Max Verstappen claimed his first victory of 2026 in a heavily delayed race at the Sepang International Circuit.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished second and took another step towards clinching the championship as his team mate George Russell retired in the final laps.The start was originally pushed back by 40 minutes when a downpour hit the track during the build-up. But once the cars headed out to begin their formation laps a software problem struck several of them, causing them to slow to a crawl.
Race control abandoned the attempt to start the race and summoned the cars back to the pits for an even longer delay while the FIA hurriedly distributed a software change to rectify the problem.
By the time the race began, almost an hour and 40 minutes after the original start time, the track had dried significantly again. However, to the surprise of many drivers, it had not dried sufficiently for slick tyres to be viable.
Those drivers who started on intermediates therefore benefited while their rivals on slicks sank to the tail of the pack. The Mercedes drivers rocketed from third and seventh on the grid to the front of the field on their intermediate tyres, while pole-winner Verstappen on the same compound fended off the fast-starting Liam Lawson.
Lewis Hamilton started on the front row alongside Verstappen but his soft slicks were overwhelmed by the conditions and he immediately fell out of the top 10. Within a few laps he was a minute adrift.
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Verstappen drove past George Russell with little difficulty to take second place on lap six. He swiftly gained on Andrea Kimi Antonelli but had to delay his efforts to pass when Valtteri Bottas spun off at turn 14, triggering a Safety Car deployment.
The interruption came just in time for those still on slicks who were getting perilously close to being lapped. Antonelli led the field at the restart but Verstappen immediately picked him off to regain a lead he never looked like losing.
Russell also got ahead of his team mate at the restart, as Antonelli complained his power unit was clipping. Soon afterwards Antonelli told Mercedes “I have more pace”, and by lap 21 he proved his point by driving past his team mate, who did not try to resist him at turn four.
Antonelli was unable to make any impression on Verstappen. His efforts were not helped when he ran wide at the final corner and hit the pit lane entry bollard. He avoided any damage or a penalty, but lost time.
Hamilton opted not to pit during the first Safety Car period and found good grip from his soft tyres when the race resumed. He quickly worked his way past the midfielders, as well as the two McLarens, and began to close on Isack Hadjar’s fourth-placed Red Bull.
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Red Bull brought Hadjar in for a fresh set of tyres, prompting a reaction from Ferrari and eventually those ahead of them. Now on the medium rubber, Hamilton could no longer get close enough to threaten the Red Bull.
The situation appeared set until Alexander Albon stopped with a gearbox problem on lap 43. The car was jammed in gear, causing a lengthy delay, during which the Safety Car was deployed and most drivers took the opportunity to pit again.
Disaster struck Russell shortly before the restart. His Mercedes came to a stop approaching turn one, the team reporting a power unit problem. Lando Norris, potentially distracted by the stopping Mercedes, almost ran into the back of his team mate. He drove through the gravel trap at turn one and lost several places.
Verstappen’s restart was much more successful than Antonelli’s and he kept the Mercedes at arm’s length until the finish. Hadjar’s car was no match for the soft-tyred Ferraris, however. First Hamilton, then Leclerc easily drove past him.
Oscar Piastri collected sixth, resisting Lawson in a late scrap between the pair. Fernando Alonso made excellent use of Honda’s upgraded power unit to hold off the recovering Norris and Arvid Lindblad took the final point for Racing Bulls.
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