Formula 1

Max Verstappen wins dramatic mixed weather Bahrain GP at Sepang

Fraser Masefield
2 weeks ago
6 min read

Max Verstappen came out on top of a chaotic Bahrain Grand Prix that featured a delayed start, two Safety Cars and mixed tyre strategies to claim his fourth victory at Malaysia’s Sepang Circuit.

“It’s a really nice one after the year we’ve had and the progression that we’ve made so I’m incredibly proud of everyone and it’s super nice to win here,” said Verstappen after his first victory of the season.

“It was very hectic. We had a lot of different things at the start. No power, so you have to wait for the power to kick in.

“But we made the right call with the intermediates and after that step by step we moved forwards.

“From there onwards we could do our own race until the end, of course with the Safety Car but we kept it under control.”

Kimi Antonelli was second for Mercedes, but it was late heartbreak for George Russell, retiring from third with a PU issue with five laps remaining.

“I think today was the maximum we could have done,” said Antonelli. “Of course massive congrats to Max and Red Bull for the incredible weekend.

“On our side a lot of work to do. Of course we’ve been struggling a bit more than usual but really happy to come away with P2.”

It meant that Lewis Hamilton was able to pounce to take third after a late Safety Car from teammate Charles Leclerc, Isack Hadjar and Oscar Piastri.

“Big congratulations to Max, what a tough race that was,” said Hamilton after fighting from the back of the field.

“Obviously we had the wrong call at the beginning which was so difficult with everyone pulling away and I could see on the screen I was a minute down and thought that was race over for us.

“But I just got my head down you guys (Ferrari) did a great job with the stops, obviously lots of tyre changes, lots of chasing and honestly of all the years I’ve been here, this is the best race we’ve had here.”

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Liam Lawson was seventh ahead of a brilliant Fernando Alonso as Lando Norris and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten.

THE TALE OF THE RACE

With heavy rain falling on track, it very much looked like the race would start in wet weather on the intermediate Pirelli tyre.

But after a chaotic exploratory lap behind the Safety Car, the start was abandoned before a lengthy delay saw the track dry significantly enough to possibly allow for slick running.

It led to a mixed choice of tyres up and down the grid, Verstappen, Antonelli and Russell on the inters of the front runners. And Piastri also chose to box for inters and start from the pit lane.

It was a frantic start as the Safety Car pulled in, positions up and down the grid changing hand over hand due to the tyre discrepancy.

Verstappen lost out on the start as the Mercedes duo streamed past with Hamilton dropping down the field on his slick tyres.

With those on the slick compound struggling for any traction, it was obvious that intermediates were the correct way to go.

Antonelli led from Russell with Verstappen third from the fast-starting Lawson who gained seven places.

I didn’t take Verstappen long to get past the first Mercedes of Russell before setting his sights on the leader.

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With pressure on Ferrari and team boss Fred Vasseur coming into the weekend, a tactical blunder that saw their drivers drop to the back on slick tyres would have been a worrying development.

Back at the front, Verstappen was all over the back of Antonelli.


And with a full Safety Car situation due to a beached Cadillac, the field swept in to change for the soft tyres on lap ten.

Verstappen was king of the restart, getting past Antonelli as Russell took advantage of the fight to also overtake his teammate.

It didn’t take long for the championship leader to get back past, and it now seemed a straight fight between the lead Red Bull and Mercedes.

There was still a long way to go, and when the dust settled after the final round of stops, Verstappen still led comfortably from Antonelli and Russell.

A late Safety Car led to yet more drama, Russell retiring with a Power Unit issue with five laps remaining.

It led to a frantic final few laps as the Safety Car peeled off, Hamilton getting past Hadjar and onto the podium.

Victory for Verstappen was the 72nd of his illustrious career for Red Bull, matching Michael Scumacher’s statistic for Ferrari.

It also marked the first victory for Red Bull whilst powered by their own Power Train.

“It’s incredible where we started but also to win our first race in our first year with our own Power Unit is pretty impressive,” added a proud Verstappen.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – OCTOBER 04: Race winner Max Verstappen celebrates winning the Grand Prix of Bahrain in Malaysia (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images) / Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool /

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Fraser Masefield

Fraser is a sports and motorsports editor with over 25 years experience. The former head editor of WilliamsF1, BMW Motorsport, Jaguar Racing and Virgin Media, he has also worked for Autosport, ESPNF1 and Eurosport amongst others.

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