By Joe Murphy
Formula 1 returned to Malaysia today for the first time since 2017, with Sepang hosting the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia as round 16 of the 2026 world championship. The race was moved from Bahrain due to disruption in the Gulf and will return to Sakhir next year, with Bahrain paying the hosting fee and retaining the naming rights. A crowd of 261,000 across the weekend attended.
Today’s race was chaos from the start. Heavy rain hit the circuit 40 minutes before the scheduled start and the start was delayed by over an hour and a half. On the initial formation laps several cars including Verstappen, Hamilton, Lawson and Bottas reported power failures suspected to be software related, and the FIA aborted the start and restored the original grid.
When the race did get away behind the safety car and then with a standing start, Verstappen had a slow getaway on intermediate tyres and was passed by both Mercedes of Antonelli and Russell. Hamilton, who had qualified on slicks, dropped down the order early as conditions were still very wet. Isack Hadjar spun into the gravel at turn three on a formation lap but kept his car running.
The turning point came on lap nine when Bottas for Cadillac spun into the gravel and brought out the safety car. Most of the field dived in to switch from intermediates to slicks as the track was drying rapidly. At the restart Verstappen swept past both Antonelli and Russell to take the lead and he never gave it up again.
From there Verstappen controlled the 55-lap race, which was shortened from the scheduled 56, to win by 2.307 seconds. It is his first win of 2026, his 72nd career win, his second at Sepang after 2017, and the first victory for Red Bull Ford Powertrains which is also Ford’s first Formula 1 win since the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. He also set fastest lap with a 1:38.220 on the final lap. This was the largest gap between repeat victories at the same venue in Formula 1 history.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli came home second for Mercedes and extends his lead at the top of the drivers’ standings. His team-mate and closest rival George Russell had his title hopes badly damaged. He was running third when his power unit failed behind the safety car with five laps to go, retiring on lap 50. That swings the gap from what would have been 69 points to 84 points in Antonelli’s favour with seven rounds remaining.
Ferrari recovered strongly for a double points finish. Lewis Hamilton, after losing power on the formation lap and dropping to tenth when he stayed on slicks, fought back through the field to finish third for his 203rd podium. Charles Leclerc finished fourth after running last on lap five. Isack Hadjar was fifth for Red Bull, Oscar Piastri sixth for McLaren, Liam Lawson seventh for Racing Bulls, Fernando Alonso eighth for Aston Martin which is only his and his team’s third points finish of the season. Lando Norris crossed ninth after a close battle with Alonso on the final lap, and Arvid Lindblad took the final point in tenth after passing Nico Hulkenberg late on.
Hulkenberg finished 11th for Audi ahead of Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto, Ollie Bearman, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto and Sergio Perez. There were three retirements, Bottas with a crash on lap nine, Alex Albon with a gearbox failure on lap 43, and Russell.
In the constructors’ standings, Red Bull scored 35 points from Verstappen and Hadjar which helps them in the fight for third against McLaren who only scored 10. Formula 1 now moves to Singapore next weekend for a night race and sprint.
