And Lewis Hamilton speaks:
Big congratulations to Max, what a tough race that was. Obviously, we had the wrong call at the beginning which was so difficult.
I could see everyone pulling away and I could see on the screen that I was a minute down, and I thought that was kind of race over for us.
But I just kept my head down. The guys did a great job with the pit stops. Obviously, lots of tyre changes, lots of chasing.
And honestly, of all the years I’ve been here, this is the best race we’ve had here, but particularly because of this crowd. So, a big thank you to everyone.
Kimi Antonelli speaks:
I think today was the maximum we could have done, massive congrats to Max and Red Bull for their incredible weekend.
On our side, work to do but happy to come away with P2. Hopefully we will come back in the future to Malaysia.
Max Verstappen speaks:
It’s a really nice one [win] after the year we’ve had and the progression we have made. I’m incredibly proud of everyone. Just super nice to win here.
It was very hectic with a lot of different things at the start – no power [on the first formation lap in the rain] because you have to wait for the power to kick in.
We made the right call with the intermediates. After that, step by step we moved out way forward.
From there, once we could do our own race then we had the Safety Car but we kept it all under control.
Verstappen finally has his first win of the season, while Antonelli leaves with an even bigger championship lead after a race that threatened to change everything. For Russell, though, it was absolute heartbreak, with his late retirement dealing a huge blow to his title hopes.
Hamilton and Ferrari may have got their tyre calls badly wrong, but somehow they still walk away with a double result in third and fourth – a remarkable recovery given how the strategy unfolded.
And there is still some business to settle after the chequered flag. Albon and Norris are both facing post-race investigations for allegedly driving erratically, so the final classification could yet change.
Verstappen wins a chaotic Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia
Max Verstappen has done it again. The last time F1 raced in Malaysia, back in 2017, it was Verstappen who stood on the top step – and nine years later, he has repeated the feat.
Verstappen holds off championship leader Kimi Antonelli to take victory after a race that had absolutely everything: rain, Safety Cars, strategic gambles, late drama and a frantic final few laps. It is also Red Bull’s first Grand Prix victory of the season.
Kimi Antonelli comes in second and Lewis Hamilton – what a day he has had – rounds out the podium.
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Lap 54/55: Antonelli is now more than a second behind Verstappen, but cannot afford to ease off too much – Hamilton is lurking behind and would love the chance to put the championship leader under pressure.
Further back, Leclerc is all over Hadjar in the fight for fourth. And there it is! Leclerc makes the move into Turn 1 and gets past Hadjar.
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Lap 53/55: Russell’s retirement and Norris’ earlier off have shuffled the order once again, with Alonso now up to eighth. Norris has already recovered one position, getting past Lindblad to move back into the points.
Hulkenberg is up to ninth but is under serious pressure as the laps tick away. He will have to defend for his life if he is to hold on to that position.
Up front, Verstappen remains comfortably in the lead, but there is a change behind him. Hamilton makes his move on Hadjar down the main straight and takes P3.
Lap 52/55: Verstappen times the restart perfectly, launching away from the Safety Car and immediately opening a gap to Antonelli. It was a smart move from the Dutchman, while Antonelli understandably takes a more cautious approach after seeing Russell retire.
There is plenty going on behind, too. Lawson and Piastri are battling it out, with the McLaren struggling for grip on the hard tyres.
Lap 50/55: Norris is not allowed to regain those positions under the Safety Car, so he drops back to P11. He can count himself fortunate, too, with Stroll showing plenty of sportsmanship by allowing him back on to the track after the off. Norris was caught out as the frontrunners backed up behind the stricken Russell, leaving him with nowhere to go and sending him on to the gravel.
Speaking of Russell, the marshals are now pushing his Mercedes away from the track.
Lap 50/55: With the field still behind the Safety Car, Russell suddenly pulls over on the main straight. At almost the same moment, Norris slides off into the gravel.
Russell immediately puts his hands on his helmet. If this is a retirement, it could be devastating for his championship hopes. And now Russell is climbing out of the car. His race is over, and with the Mercedes stopped on track, the race cannot restart just yet. Mercedes are reporting a power-unit issue, and this could prove hugely costly in the championship fight.
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Lap 49/55: Perez has now caught up with the pack and successfully unlapped himself.
Hopefully, we won’t have to wait much longer before the Safety Car comes in and we can finally get this race back underway.
Lap 48/55: The lapped cars are finally being released, with Sainz the first to get the call to unlap himself.
