Verstappen and Red Bull returned to form with a first win of the season at a GP that took a long time to get going and was held a long way from home in Malaysia. Talking of being a long way from home, our Bahrain Grand Prix Result Summary is in a different time zone to regular F1 race reviews.
With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered watching live in the parts of the planet where it’s night time, or don’t have enough time regardless of time zone.
Bahrain Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – QUALIFYING
Max Verstappen claimed his and Red Bull’s first pole position of the season as their turnarounds in form continues. To prove the point, Isack Hadjat looked and sounded disappointed to be only third. Mercedes were off their usual pace, with George Russell more so than usual. Similar could be said ab out McLaren and Oscar Piastri. The end result is Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen on the front row of the grid together like old times, not good times.
Setting the scene – RACEDAY
The beauty of having the Bahrain GP in Malaysia is that the chance of rain goes from 0% to well above 50-50, and joy of joys is that it is wet, it starts raining quite hard as the cars leave the pits for the grid. But not everywhere. Parts of the circuits are getting more rain than others, and some parts it appears nothing. But the closer to the race, the wetter it was getting everywhere. The race was already going to be hard enough with the heat destroying tyres and three stops likely, but now you have rain on top of that, because when/if the track dries, water evaporates.
Hopefully this starts on time and they just race in a the wet for a change. It doesn’t, just as the anthem starts and Martin Brundle’s grid walk finishes the Start Delayed notice comes on screen. It is properly bucketing down now, so fair enough, we guess.
After 20 minutes or so the rain stops and marshals are out on track using a broom to sweep away the excess water. One gent in particular was being cheered by the crowd, which seemed to be enjoying themselves regardless of no action, for riding the broom like a horse in a Happy Gilmore-esque moment.
We have a start time…40 Minutes after the scheduled kick off. The race will start behind the Safety Car, two laps in fact.
STARTING GRID – VER HAM HAD LEC NOR ANT RUS PIA AAA GAS
Formation Lap – All cars starting on intermediate wet tyres. Ooops, Isack Hadjar has a moment and runs off the track into the gravel. He was already unhappy enough about only taking third in qualifying then dropping down to 8th with a penalty. Oh no, Lewis Hamilton is going slow, not just because of the rain but it looks like broken car, as he falls to the back of the pack. In the meantime the cars behind Hamilton, all but one waited to overtake the Ferrari and there’s a huge gap between Verstappen and the rest. Lewis Hamilton comes to a complete stop on the pit straight, as he team advise via radio that they are looking to solve the “software issue”, classic IT. Cars behind Hamilton on pit straight have slowed in the confusion. A few seconds later to the cheer of the crowd Hamilton gets going, but some of the car waiting on pit straight have stopped. And now the red flag comes out, so all this can be done over.
RACE STOPPED
And now we have to go through the whole starting procedure again with the cars starting from original positions, so lucky for Hamilton. The track looks pretty dry now, but if they wait long enough, another huge shower of rain will probably come halfway through the first racing lap.
So a full 1 hour and 40 minutes after the original start time, the cars are on the track again and ready to race on a mixture of dry and wet tyres.
TYRE HIGHLIGHTS
Inter (Wets) – VER ANT RUS HAD LAW SAI OCO ALB LIN
Softs (Dry) – HAM LEC BOR GAS HUL BEA BOT PER COL
Mediums (Dry) – NOR PIA ALO STR
RACE RESUMES
The race resumes under the Safety Car, and Pierre Gasly goes off (and rejoins) on dry soft tyres, just as TV coverage shows Verstappen telling his team to stick with wets. Replay shows Gasly did well not put that in the barrier. This is going to be fun. Looks like no tyres is the 100% best option. Lando Norris is asking for wets via radio, but told to stay out. Piastri comes in instead just as the race is about to start. Same for Bortoleto. Cadillac change their dry tyres for wets for Sergio a lap before.
Standing start with this combination of tyres awaits, and neither can we.
RACE START
Lap 3 – Pole sitter Max Verstappen crawls off the line, but Kimi Antonelli and his Mercedes team mate Russell do not and fly past the Red Bull. Liam Lawson comes from outside the top 10 to challenge third placed Verstappen into the first corner, and they challenge each other hard for half a lap. The Williams’ car are up to 6th and 7th from a long way back. Oscar Piastri caught Norris from the pitlane halfway around the lap, and then Norris is 17th all of a sudden, not forgetting Lando wanted wet tyres and was told to stay out and Paistri got to pit. Charles Leclerc pits for wets and comes out last. Lewis Hamilton is down to 15th.
ORDER – ANT RUS VER LAW HAD SAI OCO LIN PIA
Lap 4 – Cars on wet tyres are killing it at the moment, the two Mercedes look comfortable in front and Verstappen is holding on well. Esteban Ocon is moving up the field, not too worried about losing his Haas drive for 2027. The cars who did not pit for wet tyres are getting a pitstop distance away from those on wets already. But now the track is drying enough to justify staying out. This is going to be fun. Although George Russell says it is still very much Inter tyres time. But he’s always unhappy.
