Max Verstappen won his first Formula 1 grand prix of the 2026 season on Sunday (Oct. 4) at an infuriating yet exciting Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia after losing the lead at the start of the race.
“It’s a really nice one, you know after the year that we’ve had and the progression that we’ve made so I am incredibly proud of everyone and it’s super nice to win here,” Verstappen said to F1TV about his win.
Kimi Antonelli would finish second after leading the first 12 laps while Lewis Hamilton grabbed the final podium spot in an up and down day that saw him start second, end up as low as 18th and finish third.
Charles Leclerc overtook Isack Hadjar on the final safety car restart to finish fourth while Hadjar made up three places over the course of the race to finish fifth.
Trailing Hadjar for sixth was Oscar Piastri who finished within a second of the Red Bull Racing driver. Then came Liam Lawson in seventh, who made it as high as fourth at the start of the Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso took his third points-paying finish of the season in eighth place.
Lando Norris came in ninth after he went off track during the final safety car while Arvid Lindblad rounded out the points in 10th for his 10th points finish in the past 11 races.
Also, Lance Stroll finished in 12th for his first lead lap finish of 2026.
The race kicked off horribly after half the grid’s power stopped working during the formation lap due to the low speeds. It was so bad that the FIA had to introduce an emergency software update so the cars wouldn’t malfunction.
On top of the software conundrum, the track was still wet, so the grid was split between slicks and intermediates which made the race start interesting.
On the race start, Antonelli and George Russell leapfrogged Verstappen, who started on pole. Even though he was caught lacking on the race start, Verstappen would make quick work of Russell and on lap six would make the pass for second.
And even with the mega start, Antonelli’s gap to Verstappen would be nullified after Valtteri Bottas went off into the gravel and forced the safety car to come out.
With the grid bunched and the top 14 pitting for slicks, the restart would produce an amazing on track moment as Verstappen made his move and overtook Antonelli for on lap 13.
Also on the restart, Carlos Sainz saw his race go from good to bad as he was be spun by Gabriel Bortoleto who picked up a 10-second penalty for the incident.
In the 10 laps following the restart, Hamilton carved his way through the field on his older soft tires, making it to fifth and quickly hunting down Hadjar.
Meanwhile in the front of the pack, Verstappen put an 11 second gap between him and Antonelli before Alex Albon pulled over to the side of the road due to a gearbox failure. That would draw out the virtual safety car, allowing the top five to pit for fresh soft tires.
With eight laps to go, the full safety car came out so the recovery vehicle could gather Albon’s car and in doing so Piastri and Norris pitted to take fresh soft tires.
And just the race was going back to green, Russell pulled over to the side of the road due to a supposed power unit issue. His car was rolled behind the barriers in a timely manner and the race went green with four laps to go.
On the final race restart, Hamilton came out guns blazing, overtaking Hadjar with no contest on equal tires to secure his sixth podium finish of the season. Verstappen also had a mega restart to keep Antonelli at bay.
Antonelli now holds a 84 point lead over Russell in the World Drivers’ Championship while Mercedes lost points to Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship, now holding a 151-point lead over the Italian team.
2026 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia Race Results
F1 will return to the track on Sunday, Oct. 11 for the Singapore Grand Prix to be televised in the U.S. on Apple TV.
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