Sainz was caught in the middle of the lead pack, so it appears Race Control is not waiting for the entire field to bunch up before clearing the lapped traffic. Perez and Bortoleto have also been given permission to unlap themselves, although neither has reached the main pack just yet.
Lap 47/55: The Safety Car remains on track as marshals continue working to clear Albon’s stranded Williams.
Once the car is safely removed, attention will turn to the lapped drivers. They have not yet been released, with the field still needing to bunch up before Race Control can allow them to unlap themselves.
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Lap 46/55: The full Safety Car is now out, with a tractor required to recover Albon’s stranded Williams.
That changes things once again. Piastri is the only frontrunner to stay out initially, but he eventually comes in, with Norris also making his stop. Both McLarens emerge behind Leclerc, leaving the field bunched up once again with just nine laps remaining.
Lap 45/55: Mercedes have made a huge call – both Antonelli and Russell are being brought into the pits.
The VSC was expected to last longer because Albon’s car could not be pushed clear and was instead going to have to be lifted away. Mercedes clearly decided that the track position was not worth sacrificing the tyre advantage.
Lap 44/55: Antonelli and Russell have both opted to stay out. Verstappen, meanwhile, has emerged from his stop between the two Mercedes drivers and is now running on used softs.
Lap 43/55: Albon is officially out; his gearbox has failed. Fortunately, he has managed to pull up right beside a gap in the barriers, allowing the marshals to begin recovering the car. The Virtual Safety Car is deployed as a result.
Verstappen pits from the lead, while Antonelli stays out.
Lap 43/55: Albon appears to have stopped on track.
Lap 42/55: Hulkenberg makes another move stick, getting past Lindblad as those soft tyres continue to deliver serious pace.
Further up the order, Hadjar is putting on a defensive masterclass. Hamilton is piling on the pressure, but the Racing Bulls driver is doing everything he can to keep the Ferrari behind.
Lap 41/55: Alonso has a big moment with Lindblad, with the two coming dangerously close to making contact. Somehow, they avoid each other – and Alonso gets the job done, moving through into P10 on merit.
Hulkenberg is up to P12 and looking increasingly quick on the soft tyres. He is closing in on Lindblad.
Lap 40/55: Hamilton’s mediums are finally starting to come alive, and he has closed to within a second of the Red Bull ahead.
Lap 39/55: Just as we were praising Aston Martin, Hulkenberg has arrived on the scene and has already picked off Stroll and is now making his move on Ocon.
He is running the soft tyres, and they are clearly working well for him. Bortoleto has also made his stop and served the time penalty he picked up earlier.
Lap 38/55: Alonso is closing in on a potential point, with the Aston Martin driver just behind Lindblad on the same five-lap-old hard tyres. The gap is less than a second.
Further back, Ocon has Stroll right on his tail, with just 0.4sec between the two.
Lap 35/55: Hamilton is not impressed with his latest tyre choice. He is running used mediums and says over the radio that they feel terrible and that he does not want to use them all the way to the flag. Piastri has gone for another set of new hard tyres.
Hulkenberg is under investigation for an unsafe release.
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Lap 34/55: Here they come – the race leader and his closest challenger head into the pits. Verstappen takes another set of soft tyres, which comes as little surprise given how well they have worked for him so far. Antonelli follows suit for Mercedes, also opting for the softs.
Behind them, Hamilton is all over the back of Hadjar and piling on the pressure, while Piastri comes into the pits.
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Lap 33/55: Russell is the latest frontrunner to make his stop, with Mercedes calling him in from P3. He bolts on a set of soft tyres, with the team clearly hoping to cover off the threat from Hadjar and the charging Hamilton behind.
Lap 32/55: The top three have settled into their positions for now, with sizeable gaps separating Verstappen, Antonelli and Russell.
Further back, the pit-stop action is ramping up. Hadjar has been called into the pits, with Racing Bulls reacting to the threat from Hamilton and the Ferrari driver comes in at the same time.
Lap 31/55: Ocon pitted last time around, but it was far from a clean stop. He ran wide on to the grass on the approach to the pit lane. He has dropped down to P14 as a result, but will be hoping the drivers ahead still have to make their stops. If they do, Ocon could yet find himself back inside the top 10 once the pit-stop cycle plays out.
