flag, the final act of his astonishing championship comeback in the second half of the 2025 season which fell agonisingly short in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen and Red Bull were so far off the pace at times earlier this season – sometimes up to half a second a lap or more – that the Dutchman’s options for 2027 and beyond seemed at one stage to be McLaren or retirement.
However, on the eve of F1’s return from the summer break at his home Dutch Grand Prix, Red Bull announced they had tied their star driver down for a further two seasons. Since then, this moment has looked inevitable.
The four-time champion was on the wrong side of F1’s closest finish under green flag conditions since 2002 just a week ago in Baku, when George Russell held him off by just 0.196 seconds.
At Sepang he looked imperious though, picking up exactly where he left off on that day in October 2017.
Verstappen led Practice 1 by four tenths and loitered near the sharp end throughout P2 and 3. Unsurprisingly, he was in a league of his own throughout Qualifying, fronting all three sessions. In doing so, he achieved the first non-Mercedes powered pole of the season and Ford’s first pole position since Rubens Barrichello in 1999.
By Sunday, despite the presence of Lewis Hamilton alongside him on the front row, it soon became apparent the Red Bull man’s bigger challenger would be the weather. A poor start on the intermediate tyres in drying conditions saw the Dutchman drop behind the two Mercedes, but he soon returned to the head of the field and never looked back.
While the late safety car offered a lifeline to Kimi Antonelli, the best the young Italian could do was stay in the Dutchman’s wheeltracks for the last five laps.
This was Verstappen at his very, very best, and the only disappointment was that we didn’t see the much anticipated showdown with old rival Lewis Hamilton, who also drove the race of his season for Ferrari.
Winner: Kimi Antonelli
It was a strange old weekend for Kimi Antonelli, but after his crash in Baku Qualifying a week ago, he did well to restore some calm with a clean event in Malaysia.
The championship leader appeared the faster Mercedes all weekend, even if the Silver Arrows’ pace did go missing in Qualifying. That being said, Antonelli still posted a lap good enough for third on the grid after Isack Hadjar’s penalty.
The Italian even took the lead of the race in the early stages, but was no match for Verstappen once things settled down.
With a 66-point lead in the drivers’ standings to protect, Antonelli gave both the Dutchman and teammate George Russell a wide berth as they found their way past him. The Italian was in no mood to get stuck behind his teammate though, and soon re-passed Russell for second place.
A three point gain over Russell, his closest title challenger, would have been a good day’s work for Antonelli, but the Brit’s retirement on Lap 49 with a power unit failure gave the Italian an additional 15-point boost to extend his championship lead to 84 points.
As it stands, Antonelli is just four races away from his World Championship, which could come at Interlagos on 8th November with a full three rounds still to go.
Winner: Lewis Hamilton
The record books will show that Lewis Hamilton started the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in second place and finished in third, which will completely fail to tell the story of possibly the single most chaotic race for any driver this season.
The Brit did mightily well to put his Ferrari, which had looked well off the pace throughout practice, on the front row for Sunday’s race with a scintillating lap in Q3 that may well have achieved pole had his pace not fallen away in the third sector.
Any hopes of a Turn 1 tussle with Verstappen were put on hold first by the rain delay, second by his apparent retirement on the formation lap, and third by his sluggish start on the slick tyres once the race finally got under way.
With the track far wetter than it first appeared, any hopes of Hamilton – who was the front-running driver on slicks – vaulting to the front after the intermediate runners pitted were soon dashed.
The Brit soon found himself over a minute off the lead and soon found himself down in 18th, behind even his teammate Charles Leclerc who had been in for a tyre change and new front wing.
One benefit of the wet conditions and the Brit’s total absence of pace in the opening laps meant that degradation to his soft tyres was all but non-existent. As everyone else around him pitted on Lap 9 under the safety car caused by Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton finally saw the race swing back towards him and set off on a rampage as the race went green.
The seven-time champion scythed through the field and was soon fourth, lapping a full second quicker than Hadjar up ahead, despite his disdain for his new medium tyres.
The late safety car following Alex Albon’s retirement allowed the Ferrari man an opportunity to refit his favoured soft tyres, and with that Hadjar was soon in his wake.
After one of the most chaotic afternoons of his long and storied career, Hamilton eventually came home third to score his team’s best result since Spa, although how much credit the Ferrari pit wall can take for that is questionable.
The Brit was the star of the day in the eyes of the Malaysian crowd, who cheered his pass on Hadjar like a nation would cheer a winning goal in the World Cup final. It is a shame he did not have the chance to go wheel to wheel with Verstappen, because that could have been a battle for the ages.
Winner: Fernando Alonso
The stars really did come out at Sepang, as a little further down the road from Hamilton and Verstappen, it was Fernando Alonso who grabbed the headlines in the midfield.
The Aston Martin driver qualified 12th on Saturday, his team’s highest grid position of the season, while teammate Lance Stroll’s lap for P14 marked the first time both Astons reached Q2 all year.
