Max Verstappen converted pole position into victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on Sunday, ending a winless run for Oracle Red Bull Racing and marking the first triumph for the team’s Red Bull Ford Powertrains package in only its second season of competition.
What changed at Sepang
The four-time world champion completed 55 laps at the Sepang International Circuit in 1 hour 47 minutes 14.808 seconds, beating Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli by 2.307 seconds and finishing 4.919 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in third. Charles Leclerc took fourth for Ferrari, with Verstappen’s team-mate Isack Hadjar fifth as the field traded positions through multiple tyre phases.
Official timing published by the FIA listed Verstappen on 25 championship points, Antonelli on 18 and Hamilton on 15. George Russell retired from a podium position with five laps remaining when his Mercedes power unit failed, a setback that reshaped the fight at the front of the drivers’ standings.
Rain, software glitches and restarts
The race did not begin cleanly. Heavy tropical rain before the scheduled start forced a delay of roughly 90 minutes, and several formation laps were aborted while marshals waited for conditions to stabilise. Once the grand prix finally started, Verstappen and Hamilton lost ground on the opening lap as Antonelli and Russell swept past on intermediate tyres on a track that was still damp.
BBC Sport reported that multiple cars, including Verstappen’s Red Bull and Hamilton’s Ferrari, were briefly limited to crawling speeds because of a software issue that affected acceleration on the wet circuit. Teams worked through the problem while the safety car kept the field bunched, and racing resumed with a series of strategic gambles on when to switch from intermediates to slicks.
Verstappen repassed Russell for second on lap six and pressured Antonelli until a safety car period allowed the leaders to pit for dry tyres. On the restart he passed Antonelli at Turn Four and controlled the middle stint even as Russell closed again. A late safety car triggered by Alex Albon’s stranded Williams sent the front runners back to fresh tyres for a short sprint, but Verstappen was untroubled to the flag.
Why the win matters for Red Bull
Red Bull entered 2026 without a victory through the European summer, unusual for a team that dominated the 2021–2024 championships with Honda power. The switch to in-house Ford-branded units was sold internally as a long-term competitive bet, but public pressure mounted after McLaren and Ferrari traded wins while Verstappen often qualified strongly without converting.
Formula 1’s official race report described Sunday’s result as a “significant milestone” for Red Bull Ford Powertrains. Verstappen also set the fastest lap of the race on the final tour, underlining tyre management once the track dried. Team principal Christian Horner had said before the weekend that Sepang’s traction zones would stress the new package; delivering a win on a circuit that last hosted Formula 1 in 2024 gives the powertrain group evidence that reliability and deployment are improving.
Championship ripple effects
Antonelli’s second place tightened his grip on the rookie narrative and kept Mercedes in the constructors’ fight despite Russell’s retirement. Hamilton’s third-place finish continued Ferrari’s pattern of strong race pace after difficult Saturdays, while Lando Norris recovered to ninth for McLaren after an early setback.
The calendar now turns toward higher-speed venues where Red Bull’s high-downforce specification has historically excelled. Rivals will study whether Sunday’s win reflected a genuine step in horsepower and driveability or a one-off alignment of weather, safety cars and strategy. For Verstappen, the answer is simpler: he leaves Malaysia with 25 points and proof that Red Bull can still win in a season that had begun to look uncomfortable.
What happens next
Teams pack up for the freight flight to the next round while FIA stewards publish technical bulletins on the software limitation that slowed several cars on the formation laps. Verstappen told reporters he was relieved to end the drought, but added that tyre warm-up on the crossover from wet to dry remained the decisive variable. Antonelli said Mercedes would review power-unit settings after Russell’s failure to avoid a repeat when the championship fight tightens.