Lap 29/55: Verstappen’s advantage now up to 8.8sec over Antonelli. The Mercedes driver has a further 4.1sec in hand over Russell. Hadjar is hanging on to fourth, 7.7sec behind Russell, with Hamilton another 7.8sec further back.
Lap 28/55: Apologies, had some connection issues a la Hamilton but back on. In the midfield, Lawson continues to impress for Racing Bulls, holding on to sixth despite Lindblad slipping out of the top 10 as the faster frontrunners recover the positions they lost earlier.
Ocon is also enjoying a strong afternoon for Haas in ninth – exactly the sort of scrappy, unpredictable race where he tends to thrive.
It has been a more frustrating day for Alpine. Their initial tyre calls at the start have not worked out, leaving both cars down the order. Williams can count themselves unlucky too. Both cars made strong starts and appeared to be on the right tyres for the conditions, only for Sainz’s race to be effectively ruined by his earlier collision.
Lap 22/55: The big question now is just how long Verstappen can stretch his soft tyres. He has extended his lead over Antonelli to 4.9sec, but tyre life could become a major factor as the race progresses.
Hamilton is already reporting that his rear tyres are beginning to go; his tyres have been running for 22 laps, compared with just 12 laps for Verstappen’s softs.
Antonelli, meanwhile, is on the mediums and should be able to run considerably longer into the race.
Lap 21/55: Verstappen is beginning to disappear up the road, extending his advantage to 4.2sec at the front.
Behind him, Antonelli has made his move on Russell for second. The championship leader went for it into Turn 4, and while Russell put up a fight, he ultimately allowed his teammate through without too much resistance.
Lap 19/55: Antonelli is closing rapidly on Russell and is now just one second behind his Mercedes teammate. “I have more pace,” comes the message from the Italian – a polite way of saying he wants to be let through.
Lap 18/55: Lindblad is clinging on to seventh on the hard tyres, but he has plenty of pressure behind him with Piastri and Hamilton both closing in.
The Racing Bulls driver will have his hands full trying to keep the pair behind, particularly with Hamilton still having plenty of race pace in reserve.
Stewards are looking at the incident during the restart involving Bortoleto and Sainz. We have yet to see exactly what happened.
Lap 17/55: Verstappen is beginning to stretch his legs at the front, with the Red Bull now 2.1sec clear of Russell. The Mercedes is another 1.5sec ahead of championship leader Antonelli in third.
Antonelli will be relieved that Hadjar has been unable to make any real progress from fourth on the soft tyres. Lawson is in fifth on the hard tyres.
Lap 15/55: There is still a long way to go, but Verstappen leads Russell at the front, and Red Bull have looked strongest in the dry and wet conditions so far. That could be a worrying sign for the rest of the field as the race develops.
Russell has opened up a 1.1sec gap to Antonelli, who needs to regroup after that difficult restart and keep his championship rival within reach.
Further back, some of the frontrunners who started towards the rear are beginning to make their way through the field. Norris is climbing again, while Hamilton is also starting to make progress – up to P11.
Lap 14/55: Sainz has dropped all the way down to P18, a spin on the soft tyres looks the most likely explanation.
Up at the front, Verstappen has reclaimed the lead, while Russell has now moved ahead of his championship rival Antonelli.
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Lap 13/55: Verstappen leads after restart after tight battles in Turn 1 and 2. Russell gets by Antonelli too, who is starting to stop-start a bit.
Lap 12/55: Safety Car is coming in at the end of this lap after Bottas’ car was cleared.
Lap 11/55: Hamilton only driver yet to pit. Safety Car remains out for now.
Lap 10/55: Antonelli and Russell has swapped to the mediums, as has Russell. Verstappen is in the softs.
Lap 10/55: Safety Car comes out after Bottas drives in the gravel. Everyone uses the opportunity to switch from inters.
Lap 9/55: Antonelli goes wide through the final corner but he just manages to hold on to the lead despite Verstappen trying to get through. Hulkenberg pits for softs.
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Lap 8/55: Verstappen 0.7sec behind Antonelli. Russell says track seems to be retaining water. Leclerc has been noted for driving into Hulkenberg.
Lap 7/55: Leclerc has passed his teammate Hamilton, who has lost another 10sec to Antonelli on the last lap, for P17.
Lap 6/55: Verstappen looks to make his move outside Russell at Turn 2. He gets a better look and good speed at Turn 3 and finally makes it into the inside into Turn 4 to take second place.