Lap 6 – Verstappen closes in on Russell into turn one and are even closer out of turn two, and the Red Bull momentum carries Verstappen past Russell a few corners later. More movement a few positions back with Ocon on a charge and past the Spanish William driver for 6th and Hadjar passing Lawson for 4th. And lost in all of this is Arvid Lidnblad in 8th, who we think started from the very back of the grid.
ORDER – ANT VER RUS HAD LAW OCO SAI LIN ALB PIA
Lap 9 – Kimi Antonelli runs wide at the last corner and Verstappen is ready to pounce for the lead, and they get close down the pit straight but the Mercedes stays in front for now. Further back, Piastri confirms his number two status by not being able to decisively deal with Albon for 9th.
Bottas has spun off into the gravel and is beached, which brings out the Safety Car, just as the leaders approach the pit lane and they pit, and everyone seems to pit. Tyre choice will be interesting here. They are all taking dry tyres, with the Mercedes on Mediums, Red Bulls on softs, Racing Bulls on hard tyres with McLarens. Ferraris are taking dry tyres too, but they will take a long time to get to the front from their current lowly positions of 15th and 17th.
ORDER – ANT VER RUS HAD LAW OCO LIN SAI BOR PIA
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Replays show that Piastri nearly ran Albon up the arse in the pit lane entry. That wouldn’t help his current situation.
SAFETY CAR ENDING
Lap 13 – The race restarts in basically dry conditions with everyone on dry tyres. Verstappen goes around the outside of turn one and then up the inside of turn two to take the lead, but Kimi fights back and re-passes around turn three only for Verstappen to finish the job and take the lead for good into turn four. A corner or so later the lurking George Russell demotes his team mate another position with a fine move.
ORDER – VER RUS ANT HAD LAW OCO LIN BOR PIA HUL
Lap 16 – The race has settled down a bit now, with Verstappen looking comfortable in front by almost two seconds. His qualifying and race pace in Free Practice hints that he’ll cruise this one if it stays dry. And even in the wet. Oscar Piastri making progress, but not as good as Lewis Hamilton who is up to 9th, not sure if he has pitted yet. Albon is noted to be warned about driving erratically, but he is just driving a Williams after all, so what can he do.
ORDER – VER RUS ANT HAD LAW OCO LIN PIA HAM HUL
Lap 19 – Lewis Hamilton nips by Oscar Piastri for 8th, and further embarrassment is coming as Lando Norris is making progress as well and is up to 11th. Up the sharper end, Verstappen has edged his lead out to 3.4 seconds. Russell is coming under pressure from Antonelli now. Within two laps, Lewis is up to 6th passing both Lindblad and Ocon in quick time.
Lap 21 – Kimi Antonelli gets past his team mate for second, and possibly there goes the Championship. Verstappen is five seconds up the road, and cares little for intra-team Mercedes squabbling. Meanwhile, Gabriel Bortoleto gets a 10 second penalty for an incident with the Spanish William driver, which is fair enough, it was his fault and he taps the Williams into a spin going up the inside. The Williams driver moans over the radio, but after his driving at times this season, he shouldn’t really complain. Hamilton is up to 5th too.
ORDER – VER ANT RUS HAD HAM LAW OCO LIN PIA LEC
Lap 24 – Oscar Piastri finally gets by Arvid Lindblad going into the second last hairpin. Lindblad fights back down the straight but Piastri holds on. A few corners later and Leclerc is past the Racing Bull car as well and Lindblad down to 10th.
Lap 25 – Kimi Antonelli radios his team to asks them to check his front wing. Firstly, he should use more manners, as there was no please of thank you. Secondly, he hasn’t caught up to Verstappen who is nearly 8 seconds in front, and his team mate Russell is hanging on within two seconds, so maybe there is something amiss.
Lap 27 – Nice train forming behind Liam Lawson, where some of the carriages include both McLarens and Charles Leclerc, and to a lesser degree Esteban Ocon.
ORDR – VER ANT RUS HAD HAM LAW PIA LEC OCO NOR
Lap 30 – Oscar Piastri passes Liam Lawson for 6th, not long after Lando Norris took Ocon’s position and Charles Leclerc pit for new tyres. Fernando Alonso has also gained a position and is now top ten. Ocon pits for new tyres and nearly crashes in the pitlane. Lawson pits on lap 31 anyway, leaving Norris to hound Piastri.
