Max Verstappen wins rain-delayed Bahrain Grand Prix as George Russell retires

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won a chaotic rain-hit Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on Sunday for his first victory of the season after the start of the race was delayed by more than 90 minutes due to treacherous conditions at the Sepang International Circuit.

Verstappen was the last driver to win at Sepang in 2017 before being struck from the calendar, and the Dutchman, who also took pole, gave Red Bull their first home-powered victory despite an early setback when he lost the lead before the first corner.

“It’s really nice after the year we’ve had and the progress we’ve made. So I’m incredibly proud of everyone. It’s great to win here,” Verstappen said.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was second for Mercedes and now has an 84-point lead over his nearest rival and team-mate George Russell, who was third when he retired with a suspected power unit problem with five laps remaining.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finished third despite a tire gamble that dropped the Briton to 18th at the start of the race.

“Obviously we made the wrong call early on, which was so tough and I could see everyone just pulling away,” Hamilton said.

“I thought that was the end of the race for us, but I kept my head down. The guys did a great job with the pit stops.”

Antonelli held onto second place ahead of Hamilton in the closing laps.

“Today was the best we could do … There’s a lot of work on our end,” Antonelli said.

“We fought a bit more than usual, but we’re still really happy to come away with P2.

The final four laps were a straight battle for the podium after a lengthy safety car period and that’s when Hamilton, who had been chasing Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar for several laps, made his move.

Charles Leclerc, who was also near the back of the grid at the start of the race amid chaos on a wet track, salvaged fourth place for Ferrari when he overtook Hadjar with two laps to go.

Hadjar finished fifth ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Liam Lawson was seventh while Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, their best result of the season.

FIRST WET RACE OF 2026

The season has yet to have a wet race to test the 2026 cars, and the rain – which was kept out of practice and qualifying – came with heavy showers that swept across the circuit, delaying the start.

After a delayed start, the second start had the riders split between the medium and smooth tyres, but early in the race the former did well.

As the lights went out, Antonelli accelerated down the middle from third on the grid to take the lead from Verstappen, while Russell shot past on the outside to move from seventh to second.

But Verstappen’s recovery began on lap six when he attacked Russell, overtaking the Briton by diving on the inside of turn four and targeting Antonelli.

The Italian had to defend his position until lap 10 when Valtteri Bottas spun his Cadillac into the gravel and brought out the safety car as Verstappen pitted while the two Mercedes cars doubled up to switch to slicks.

VERSTAPPEN takes the lead

As the safety car arrived, Verstappen remained glued to Antonelli’s rear tire before passing the Italian at turn three, with Russell also passing his team-mate at the next corner to change the order.

Verstappen looked comfortable setting the pace at the front as he set the fastest laps and extended his lead over Russell to more than four seconds as a frustrated Antonelli informed the team he had the pace to chase down the Dutchman.

An impatient Antonelli overtook Russell on lap 21 to move into second, while behind them Hamilton quietly peeled off his aging soft tires to move into fifth behind Hadjar.

However, Antonelli missed his braking point at turn 15 and went off the track briefly, crashing into the pit lane bollard and costing him valuable time as Verstappen extended his lead to eight seconds.

When the second safety car came out for Alex Albon’s Williams stuck in the gravel towards the end, Russell suddenly parked his car on the main straight and shook his head as he got out of the car with a suspected power unit problem.

– The end