Lap 5/55: Antonelli leads by 1.2s over his teammate, who is ahead of Verstappen. Lawson is ahead of Hadjar. Sainz sixth, Ocon and Albon for seventh and eighth. Norris in p15 after getting rid of his mediums late and Hamilton says the track is starting to dry and wants to gamble and stay out.
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Lap 4/55: Leclerc pits for inters and he is at the back. Bad start for Ferrari.
Lap 4/55: Verstappen is in third and fighting for a spot higher up with the two Mercedes drivers. Antonelli leads by one second from Russell.
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Lights out at the Bahrain GP
Lap 3/55: Verstappen, Hamilton barely get off the line and it is a Mercedes one-two. Antonelli leads from Russell. Verstappen is fighting with Lawson who has had a brilliant start. Hadjar is up to fifth, ahead of Sainz, Albon, Ocon and Lindblad. Hamilton is the first on slicks, he is down in P10.
Lap 2/55: Hamilton says that the track is really wet, adding “it’s dangerous”. But he is told it will dry up and to just keep going. Perez is into the pits and he changes to the inters. Norris has also said he wants to change off his mediums, but McLaren tell him not yet. Piastri makes the change.
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Lap 1/55: Water splashes everywhere as cars race through, over 90 minutes past the official start time. Gasly spins off into the grass. Verstappen has picked up the Safety Car.
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Here we go again! In terms of tyres we have Intermediates for most, including Verstappen. Mediums for Norris and Piastri. Softs for Leclerc and Hamilton. Mercedes are on inters.
Three minutes till race start …
If you’re just tuning in …
The start of the rain-delayed Bahrain Grand Prix was farcically suspended after multiple cars broke down in the wet conditions.
After a deluge of rain, the start-time for the round – which is taking place in Malaysia – was pushed back by 40 minutes. But when they attempted to get the race underway a number of drivers were hit by technical problems on the formation laps.
Today’s round marks the first time this season’s new cars – a 50-50 split between combustion and battery power which had already faced severe criticism – have run in the wet, in either qualifying or a race.
Pole-sitter Max Verstappen was the first to be struck down by gremlins as he complained he could not accelerate.
That meant the following pack were crawling around the Sepang circuit before Lewis Hamilton, second on the grid, then hit trouble in his Ferrari. “I am pressing the throttle and nothing is happening,” complained the seven-time world champion as he stopped at the side of the track.
Behind Hamilton, other drivers also struggled to move in embarrassing scenes for Formula One. The start was suspended as the drivers limped back to the pits. The original start order will be restored but no word yet on what time the GP will get under way again.
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Race start: Confirmation that our start order will be the original grid. Reminder that there is a rule written for suspension of start procedure that says in F1 drivers entering the pit lane will start in the order they entered the pit lane. The FIA have decided to ditch that due to circumstances but we may hear some complaints from teams.
Weather update: The rain has stopped.
Race start: Good news for Lewis Hamilton. The FIA have just said: “In all likelihood, the original grid order will be used to start the race.”
Formation lap: Because the standing procedure has been suspended, the drivers are back into the pit lane as if they were under red flag conditions. Hamilton is crawling around alone to catch back up.
Starting procedure suspended
Lewis Hamilton says he has problems with the throttle and then comes to the stop; the Italian team say it’s a software issue. Drivers behind Hamilton slowed down as not to overtake, so now we have cars all over the track.
Verstappen, who earlier could not accelerate, remains behind the Safety Car, but some of the back markers are nearly a lap down already.
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Formation lap: The first of at least two formation laps is under way. The track temperature is down to 35C, while the air temperature is 25C.
Weather update: The rain is still falling, although it has eased considerably. The bigger concern now is the amount of standing water that has built up on the track.
Race control will give the teams a 10-minute warning once they believe conditions are suitable for racing to begin.
From there, we could see a traditional standing start, or the race could get underway behind the Safety Car. If the cars follow the Safety Car, Race Control can then choose between a rolling start or a standing start. They can also mandate the use of full wet tyres while the cars are behind the Safety Car.
Once the race gets underway on either wet or intermediate tyres, however, teams will not be required to use two different dry compounds.
Weather update: The medical car is out now, and not finding it easy to stay on the track!. The latest from the FIA: “[The] medical car is reporting a significant amount of standing water around the track. Current conditions are not suitable to start the race.”
Weather update: “Rain intensity have been steady for the last 10 mins and no improvement is forecasted for the next 5/10 mins,” the FIA have just said. “[The] medical car is going on track shortly to report on track conditions.”