ORDER – VER ANT RUS HAD HAM PIA NOR HUL ALO LEC
Lap 35 – George Russell has pitted for a second time and he’s blowing up about the timing. Talking of timing, Verstappen’s lead is out to 10 seconds. A tenth of that lead is Hamilton on Isack Hadjar as the Ferrari
Lap 39 – Hamilton continues to pressure Hadjar for no positional gain, but he is close. Further back Alonso and Lindblad are swapping position (10th). They nearly collide after the move too in a hairy moment.
Lap 43 – Albon’s car breaks down just as Hamilton looks like he’s going to get past Hadjar. The Williams’ retirement spot is inconvenient enough to call a Virtual Safety Car.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Lap 44 – Free pitstop for Verstappen as the VSC is called. In the process both Mercedes stayed out, and Verstappen leaves the pit between the two Mercedes. The Ferraris pit too and drop to 6th (Hamilton) and 9th (Leclerc). A lap later the two Mercedes come into the pits for new tyres, as does Hadjar.
Lap 46 – They are taking forever to clear Albon’s car, and now a full Safety Car is called. The McLarens and Alonso pit, with Piastri losing out to Leclerc after leaving the pits, but thankfully Alonso keeps his 10th position.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
ORDER – VER ANT RUS HAD PIA HAM NOR LAW LEC ALO
Lap 50 – This Safety Car is still going. But George Russell is not. The Mercedes has pulled over broken just after the pit lane joins the track. That’s it for him surely now for the Championship. Lando Norris also runs wide into the gravel, and he drops to 11th.
SAFETY CAR ENDS
Lap 52 – Race restarts and Verstappen keeps his lead. A fantastic southern hemisphere battle between Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri as they swap positions at least three times around the first half a lap after the restart.
Lap 53 – Lewis Hamilton finally gets past Isack Hadjar, by driving around the outside of Hadjar going into turn one in a great move. The Ferraro isn’t that far away from the top two. Leclerc gets past Hadjar too.
ORDER – VER ANT HAD HAM LEC PIA LAW ALO HUL NOR
FINAL LAP – We’re finally here, the last lap. Verstappen is comfortable enough in front and cruises to the win, his and Red Bull’s first for the season. Kimi Antonelli does what he has to do for the Championship and finishes second, and the crowd go kind of wild for Lewis Hamilton. Alonso keeps 8th place despite huge pressure from Lando Norris on the line.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line): VER ANT HAM LEC HAD PIA LAW ALO NOR LIN
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. 5 points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – Max Verstappen
The Red Bull has found some form and Verstappen duly took pole position in qualifying. The race was a little trickier with the wet weather, and he lost the lead at the first corner, but he eventually got the lead back and pulled away from the Mercedes cars in second and third.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LEWIS HAMILTON – A fightback podium after a poor start due to car troubles.
KIMI ANTONELLI – Essentially Championship list ticking for Antonelli. The way he dealt with his team mate would have broken the spirit.
LIAM LAWSON – Great start saw him at the sharper end of the field for most of the race. Still selling himself to keep his Racing Bulls seat for the 2027 season.
FERNANDO ALONSO – A solid points finish in 8th.
THE GRAPE-EST – GEORGE RUSSELL
Underwhelming qualifying. Great race start and early racing to see him right at the front and ahead of his team mate for a while. But once Antonelli gets past, it means more lost ground in a Championship battle that’s probably over.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
VALTTERI BOTTAS – Hard race today for a worst driver, so will go with the one that spun off into the gravel and caused the first Safety Car. That’s to go with his form which is becoming increasingly questioned in recent weeks.
ALBON – Had some brief joy when in the top 6 at the start, but he slowly and quickly fell back through the field
GABRIEL BORTOLETO – A race spent at the rear of the field after copping a penalty during the race, which was harsh but fair.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
PRE RACE ACTION (FP, QUAL, SPRINT, OFF TRACK etc) – 4 / 5
It was kind of exciting to be back in Malaysia for something different, on a track which is different to the recent races, so soaking up the pre-race hype was a winner. Qualifying was interesting enough as we return to the stage where anyone can take pole.
ON TRACK ACTION (RACE) – 8 / 10
Lots of action on track as you’d expect in a wet race, once the race got going. The hour and 40 minute delay to get moving really should be improved. The start was chaotic with lots of position changes as dry v wet tyres played out across the first racing laps. But there was plenty of racing throughout the race. A flowing track with big, nice wide straight helps.
ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5
Rain in a Bahrain GP for starters. The wet start to the race threw up surprises throughout. Qualifying was a surprise too, with Red Bull looking the fastest cars, and Mercedes off the pace a little. George Russell’s late DNF sure was.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5
Just more of the same, Antonelli demoting his team mate mid-race, and heading on his way to Championship. Mercedes pit stop strategy annoying George Russell probably seals the deal.
ENDING – 3 / 5
The Safety Car ensured the end of the long, long race wasn’t too boring with a few positions change.
OVERALL RATING – 23 / 30
A great race, once it got going.
