Verstappen wins chaotic Bahrain GP in Malaysia as Russell retires
Max Verstappen took his and Red Bull’s first win of the season with a breakthrough victory in a chaotic rain-affected Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Verstappen beat Kimi Antonelli to victory as his Mercedes teammate retired with engine problems with five laps left.
Lewis Hamilton completed the podium following an inspired comeback drive after being nearly a minute behind the leaders on the wrong tyres in eighteenth during the opening laps.
The day started with torrential rain around the Sepang International Circuit which caused the race to be delayed for over and hour before the drivers ventured out behind the Safety Car for the formation laps.
However, the start was suspended after a software issue caused several cars to bizarrely crawl around the circuit at slow speeds.
The rain had cleared by the time of the race start but the track was still wet leading to split tyre strategies.
Verstappen and the Mercedes started on the intermediate tyres whilst Hamilton and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc started on the slick tyres and quickly sunk to near the bottom of the order.
Antonelli led a Mercedes 1-2 off the start before Verstappen carved his way through the Silver Arrows pair either side of a Safety Car that was caused by Valterri Bottas spinning off into the gravel.
Verstappen looked dominantly controlled the race and fended off Antonelli after the final Safety Car for Alex Albon’s stricken Williams which gave Hamilton the break to pass Isack Hadjar for the podium to complete his impressive overtaking reel.
Russell pulled over on the start/finish straight during the Safety Car with five laps to go with another engine failure to dash his hopes of his championship bid.
Russell’s unexpected retirement caused the pack to bunch up into Turn One, catching Lando Norris out and causing the McLaren man to run off into the gravel and lose positions.
Charles Leclerc followed Hamilton home for fourth whilst the other Red Bull of Isack Hadjar finished sixth.
Oscar Piastri was the lead McLaren in seventh after a disappointing day for the papaya side, beating Liam Lawson behind who briefly challenged Verstappen for third in the opening lap.
Fernando Alonso finished eighth in a morale-boosting and season best result for Aston Martin, ahead of Norris.
Arvid Lindblad completed the points scorers to add to Racing Bulls’ tally.
Nico Hulkenberg finished eleventh for Audi, a position they have become frustratingly familiar with this year.
Lance Stroll finished twelfth ahead of Franco Colapinto and the two Haas cars of Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon.
Pierre Gasly survived a scare on the first formation lap after spinning off the track from the rain to finish sixteenth.
Carlos Sainz and Gabriel Bortoleto exchanged a war of words after contact into the first corners before finishing seventeenth and eighteenth respectively.
Sergio Perez completed the classification for Cadillac.
Russell was joined by Albon and Bottas as the races’ retirees.
The thrilling ongoing triple header comes to a close at the Singapore Grand Prix this week.
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