Max Verstappen claimed his and Red Bull’s first victory of the 2026 F1 season in a chaotic, rain-hit Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, converting pole into a dominant win at Sepang.
Kimi Antonelli finished second to extend his championship lead over Mercedes team-mate George Russell to 84 points. Russell’s title hopes suffered another major setback when his Mercedes suffered a power unit failure and stopped with five laps remaining.
Lewis Hamilton produced one of the drives of the race. Ferrari’s decision to start him on slick tyres on the wet track sent him tumbling down the order, but he fought all the way back to finish third, passing Isack Hadjar late in the race. Charles Leclerc also recovered to fourth.
The race itself was one of the wildest of the season. Heavy rain delayed the start, while several cars encountered technical problems during the formation lap, causing further delays before the race finally got underway around 100 minutes late.
With Antonelli now 84 points clear of Russell and seven scheduled races remaining, is the championship already slipping away from Russell?
