Max Verstappen converted pole position into victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, beating Kimi Antonelli by 2.307 seconds at Sepang International Circuit in a race cut to 55 laps after torrential rain and thunderstorms delayed the start. Lewis Hamilton brought Ferrari onto the podium in third, 4.919 seconds down, with team-mate Charles Leclerc fourth.
The scheduled distance was 56 laps or a 120-minute limit, whichever came first, because Formula 1 sets a lap count for each circuit and caps the clock alongside it. The start was pushed back by 93 minutes, the race ran to 55 laps, and Verstappen took the chequered flag in 1:47:14.808, which works out to an average of 170.6 km/h around the 5.543km Sepang lap.
Verstappen had gone quickest in qualifying with a 1:35.130 at 209.763 km/h to claim pole position, the first slot on the starting grid and the reward for the fastest qualifying lap. Hamilton was 0.298s away on 1:35.428. Isack Hadjar was the third-quickest driver on the day with a 1:35.558, but he started eighth, because the FIA docked him five grid places for taking a seventh internal combustion engine, more than the season’s allocation permits, and everyone behind him moved up a place.
Hadjar was not the only driver carrying a penalty onto the grid. Arvid Lindblad lost 30 places for a fifth engine, a fifth turbocharger and a fifth exhaust set, which put the Racing Bulls car on the back row in 22nd. Franco Colapinto took five places for causing a collision at the previous round and another ten for his own power unit changes, and lined up 21st. The twenty drivers who set a qualifying time were covered by 3.803 seconds, from Verstappen’s 1:35.130 to Sergio Perez’s 1:38.933 at the back of the order.
How the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia Was Won
Antonelli came home 2.307 seconds behind for Mercedes, having started third and taken a place off Hamilton, and the top ten finished covered by 15.928 seconds.
Leclerc was fourth at 7.258s and Hadjar fifth at 8.571s, three places better than his penalised grid slot, with Oscar Piastri sixth for McLaren.
The closing laps turned on a Williams. Alexander Albon stopped on track after 41 laps and the virtual safety car came out, a procedure that slows every driver to a set delta without bunching the field up behind a physical car. When marshals could not push Albon’s car clear, because it was stuck in gear, race control upgraded to a full safety car.
That was where George Russell’s afternoon ended. The Mercedes driver pulled off on lap 50 with a technical problem, reported by RacingNews365 as a suspected power unit issue, and was classified 20th having completed 49 laps.
Lando Norris, who had qualified fifth, ran off into the gravel at Turn 1 during the same safety car period and dropped to ninth. Racing resumed on lap 51 with four laps left to run, and nobody in the top five lost a place in the sprint to the flag.
Racing Bulls Turn Two Penalties Into Two Points Finishes
Liam Lawson’s seventh place came from eleventh on the grid, and Fernando Alonso took eighth from twelfth for Aston Martin. The best recovery of the day belonged to Lindblad, who turned a 30-place penalty into a tenth-place finish, twelve positions gained from the last row of the grid and the final spot in the top ten.
Colapinto made up eight places to finish 13th, and Nico Hulkenberg was the first driver outside the top ten in 11th for Audi.
Two drivers who had reached the final qualifying session went the other way. Pierre Gasly started ninth and finished 16th, and Gabriel Bortoleto started tenth and finished 18th, which left Alpine and Audi with one car each in the bottom five. Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon brought the Haas cars home 14th and 15th, 0.227s apart, and Perez was 19th for Cadillac.
Nineteen cars completed the full 55 laps and every one of them crossed the line inside 30 seconds of the winner.
Final classification, Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – 1:47:14.808
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – +2.307s
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – +4.919s
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – +7.258s
- Isack Hadjar (Red Bull Racing) – +8.571s
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – +9.454s
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – +12.753s
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – +13.372s
- Lando Norris (McLaren) – +13.993s
- Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) – +15.928s
- Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) – +17.404s
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – +18.052s
- Franco Colapinto (Alpine) – +18.997s
- Oliver Bearman (Haas F1 Team) – +22.305s
- Esteban Ocon (Haas F1 Team) – +22.532s
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – +23.315s
- Carlos Sainz (Williams) – +25.431s
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) – +28.233s
- Sergio Perez (Cadillac) – +29.310s
- George Russell (Mercedes) – 49 laps, retired
NC. Alexander Albon (Williams) – 41 laps, retired
NC. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) – 7 laps, retired
Valtteri Bottas was the first retirement of the afternoon, his Cadillac stopping after seven laps, and twenty of the 22 starters were classified.
Formula 1 lists the result of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia as provisional, which means the order can still move if the stewards rule on anything after publication.
Follow Just Plain Sport for the full Formula 1 fallout from Sepang and every detail of the next round as it lands.
