Verstappen dominates chaotic Malaysia race to take first 2026 win as Hamilton storms from 18th to podium

Race summary

Max Verstappen secured his first win of the 2026 season with victory at a chaotic Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton had an eventful race and finished third, while Kimi Antonelli extended his championship lead to 84 points over Mercedes team-mate George Russell with his second place at Sepang. Russell retired from the grand prix while in third place with a power unit failure.

Driver ratings from Malaysia 2026

Max Verstappen – 9.5/10
Hard to find much wrong this weekend. Dominant through every part of qualifying for his first pole of the season. A poor start but then recovered after losing out to both Mercedes drivers to control a hugely difficult race.

Kimi Antonelli – 9/10
Proving Baku was just a blip for the championship leader. Produced an excellent start to take the lead and ultimately brought home second on a weekend where Mercedes never looked entirely comfortable.

Lewis Hamilton – 9.5/10
A superb recovery after Ferrari’s decision to start on slick tyres sent him tumbling from the front row to 18th. Hamilton fought all the way back to the podium and passed Isack Hadjar after the final safety car to complete one of his best drives of the season.

Charles Leclerc – 8.5/10
Close to team-mate Hamilton in qualifying before suffering the same early tyre nightmare in the race. Recovered impressively through the field to fourth and ensured Ferrari salvaged a huge result from a strategy that initially looked disastrous.

Isack Hadjar – 8.5/10
Third fastest in qualifying was an excellent performance before his engine penalty dropped him to eighth on the grid. A great battle with Hamilton even if he did lose out with Leclerc denying him fourth at the end too.

George Russell – 8/10
A far better race than his eighth place in qualifying suggested. Made an excellent start, ran inside the top three for virtually the entire afternoon and was heading for another podium before a power-unit failure stopped him with five laps remaining.

Other notable performances included Liam Lawson 8.5/10 for seventh with Racing Bulls, Fernando Alonso 8/10 for Aston Martin to eighth, Arvid Lindblad 8.5/10 for a recovery to points, and Lando Norris 5.5/10 after a late gravel error dropped him to ninth.