Bahrain GP in Malaysia: Rain, Tire Chaos, Mercedes Heartbreak … and Max Is Back
Well, this was supposed to be the Bahrain Grand Prix. Except… we were in Malaysia.
After Bahrain was cancelled earlier in the season, Sepang stepped in, bringing Formula 1 back to Malaysia for the first time since 2017. Nine years later, Sepang welcomed F1 back the only way it knows how:
with rain. A LOT of rain.
And suddenly, the first race wasn't against each other, it was against the weather.
The start was delayed by more than 90 minutes as heavy rain swept across the circuit. And once we finally got racing, the first big question wasn't who had the fastest car.
It was: who chose the right tires?
And apparently, nobody was completely sure.
More than half of the field went with slicks, while others chose intermediates. On a track that was still wet enough to punish the wrong decision, it immediately became a strategy experiment.
Lewis Hamilton was one of the biggest victims.
Starting from P2, Ferrari's slick-tire gamble went badly wrong and Hamilton dropped all the way down to P18.
Mercedes, meanwhile, came alive.
Kimi Antonelli and George Russell both got ahead of Max Verstappen in the opening phase, and suddenly it looked like Mercedes might control the race.
But Max had other plans.
Max Finds His Speed
The first Safety Car changed everything.
Red Bull switched Verstappen onto soft tires, and once racing resumed, the pace difference became obvious. He dispatched Russell, then Antonelli, and started building a gap.
This became a very different race for the two Mercedes drivers: Antonelli was trying to protect his championship lead, while Russell desperately needed a strong points finish to keep himself in the fight.
Meanwhile, Hamilton was coming back through the field.
And I mean coming back!!
After falling to P18, he started passing car after car. By the middle portion of the race, Lewis was already back around P5.
That may have been one of the drives of the race.
F1 Radio Never Disappoints
Then came one of my favorite radio moments.
Gabriel Bortoleto and Carlos Sainz made contact, with Bortoleto believing Sainz hadn't given him enough room.
Sainz had a slightly different interpretation.
Basically: “***, Gabi, I gave you all the space in the world!”
😂
Bortoleto ultimately received a 10-second penalty for the incident.
And this is exactly why I love listening to the driver radios. Sometimes the racing is great. Sometimes the commentary happening inside the cars is even better.
Hadjar wasn't particularly thrilled either when his engineer informed him that Hamilton was behind him — and faster.
You could almost hear the enthusiasm disappearing through the radio.
Strategy, Strategy, Strategy
Green, white, yellow or red? At Sepang, choosing the right tire at the right moment felt like a race within the race.
At this point, I almost needed a second screen just to keep track of the tires.
Around laps 31–34, everybody seemed to be heading for the pit lane.
Hamilton stopped on lap 31. Russell followed on lap 32. Then on lap 33 came Verstappen, Antonelli and Piastri.
And one lap later - Norris.
McLaren split the strategy: Piastri went back onto hards, while Norris took the faster soft tire. And suddenly the two orange cars were working their way back into the picture.
This was one of those races where watching the timing screen wasn't enough.
You had to know what everybody had on their wheels.
Softs. Hards. Mediums. Intermediates. Safety Cars.
Sepang had turned into one giant tire experiment.
And then there was Hamilton, already having recovered from his disastrous opening stint — fighting his way toward Hadjar.
The speeds make those battles even crazier. These cars were approaching 200 mph on Sepang's straights, while the drivers were simultaneously managing tires, changing conditions and looking for an opening.
Just a normal Sunday afternoon in Formula 1.
Meanwhile, my German Shepherd Axel was actually watching the race. And yes, I’m serious, look at that concentration. 😂
Experience Still Counts
Another moment I loved:
Fernando Alonso - 45 years old - battling and passing 19-year-old Arvid Lindblad.
Nico Hülkenberg, at 39, had already passed him earlier.
There is something very satisfying about watching the veterans remind the next generation that experience still matters.
And then there was Sergio Pérez talking to David Coulthard.
Pérez asked Coulthard whether he'd ever raced for McLaren.
Coulthard's answer?
Basically: Yes. Nine years.
😂
Apparently Checo missed that chapter of F1 history.
Max Pulls Away
By lap 43, Verstappen had built an advantage of roughly 12 seconds.
Behind him were Antonelli and Russell, with Hadjar and Hamilton fighting further back.
Max just kept producing fast laps.
Then everything changed again.
A Virtual Safety Car was called after Alex Albon stopped, and suddenly the pit calculations started all over again.
Max came in.
Hamilton came in.
Antonelli briefly inherited the lead.
And then Mercedes called Antonelli into the pits.
At first, I questioned it.
Should Kimi have stayed out and protected the track position?
Under normal racing conditions, the time loss from a stop would have been much more painful. Under the VSC, however, the reduced speed of everyone else substantially discounted that loss, making the stop much more attractive.
And then Mercedes' decision looked even better because…
the full Safety Car came out.
Now the entire field compressed.
Ten laps to go.
Max's huge advantage?
Gone.
Then Disaster for Russell
This one hurt.
George Russell had been running in the podium positions and desperately needed the points for the championship.
And then, while the Safety Car was still controlling the race:
Russell was out.
Power-unit failure.
After spending virtually the entire race in contention, his Mercedes simply gave up with only a handful of laps remaining.
For Russell, that wasn't merely a mechanical DNF.
With Antonelli already leading the Drivers' Championship, those lost points were enormous.
Absolutely devastating timing.
A heartbreaking end for George Russell after running in podium contention for much of the race.
Four Laps. Game On.
The Safety Car finally came in around lap 51.
Four laps remaining.
Max Verstappen had Antonelli behind him.
Hamilton was still hunting Hadjar.
Piastri was moving forward.
And suddenly the race that Verstappen had controlled with an 11+ second advantage had become a sprint to the finish.
Piastri got past Lawson and moved into P6.
Hamilton kept closing on Hadjar.
Then on lap 53:
Hamilton got him.
P3.
From P18 to the podium.
That is a comeback.
Leclerc followed through to take P4, pushing Hadjar down to fifth.
Meanwhile, somewhere in my living room, my German Shepherd Axel had apparently decided the Safety Car period wasn't dramatic enough.
He was completely passed out.
Apparently Safety Cars work on German Shepherds too. 😂
Max Is Back
Lap 55.
Final lap.
And there wasn't going to be another twist.
Max Verstappen crossed the line to win his first Grand Prix of the 2026 season.
After a difficult start to the year by his standards, Verstappen finally had his victory.
Kimi Antonelli came home second — another huge result for the championship leader.
And Lewis Hamilton completed an incredible recovery to finish third.
Final top five:
Max Verstappen
Kimi Antonelli
Lewis Hamilton
Charles Leclerc
Isack Hadjar
For Verstappen, it was also his fourth consecutive podium.
But the result doesn't really tell the story of this race.
We had a 90+ minute rain delay. Slicks versus intermediates. Mercedes taking the early advantage. Max hunting them down. Hamilton falling from P2 to P18 and somehow returning to the podium. Multiple Safety Cars. Russell's heartbreaking retirement. Tire strategy everywhere.
And, naturally, some fantastic radio.
The Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia sounds strange enough on paper.
Somehow, the race itself was even crazier.