Tyres: Tyre degradation has been one of the big talking points throughout the weekend, and with the rain threatening to shake things up, it is worth taking another look at what could prove crucial if the track starts to dry.
The circuit’s naturally abrasive surface is already putting plenty of stress through the tyres, while the extreme track temperatures had been adding to the problem too. With the conditions cooling, that is less of a concern for now.
There is also a degree of uncertainty. F1 has not raced here for almost a decade, so teams have limited recent data to work with – particularly with this generation of cars. How much degradation will we see if drivers are forced to follow closely for extended periods? And with no wet races so far this season, there is another unknown in how the intermediate tyres will perform.
All of that made the strategy difficult enough to predict before the heavens opened. Now, with the rain in play, it could become even more complicated.
Red Bull: Max Verstappen says: “I think in the dry or the wet, the more clean air you have, the better. The thing around here it’s always very difficult to know because there are new cells popping up, so it’s hard to predict for everyone.”
McLaren: Lando Norris says: “It’s good fun, I’m happy I finally got to come here and race. I’ve seen some brilliant races [here] so I’m hoping for the same today. There are a lot of things to try and take into account, I’m hoping it can be a good track for racing. I’m looking forward to it, I hope there are opportunities for us and that we can take advantage of them.”
Race start delayed
Due to the weather conditions the race will be delayed.
We watch the drivers stand with their umbrellas as the two national anthems play out. First, since this is the Bahrain Grand Prix, we hear that anthem followed by the Malaysian national anthem.
Weather update: A big bolt of lightning has just flashed over the circuit and the rain continues to pour down.
Racing Bulls: Alan Permane, the Team Principal, says: “This [rain] popped up from nowhere and it has grown and grown and got stronger. I think it will be inters. If it starts like this they will mandate the wet tyre but because the track is so abrasive, it will get chewed up anyway.”
Mercedes: Antonelli remains comfortably in control of the championship, holding a 66-point advantage over his Mercedes team-mate Russell. Verstappen, meanwhile, sits down in sixth and looks unlikely to pose a serious threat to the title fight from here.
For Russell, though, today represents a crucial opportunity. Starting seventh, he has plenty of work to do if he is to stop Antonelli from extending his championship lead. And if the conditions turn wet, Russell could yet have a card to play. He has proven himself more than capable in tricky conditions – but Antonelli has too.
Just look back to the Italian’s remarkable debut in Australia last year. In treacherous conditions, Antonelli was the only rookie to finish the race, charging from 16th on the grid to take an impressive fourth-place finish.
Weather update: It has begun to rain down heavily. In terms of track conditions, it is a lot cooler at 43C than yesterday, when at times the track was at 59C.
2026 season: The final races of the Formula One season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will go ahead as planned despite the conflict in the Middle East, the sport’s chief executive, Stefano Domenicali, said on Saturday.
“Based on the information we have, everything is confirmed for [us to stay in] Qatar and Abu Dhabi,” Domenicali told the French broadcaster Canal+ on the sidelines of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was relocated to the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.
Speaking to Sky Sport Italia, the head of motorsport’s blue riband series “confirmed the schedule for the final two grands prix” of the year in Qatar on 29 November and Abu Dhabi on 6 December.
The Bahrain and Saudi Arabia grands prix were scrapped earlier this season due to the start of the US-led war with Iran.
Domenicali insisted “that everything was in order” and that “teams and drivers were being kept informed of the situation”. He added that 99% of tickets had been sold in Abu Dhabi and that the season-ending race was generating “great excitement”.
Read the full story below.
Preamble
All eyes are on Sepang as the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia gets ready to roar into life – and there is plenty at stake.
And there is plenty to get excited about as Max Verstappen starts from pole, with Lewis Hamilton alongside him on the front row – the first time the two have shared the front row since July 2023.
Verstappen finally has his first pole of the season after an outstanding qualifying session, and the four-time world champion will be targeting his first Red Bull victory of the campaign. Hamilton, meanwhile, will be chasing a second career win with Ferrari.
Behind them, Isack Hadjar starts third but will drop five places due to his grid penalty, promoting the championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, to the second row. The Italian arrives with a healthy lead over title rival George Russell, who starts seventh, and will have his sights firmly set on another victory.
With the championship battle heating up and Verstappen and Hamilton starting side by side, there is plenty at stake when the lights go out.
Stay with us as we buildup to the start at 8am BST time.
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