> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Verstappen dominates Malaysia F1 race after early chaos - URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-dominates-malaysia-f1-race-after-early-chaos/ - Published: 2026-10-04T10:40:43.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-04T10:40:43.000Z - Description: Max Verstappen took a commanding first win of the season in a Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, which finished over three hours after it started thanks to heavy rain at the start - Author: Jack Benyon - Tags: Formula 1, #bahrain-grand-prix, #max-verstappen, #secondary_feature_4 Max Verstappen took a commanding first win of the season in a Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, which finished over three hours after it started thanks to heavy rain at the start. Kimi Antonelli extended his championship lead, with the late-race retirement for team-mate and main rival George Russell. After an aborted start where multiple cars stopped on track and a software issue had to be corrected [with a lengthy delay in the pits,](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/malaysia-f1-start-attempt-abandoned-after-multiple-cars-stop/) the race finally got going an hour and a half late. Eight cars elected to go for dry tyres and the rest of the field chose intermediates. It was a potent decision to take the inters as Lewis Hamilton, starting second and the top car on the dry tyres, was already a pitstop behind the leaders after a lap and a half and down to 15th. Antonelli fired into the lead ahead of Russell, the Mercedes duo having started third and seventh respectively, swiping past the dry-tyre runners and Verstappen, who had a really slow start and had to defend robustly from Liam Lawson initially to hold third. By lap 9/55, when the dry tyres appeared to finally be as fast as the inters, Lando Norris on the mediums was the top dry tyre runner and 15th - 1m16s behind the leaders! Just at that crossover, Valtteri Bottas went off and beached his Cadillac in the gravel at Turn 14 causing a safety car to bunch up the field. On the restart Verstappen shadowed Antonelli closely and eventually edged ahead through Turn 3, and Russell followed to take second. As Verstappen broke clear, Antonelli lobbied to be moved ahead of Russell, then passed him anyway on lap 21/55 into Turn 4, but ran wide at the final corner shortly after, which gifted Verstappen an extra two seconds, extending his lead to almost eight seconds. After stopping on lap 34/55 Verstappen maintained what was now a 10s lead. A late virtual safety car for Alex Albon's stricken Williams brought Verstappen in to the pits and handed the lead to Antonelli briefly, before Antonelli and Russell stopped the lap after. The virtual safety car turned into a full-on safety car, bunching the field again. But just prior to the restart, Russell pulled over with a power unit issue, dropping out of the podium fight. That left a four-lap final shootout between Verstappen and Antonelli, and Verstappen held on for a first 2026 win for Red Bull and its new powertrains division. Antonelli took second to extend his championship lead to 84 points. Russell's sudden retirement opened the door for a new third-place finisher. After the first safety car early in the race, Hamilton had carved through the pack, going from 16th to fifth in 10 laps - despite the drivers around being on fresher tyres than him. Hamilton then continued to run a second per lap quicker than Isack Hadjar - "how is that possible?", Hadjar barked on the radio - erasing an 11s gap to 3.5s in 11 laps. They both pitted on lap 32/55 with the gap falling again to 1.8s, with Hamilton on the mediums versus Hadjar's softs. Hamilton couldn't make the move on mediums he hated, but with the late safety car and the new soft tyres it facilitated, Hamilton made quick work of Hadjar at Turn 1 the lap after the final restart. And Charles Leclerc compounded Hadjar's late misery to slip by into Turn 1 also. Leclerc made use of an undercut to jump ahead of both McLarens after starting on softs and pitting for inters just after the race start, and the move on Hadjar gave him fourth. Behind Hadjar, Oscar Piastri took sixth - he had actually stopped just before the race start to take inters and that decision made his result. Lawson's epic race start was undone as faster cars came through and he took seventh - almost passing Piastri on the late restart. Behind was Fernando Alonso in a valuable eighth for Aston Martin - partly boosted by Russell and Norris issues at the end, with Norris locking up during the safety car and going into the gravel. Alonso's team-mate Lance Stroll had his best result of the year in 12th. Arvid Lindblad secured double Racing Bulls points in a race its constructors' rivals Alpine botched with the dry-tyre start and no progress after. ## Race results 1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +2.3s 3 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +4.9s 4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +7.2s 5 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +8.5s 6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +9.4s 7 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +12.7s 8 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +13.3s 9 Lando Norris (McLaren) +13.9s 10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +15.9s 11 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +17.4s 12 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +18.0s 13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +18.9s 14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +22.3s 15 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +22.5s 16 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +23.3s 17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +25.4s 18 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +28.2s 19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +29.3s DNF: George Russell (Mercedes), Alex Albon (Williams), Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)