Max Verstappen takes a dominant first win of the 2026 F1 season as George Russell faces yet another mechanical retirement.
Malaysia Monsoon Returns
Uncertainty hung the air as we anticipated the start of the Grand Prix. The rain hurtled down and showed no sign of letting up leading to a delayed start since the conditions were unsafe to race. When they sent the medical car out to check track conditions, it was obvious this race would not be starting anytime soon as even the road car was aquaplaning its way around.
After a 40 minute delay, we finally got some track action as the drivers headed off behind the safety car for two formation laps. It was immediately clear the track was extremely tricky as Isack Hadjar had a trip through the gravel after hitting standing water on intermediate tyres.
Disaster and confusion struck the grid as our front row, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both reported they lost acceleration. As they led the field, the entire grid crawled their way behind them and the safety car left them behind.
Eventually, Verstappen got away again but those behind Hamilton remained there, uncertain about whether they were permitted to overtake. This could’ve been the cause of the issues we then saw as after crawling around the track, multiple Ferrari powered drivers came to a stop on track, including Hamilton, Ocon and Perez. Eventually the safety car actually caught the back of the field again and the starting procedure was delayed, and we waited once again.
After another 40 minute delay and the track rapidly drying, we were back on track for the formation lap. We saw a big divide in tyre choice as we began, even on the front row as Verstappen opted for intermediates, while Hamilton was struggling on slicks.
Lights Out
As the lights went out on what was now Lap 3, it seemed the front row missed the memo as they both hardly moved off the line. Instead, it was Kimi Antonelli who stormed his way through to the lead with team mate George Russell close behind.
Lewis Hamilton dropped to P10 on the soft tyres and was losing 12 seconds in the middle sector alone. Despite this, he toughed it out and remained on the softs until the track dried. Even with Verstappen on the intermediate tyre, he dropped to P3 off the line with Liam Lawson fighting him for that position up from P10. This didn’t last long as he got the tyres fired up and he bounced back to take P2 from George Russell on Lap 6.
Safety Car Number 1
It wasn’t long until we saw the first victim of the tricky conditions. Valtteri Bottas was off and beached in the gravel on Lap 9. This came at the ideal time for race leader Kimi Antonelli as he was under severe pressure from Max Verstappen and sitting on burning up intermediate tyres. The safety car was called which allowed everyone to pit onto the slick tyres with Antonelli and Russell on the medium and Verstappen on the softs.
As we got underway again, it was a tough restart for Antonelli as he fishtailed his way out of the final corner. Heading to the first corner on slick tyres for the first time, Verstappen had more confidence. It was a tight battle through the first couple corners but Antonelli was ultimately bested and Verstappen took the lead into Turn 3. George Russell also took advantage of the situation and he passed Antonelli into Turn 5.
Championship Battle on Track
As Verstappen ran away in the lead, Antonelli was getting frustrated behind his team mate. He commented he had more pace on the radio while sitting just 1 second behind. Despite his hidden plea for team orders, he was denied and offered a different strategy instead. In the end it was decided for them as Antonelli breezed past his team mate on Lap 21 to take back P2.
Despite flying past his team mate, Antonelli was not making progress towards Verstappen. After a mistake at Turn 15 left him 7 seconds behind, his pace stalled completely and he began to fall back. George Russell had little to offer against the top two. He sat a few seconds behind his team mate and began to quickly fall back. Despite running clearly slower than his team mate, his position looked secure in P3 as no one behind could catch the top three.
Ferrari’s Comeback
Despite a disastrous start for both Ferraris on the softs, it wasn’t all misery for them. After dropping far out of the points on Lap 3, Hamilton continued to circulate on the softs and did not pit under the safety car. As the safety car ended, he began making significant progress as he found pace. He sliced his way through the field through both strategy and on track overtakes, and found himself P5 at the halfway point.
Charles Leclerc followed his team mate’s lead in the first half. He did pit on Lap 3 for intermediates after starting on the softs, leaving him circulating in P16. He remained there until the safety car period but also began finding performance in the following laps. He followed his team mate through making his way up to P8 before pitting for new softs on Lap 29.
McLarens Finding Pace
McLaren split their strategy at the beginning as Oscar Piastri pitted for intermediates on the formation lap. This seemed the correct choice as he moved up to P10 on the first racing lap from his pit lane start. Piastri circulated in P10 and didn’t seem to have an excess of confidence as he remained behind Alex Albon until the safety car. After pitting for hard tyres, he didn’t quite have the pace of the other front runners on softer tyres, but made progress nonetheless. As we reached the final stint he sat in P8 and chasing the Ferraris.
Lando Norris started the race on the medium tyres and like the others, fell to the back of the field. Like Hamilton, he remained on the slicks and only pitted onto the hards when the safety car was called. He sat P16 as the safety car was called in and began his battle through the field. He followed Leclerc through but didn’t quite have the pace of the Ferrari. He was left P9 as the final stint began.
Drama In The Final Laps
Alex Albon’s gearbox called it quits on Lap 43, bringing out the virtual safety car as he parked up. We saw most of the front runners pit once again at this point. Eventually the full safety car was called as they had to bring machinery on track to recover the car which was stuck in gear.
Malaysia clearly hadn’t had enough of the drama quite yet as disaster struck for George Russell. As we were preparing for another safety car restart, Russell pulled over at the end of the pit lane with a suspected power unit issue. With just five laps remaining the brit was out of the car and retired from the race. After a season of issues and failures for Russell, this is surely the final nail in the coffin on his championship hopes.
In the middle of this, we also saw Lando Norris off the road under the safety car. Due to Russell slowing Mercedes the field had slowed which caught Norris out. He went straight on at the first corner to avoid a collision and dropped to P10 for the final laps.
Chequered Flag
It was a dominant drive to the flag for Max Verstappen who takes his and Red Bull’s first victory of the season. It was one of the longest waits of his career but he made up for it in his performance today. This also marks a first win for Red Bull Ford engines after their debut this year.
Kimi Antonelli followed in P2 as he was unable to keep up with Verstappen at the restart. Lewis Hamilton miraculously made it back up to finish P3 after being up and down the field the entire race.
The McLarens crossed the line with Piastri in P6 and Norris P9. They seemed to have decent pace throughout the race but it didn’t quite translate in the results. Piastri seemed to have more confidence than he’s had this season so far.
He made good progress through the race but could not keep up with the front runners and finishes at the back of the top four teams. Norris seemingly struggled more than his team mate throughout the race. He couldn’t quite make the progress he would’ve wanted after starting on the mediums but was just behind Piastri before the safety car. His moment under the safety car took him to P10 and he was able to recover only to P9, running out of laps before taking P8 from Alonso.
It was a standout race for Fernando Alonso who sat P10 before the safety car chaos. He had amazing pace the entire race and put down some phenomenal overtakes to get there. He came home P8 after benefitting from George Russell’s DNF and Norris’ issues under the safety car. This marks just his third points score of the season.
Racing Bulls had a frenetic race with Liam Lawson even fighting for the podium at the start. They found themselves in battles with just about everyone up and down the field at some point. In the end Lawson finished P7 and Lindblad in P10. This marks an amazing seventh double points finish of the season for the team.
Image Credit: Formula 1 on X