Bahrain in Malaysia – Race File 002 – 04. October 2026
The Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia was supposed to be another step in a long championship fight.
Instead, it turned into one of the strangest races of the 2026 season.
Heavy rain delayed the start. Cars suddenly lost power on the formation lap because of a software issue. Drivers were sent back to the pits. Then came a complete tyre gamble, Safety Cars, strategy chaos, a huge recovery from Lewis Hamilton and a late Mercedes heartbreak.
And after all of that, Max Verstappen finally had his moment.
The four-time World Champion took his first victory of the 2026 season, beating Kimi Antonelli to the win at Sepang.
Before the race even started
The chaos began before a single racing lap had been completed.
Heavy rain hit Sepang shortly before the scheduled start, leaving large amounts of standing water on the circuit. The original start was delayed while conditions improved enough for the cars to head out.
But the rain delay was only the beginning.
As the field eventually headed around the circuit behind the Safety Car, several drivers suddenly found themselves struggling to accelerate.
Max Verstappen was one of the first to report a problem.
Lewis Hamilton then experienced something similar in his Ferrari.
The situation became even stranger when Hamilton’s car effectively stopped responding to the throttle. Esteban Ocon and other drivers encountered similar issues.
The starting procedure was suspended.
The entire field returned to the pits.
And Formula 1 suddenly had a much bigger problem than rain.
So, what actually happened?
At first, the scenes looked like a collection of unrelated mechanical failures.
They weren’t.
The FIA later explained that an unprecedented combination of factors had triggered the problems.
The extremely slow running behind the Safety Car, low-grip conditions, wet-weather energy-management settings and Sepang’s particular sector configuration combined in a way that had not been properly anticipated.
The cars’ software effectively entered a situation where some of them were unable to return to normal power delivery.
The problem had escaped testing.
And with very little wet-weather running throughout the season, there had simply not been enough data from this particular combination of conditions.
The FIA and teams worked on a solution before the cars could properly prepare for the race.
By the time the field was ready to go again, the scheduled start had become a distant memory.
And somehow, the actual race was about to be just as chaotic.
A completely different race
Once the race finally got underway, the biggest question wasn’t simply who was fastest.
It was who had chosen the right tyre.
The grid was split between Intermediate and slick tyres, creating completely different strategic possibilities from the very beginning.
Drivers who had committed to slicks were taking a huge gamble on the circuit drying quickly.
Those on Intermediates had the safer option — but potentially the slower one once the racing line dried.
And as usual in conditions like these, the weather didn’t care about anyone’s strategy.
Antonelli takes control
Kimi Antonelli had started from P3, but the Mercedes driver made an excellent getaway.
He moved into the lead fight immediately, while George Russell also made strong progress from P7.
For Mercedes, the opening phase looked extremely promising.
Antonelli was leading.
Russell was right there.
Verstappen was behind.
But Sepang wasn’t finished changing the race.
Verstappen strikes back
As the track evolved and the tyre strategies began to separate, Verstappen found himself in the perfect position.
Red Bull’s decision to move onto Soft tyres gave the Dutchman the grip he needed.
After the Safety Car period, Verstappen attacked Antonelli and eventually took the lead.
From there, the Red Bull became increasingly difficult to challenge.
Antonelli continued to push, but Verstappen had created enough of a gap to control the race.
The man who had started the season without a victory finally had one.
For Red Bull Ford Powertrains, it was even more significant:
their first Formula 1 victory.
Hamilton goes from P18 to the podium
If Verstappen’s victory was the headline, Lewis Hamilton’s recovery was arguably the drive of the race.
The Ferrari driver’s slick-tyre gamble initially looked disastrous.
Hamilton dropped all the way down the order, at one point finding himself in P18.
It looked like the strategy had completely destroyed his race.
But Hamilton stayed out.
And as the track dried, the gamble started to pay off.
The slick tyres became faster and faster while the Safety Car periods helped compress the field.
Suddenly, Hamilton was back in contention.
Then he started picking off cars.
One by one.
By the closing stages, the Ferrari was no longer fighting for a handful of points.
Hamilton was fighting for the podium.
And he got it.
From P18 to P3.
A remarkable recovery from a race that looked almost lost.
Aston Martin quietly makes a statement
While the podium fight understandably took most of the attention, Aston Martin had a really solid afternoon of its own.
Fernando Alonso started outside the top ten but kept moving forward as the race unfolded.
He stayed out of trouble, made the most of the changing conditions and eventually brought the Aston Martin home in P8.
It might not sound spectacular next to a podium or a victory, but in a race this unpredictable, simply making the right calls consistently was an achievement in itself.
And honestly, I’m really happy to see Alonso get that result.
Aston Martin has had plenty of weekends where the pace has been there in flashes but the final result hasn’t quite followed.
P8 here feels like a result the team can actually build on.
And Alonso doing Alonso things in a chaotic race is always a welcome sight.
Then came the George heartbreak
While Antonelli was heading towards another huge championship result, George Russell’s race ended in the worst possible way.
With just five laps remaining, Russell’s Mercedes stopped on the start/finish straight.
After fighting near the front for much of the race, he suddenly had nothing to show for it.
And honestly?
That one hurts.
Russell had put himself in a strong position throughout the race, only for the car to give up when the points were right there.
For Mercedes, it was a frustrating end to an otherwise potentially very strong weekend.
For Antonelli, however, it was another huge championship opportunity.
Kimi finished second.
Russell scored nothing.
And Antonelli extended his championship advantage to 84 points over his teammate.
Sometimes Formula 1 is incredibly cruel.
Final Classification
The bigger picture
- Hamilton’s incredible recovery.
- A strong Aston Martin showing.
- Russell’s heartbreaking late retirement.
- And finally, Verstappen’s first victory of the season.
- For Verstappen, this was the victory he had been waiting for.
- For Red Bull Ford Powertrains, it was their first win.
- For Hamilton, it was an incredible comeback.
- For Alonso and Aston Martin, it was a quiet but genuinely encouraging result.
And for Kimi Antonelli, P2 might be almost as valuable as the victory itself.
He leaves Sepang with another podium, another huge championship haul and an 84-point lead over George Russell.
After one of the strangest races of the season, the championship leader somehow comes out looking stronger than ever.