The signs were already positive for the Silverstone team, but the veteran Spaniard had even loftier plans for Sunday. The two-time champion spent most of the race running right on the edge of the points in tenth place, which itself would have been a strong showing. However, late mishaps for Russell and Lando Norris elevated Alonso to eighth for his and Aston’s highest finish of the year.
The result brings the squad firmly back into the conversation with Williams and Audi in the constructors’ standings. With Alonso at the wheel, it is impossible to rule out what could yet be a P9 finish in the championship which would mark a stunning salvage job in a generally disastrous year.
Winner: Racing Bulls
During Liam Lawson’s battle for third place with Verstappen in the first three laps of the race, Racing Bulls may have been disappointed to know they would finish the race with their drivers in seventh and tenth.
However, as far as the team’s battle with Alpine for fifth in the constructors’ standings is concerned, the Bahrain Grand Prix may have been the knockout blow.
After the Enstone team’s incredible act of self-sabotage in Azerbaijan a week ago, Racing Bulls were firmly in charge of the fight at the front of the midfield.
In Malaysia, both Lawson and Arvid Lindblad continued to show experience and composure beyond their years at a track upon which neither of them had previously raced to deliver their team’s seventh double points finish of the season and extend the gap to Alpine to a comprehensive 22 points.
Loser: George Russell
It’s beyond belief how dreadful George Russell’s luck has been at times this season. After his first career Grand Slam in Baku, coupled with Antonelli’s scrappy weekend, the Brit could perhaps allow himself the faintest hope of a title comeback, but such aspirations were almost definitely snuffed out at Sepang.
Russell was the slower of the two Silver Arrows almost all weekend and qualified a lowly eighth, over seven tenths down on Verstappen’s pole time. It was therefore a surprise to see him briefly run in second place ahead of Antonelli at the start of the race, although the Italian swiftly restored order.
A three-point loss to the Italian, while far from ideal, would have been a good day of damage limitation. Mercedes did what you would expect Mercedes to do, nailing every decision on tyres and giving both drivers an almost certain podium. However, approaching Turn 1 on Lap 49, Russell befell the fate of former teammate Lewis Hamilton ten years prior as his power unit decided to call it a day.
The Brit’s second such retirement of the year leaves him a staggering 84 points behind Antonelli in the championship and all but ends his title hopes.
Loser: Carlos Sainz
Another driver who had a strong weekend in Baku but came crashing down to earth in Malaysia was Williams’ Carlos Sainz.
Fresh off the back of his first point since the Canadian Grand Prix, the Spaniard ran the first 12 laps of Sunday’s race in seventh place, losing a place to Lindblad at the second safety car restart.
Any hopes of a second successive points finish of the season were kicked into touch a lap later when Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto appeared up the inside of Sainz at Turn 2 and sent the Williams into a spin.
The Brazilian was given a ten-second penalty for his endeavours, although that was little consolation for Sainz who was unable to come back through the field and crossed the line 17th on a disappointing day for his team.
Loser: Audi
On the subject of Bortoleto, it was another frustrating weekend for Audi. Not only did the Brazilian destroy his own chances of a points finish, but it wasn’t to be for teammate Nico Hülkenberg either, who scored Audi’s ninth 11th-placed finish of the season.
The German may well have had more luck had he not fallen to a disappointing Q1 elimination on Saturday.
Audi remain ninth in the constructors’ standings with just 17 points, which does seem to be a gross understatement of the car’s apparent pace at times this year.
Loser: Lando Norris
With two victories and three pole positions in the first four races after the summer break, Lando Norris was finally showing world champion-like form in his McLaren. However, his retirement in Baku, which disguised what was otherwise a poor afternoon, and tribulations at Sepang have been much more reminiscent of the first half of his season.
The Brit was running down in eighth for much of the afternoon, staring at his teammate’s rear wing. In fact, Norris had to take evasive action to avoid said rear wing on Lap 50, when he was caught out by the cars in front of him, slowing to pass Russell’s stricken Mercedes.
Norris dived out of the shadow of Piastri’s McLaren and was left to rescue himself from Turn 1’s enormous gravel trap, rejoining proceedings in 11th.
He fought back to ninth by the chequered flag, but it was a disappointing showing from Norris and, in fact, the McLaren team more widely, who had the fourth fastest car for most of the weekend.
Loser: Alpine
Aside from Ferrari, Alpine were the only other team in the field to put both drivers on slick tyres for the first stint of the race.
The Enstone team went for broke after losing a probable double points finish in Baku through Franco Colapinto’s kamikaze move on Pierre Gasly, but it wasn’t to be.
The pair ran in 19th and 21st for the first few laps, and even with a dry track and two safety cars to bring the field back together were unable to make huge inroads.
Colapinto came close to making some small amends for his catastrophic mistake a week prior, but could only reach 13th, while Gasly could only muster P16.
The Enstone outfit has thrown away a huge chunk of potential points in the last two weekends alone, but for the team that finished rock bottom of last year’s constructors’ standings, a near-certain P6 this season is still a decent return.
Edited by Marit Everett
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