F1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia: Max Verstappen wins in chaos as George Russell retires

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won a disorderly Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, clinching his first victory of the season, as George Russell’s title hopes dwindled further.

After the race was delayed by an hour and a half due to dysfunctional software on a wet track, Verstappen outduelled both Mercedes drivers to triumph as Russell was struck by a technical issue.

Software glitches wreak havoc

After a 40-minute delay due to a downpour, the formation lap began, with Isack Hadjar having a trip through the gravel as the whole field warmed up intermediate tyres. Several cars, including front-row starters Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, suffered software glitches that rendered throttle input ineffective. The red flag was waved, which delayed the race by a further 53 minutes.

When the race finally got under way, only nine cars opted for intermediate tyres, including Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli, Russell and Isack Hadjar. Others like Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri went for slicks – as did Pierre Gasly, who spun out behind the safety car on lap one and dropped to 13th.

A standing start took place at the end of lap two, as Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto, Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg made late pitstops to switch from slicks to intermediates.

The Silver Arrows of Antonelli and Russell surged to the front of the pack easily at lights out, despite polesitter Verstappen having the same intermediates; the four-time world champion only narrowly held off Liam Lawson for third, with the Racing Bulls man enjoying a blistering getaway too.

Meanwhile, the Ferraris dropped down the order, along with Norris. Having clipped Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi, Leclerc pitted at the end of that lap for a new front wing and moved to intermediates, while team-mate Hamilton and his compatriot lost further dozens of seconds trying to make their gamble work – along with the Alpines, Oliver Bearman, Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas.

Verstappen passed Russell for second place in Turn 4 on lap six, with the top three drivers within three seconds while fourth-placed Lawson was 10 seconds down; he was overtaken by Hadjar at the last corner on that same lap.

Verstappen caught Antonelli and started putting pressure on the race leader on lap eight; Antonelli went wide at the last corner but retained the lead.

Bottas-induced safety car levels the field

Bottas lost control in Turn 13 on lap nine and ended up benched in the gravel, causing a safety car period that was perfect timing for the inter-shod runners to switch to slicks, as the latter had become the quicker tyre compound, while allowing those who gambled on slicks to cut their losses.

Antonelli led from Verstappen, Russell, Hadjar, Lawson, Ocon, Lindblad, Sainz, Bortoleto and Piastri, with a variety of slick tyre compounds out on track – most interestingly the Mercedes drivers on mediums and the Red Bulls on softs – while Hamilton, Norris and Leclerc were down in 15th to 17th, with the Ferraris on softs and Norris on hards.

A ruthless Verstappen went around the outside of Antonelli at the restart in Turn 1, while Russell swept past in Turn 5, with the championship leader dropping to third in a few seconds. Meanwhile, Bortoleto and Sainz collided, with the Williams collapsing to 18th and the Audi driver handed a 10-second penalty.

As Verstappen pulled away from the Silver Arrows by over three seconds, Antonelli was getting impatient behind his team-mate, but team orders were not on the cards, so the Italian youngster found a way past in Turn 4 on lap 21. Further down the field, Hamilton was overtaking his opponents one after another, climbing to fifth by lap 22, while Leclerc broke into the top 10 on the following tour.

Antonelli went wide at the last corner and hit the pit entry bollard on lap 24, losing another two seconds to Verstappen, with the gap up to 7.5 seconds. He was now just one second ahead of Russell, but both gaps subsequently increased.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

The wave of second pitstops began on lap 29 for frontrunners, including Russell on lap 32, moving to softs – too early to his taste. Antonelli logically followed on the next tour to avoid being undercut, and so did Verstappen, now comfortably leading by 11 seconds.
Verstappen (briefly) cedes lead under VSC, Russell retires

As Hadjar found himself under pressure from Hamilton, the virtual safety car neutralized the race, with Alex Albon stopped due to a technical failure. Verstappen opted for a ‘cheap’ pitstop but ceded the lead to Antonelli; both Ferraris also changed tyres.

Mercedes eventually opted to pit both cars on the following tour, along with most frontrunners, until the VSC turned into a full safety car – which swayed the remaining ones.

Ahead of the final laps in green-flag conditions, Verstappen led Antonelli, Russell, Hadjar, Hamilton, Leclerc, Piastri, Norris, Lawson and Alonso, who fought his way into the top 10.

But before racing even got back under way, Russell stopped trackside with a technical issue and retired, while Norris was surprised by cars slowing down ahead and had a trip through the gravel and fell to 11th.

There were just four laps remaining when the safety car returned to the pitlane, and Verstappen mastered the restart, as is typical from him; he was never at threat from Antonelli and triumphed. Hamilton found a way past Hadjar in Turn 1 on lap 53, clinching his first podium finish since Silverstone. The Frenchman also dropped behind the sister Ferrari of Leclerc.

Piastri finished sixth ahead of Lawson, while a combative Alonso held off Norris for eighth. Lindblad scored the last available point in 10th, underlining another strong day for Racing Bulls relative to the rival Alpine squad.

Having held sixth place early on, Esteban Ocon collapsed to 15th under the chequered flag, behind team-mate Oliver Bearman.

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