Sports · 04 October, 2026 · 3 min read
Max Verstappen Wins Rain-Delayed Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia After Red Bull First Season Victory
Max Verstappen wins Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, first 2026 victory after rain-delayed start. He beat Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton to second and third.
Whether postponement context is geopolitics or weather delay.
11 of 12 outlets skipped it: qualifying included penalties for driving 'unnecessarily slow' on out laps.
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BBC
“hosting this race after it was postponed earlier in the year because of the war in the Middle East”Read the original ↗
BBC stresses geopolitics behind the race calendar. Al Jazeera leads with weather chaos and race delay.
Verstappen wins in Sepang
Max Verstappen won his and Red Bull's first Formula One race of the season in a rain-delayed Bahrain Grand Prix held at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, with the start pushed back by heavy rain and then by technical problems during formation laps. Max Verstappen led home Kimi Antonelli in second and Lewis Hamilton in third, after George Russell retired from third place with a power unit failure with five laps to go. The race unfolded with a safety car period after Valtteri Bottas spun into the gravel on lap nine, and Verstappen took the lead that he would not relinquish when the safety car ended.
The BBC described the day as starting amid “chaotic and unprecedented scenes,” while the Al Jazeera report said Verstappen “finally won his first race of the Formula One season” after chaotic scenes at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The race then moved on to Singapore for a night race and sprint next weekend, with Formula One shifting away from Malaysia after the Sepang result.
Drivers slam the delays
Formula 1 drivers reacted sharply to the disrupted start, with Lando Norris calling it “horrible” and saying it “proves that we shouldn't have any of that stuff on the electronic side.” Sergio Pérez said the situation was “totally unacceptable for the sport,” after the FIA supplied a software patch and uploaded it to each team when cars were told to return to the pits. The FIA said that “an unprecedented combination of low engine speed, low-grip conditions, wet-weather energy management settings and the Sepang circuit's sector configuration led to an unintended loss of power for a number of cars.”
Max Verstappen said the problem was tied to the regulations and electronics, saying “When there is some kind of error or glitch, or whatever you want to call it, that's the problem.” George Russell said the fans that turned up to Malaysia's first grand prix since 2017 deserved a better show, describing “The whole day felt like a bit of a faff” after the delay, red flag, and safety car laps.
Title fight reshaped
Kimi Antonelli extended his title momentum by finishing second, and the BBC said Antonelli now leads Russell by 84 points with either six or seven races remaining. BThe BBC also reported that Verstappen's win came after a delay of an hour and a half caused initially by heavy rain and then by a series of bizarre technical problems that left several cars crawling as they completed formation laps behind the safety car. BThe Al Jazeera report said Verstappen was the last driver to win in Sepang in 2017 before it was taken off the F1 calendar, and it said he had taken pole and started from pole for the first time this season.A
The CNews account said Verstappen finished ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton, and it quoted Verstappen saying, “It was a beautiful race and a great feeling to finally win this season.” The ESPN account said the FIA later provided a software patch after the power losses, and it described the start as over 90 minutes behind schedule as the race resumed.