The 2026 Formula 1 (F1) Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia turns out not only to be a historic, once-in-a-lifetime event, but also an action-packed and memorable one, as four-time world champion Max Verstappen took the top podium spot in this rain-soaked race.
The Dutchman converted his pole position into victory last Sunday, after torrential rain, lengthy race-start delay, formation lap chaos, and plenty of Safety Car actions came into the foray for F1’s return to the iconic Petronas Sepang International Circuit (SIC).
First Win for Red Bull in 2026, First Victory for RBPT
Despite being his 72nd time on top of the podium, this latest victory turned out to be quite memorable for Verstappen, where not only this is the first victory for Oracle Red Bull Racing this season but also the first win for its own powertrain arm—Red Bull Powertrains (RBPT).
2026 saw the Milton Keynes-based outfit ditching Honda as its powertrain supplier for their own, with the RBPT power unit being co-developed together with its new technical and strategic partner Ford.
The victory was made even more special as this is the first time a non-Mercedes-powered car won a grand prix this season, with the previous winners this year either coming from Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team or the Merc-powered McLaren.
Antonelli Extends Championship Lead, Hamilton’s Podium Streak Continues
Taking the second spot is current drivers’ championship leader Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antonelli, who extended his championship points to 320, as his teammate George Russell suffered a power unit failure with only five laps remaining in the race.
With this second-place finish, the Italian ace now amassed a healthy 84-point lead over Russell, thus making it mathematically possible for him to clinch the title in the next round—the Singapore Grand Prix.
Completing the podium spot is 7-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who against all odds drove his SF-26 to the third place after a Ferrari tyre-strategy gamble cost him to lose his front-row qualifying result.
Having dropped as far as the 18th place during the race, the Brit fought back stunningly to claim the final podium spot, with the final safety car deployment due to Russell’s breakdown giving him the chance to overtake Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in the final three laps of the race.
Torrential Rain, Software Bugs Causing Delays
After a sunny and arid first two days, Sunday proved to be quite an eventful day, with the race being initially delayed by 40 minutes due to heavy rain.
Once the rain was settled and the track deemed to be ‘safe’ for racing by the officials, what was supposed to be the first wet-weather race of the season quickly descended into chaos, as several cars suffered a sudden loss of power during the formation lap.
According to FIA, this was caused by an “unprecedented” glitch on the software of the power unit, causing the start procedure to be abandoned entirely and the grand prix eventually started over 90 minutes than the originally scheduled race time.
“On the formation lap ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, 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,” said the FIA in a statement.
“As a result, the FIA Technical Department removed the energy limit constraint in the affected sectors through an updated software release distributed to all competitors during the race delay caused by heavy rain enabling teams to make the necessary changes to the Power Unit before the start of the race,” the statement continues.
Photo credit: F1
