Forty minutes of rain delay, a grid reset, a tyre gamble that split the field in two — and at the end of it all, Max Verstappen finally won a race in 2026.
The Podium
He hadn't won since last season's finale in Abu Dhabi. Fifteen rounds of 2026 came and went — including Baku, where he finished two tenths short. On the sixteenth, in a race nobody could read, he took pole and converted it.
A Race Nobody Could Read
We said in the preview that this was a weekend where the form book wouldn't apply. It turned out that was underselling it.
Torrential rain arrived just before the scheduled start and pushed the race back 40 minutes. When the cars finally rolled out, a second problem appeared: power unit software glitches hit multiple drivers on the formation laps, and Race Control had to reset the grid and go again. By the time the race actually began, it had already lost a lap — 55 instead of 56.
As the track began to dry, teams faced one call: slicks or intermediates. Thirteen drivers went for slicks. Verstappen and both Mercedes stayed on inters. Within a few corners it was obvious the track was still far too slippery, and the slick runners were pitting with their races already compromised. Ferrari had put Hamilton on slicks — he dropped to 18th and, by his own account, watched the intermediate runners vanish up the road until he was roughly a minute behind.
Verstappen was actually jumped at the start by both Mercedes, but the tyre call gave him the platform and the first Safety Car on lap nine gave him the opening. He retook the lead there and simply drove away, managing the gap for the rest of the afternoon.
"Incredibly proud."
Behind him, Hamilton produced the drive of the day. From 18th and a minute adrift, Ferrari timed his stops well and he had the pace to use them — carving back through the field to take third and end Ferrari's five-race podium drought. Antonelli, meanwhile, did what the championship leader needed to do: stayed on the right tyre, stayed out of trouble, and banked 18 points.
Russell, Again
And then the cruelty. George Russell was running third with six laps to go — a podium that would have kept his title challenge breathing — when a suspected power unit failure ended his race during the second Safety Car period. Television caught him putting his hands on his helmet the moment he understood what it meant.
A fortnight ago in Baku he won and cut the gap to 66. Here he scored nothing while his teammate scored 18. The deficit is now 84 points — the largest it has been all season — with seven rounds left.
Final Classification
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 55 laps |
| 2 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +2.307 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +4.919 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +7.258 |
| 5 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | +8.571 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +9.454 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +12.753 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +13.372 |
| 9 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +13.993 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | +15.928 |
| 11 | Nico Hülkenberg | Audi | |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | |
| 13 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | |
| 18 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | |
| 19 | Sergio Pérez | Cadillac | +29.3 |
| DNF | George Russell | Mercedes | 6 laps left |
| DNF | Alex Albon | Williams | 14 laps left |
| DNF | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | lap 48 |
What We Said vs What Happened
Our Sepang preview listed five things to watch. After Baku, where we got almost nothing right, this one went rather better.
The defining moment of the race was a tyre call the field split 13–9 on, in conditions nobody had a reference for. Ferrari got it wrong and lost Hamilton a minute; Red Bull and Mercedes got it right and filled the podium. Exactly the kind of weekend we said it would be.
Pole and victory, in the rain, at a circuit nobody had modern data for. We had him as our top pick at 31%. First time this season our favourite has actually come in.
No sixth Sepang pole — Verstappen took it, so Hamilton stays tied with Schumacher on five. He settled instead for one of the best recovery drives of the year, 18th to third.
The right tyre call and a comfortable second for Antonelli — but a suspected power unit failure cost Russell a podium with six laps to go. On a weekend built around power unit upgrades, that's an uncomfortable way to leave Malaysia.
It did the opposite. Russell's retirement and Antonelli's second place pushed the gap out to 84 points, the biggest of the season. Whatever this championship is now, it isn't a fight.
Still Thinking About
A software glitch reset a Grand Prix grid
Lost slightly in the chaos: power unit software problems hit several cars during the formation laps and forced Race Control to send everyone round again and restart the procedure. In a season defined by new regulations, a Grand Prix grid being reset because of a software fault is the most 2026 thing that has happened yet.
Ferrari's worst call produced their best result
Putting Hamilton on slicks was, on the evidence, simply wrong — it cost him around a minute and dropped him to 18th. And yet he finished third and ended a five-race podium drought for the team. Leclerc, who was never that far out of position, came home fourth. Ferrari will take 27 points and try not to think too hard about how they got them.
Red Bull are quietly the form team
Second and third in Baku, now a win and fifth here. Verstappen and Hadjar have scored in every session that mattered across two very different circuits, and Red Bull have climbed to 284 points. It's far too late to matter for the title, but it's the strongest they've looked all year.
Norris and Verstappen are now dead level
A ninth place for Norris and a win for Verstappen leaves them tied on 188 points apiece, with Norris ahead only on count of wins. In March that would have read as a sentence about the title race. In October it's a battle for fifth.
Championship After Sepang
Constructors
LOcO Says
Sepang was worth the nine-year wait. A delayed start, a reset grid, a field split down the middle on tyres, a recovery drive from 18th to the podium, and a championship contender losing a car with six laps to go — that is a proper Grand Prix, and it's the sort of thing a circuit with real weather and real consequences produces.
For Verstappen it's redemption, and it's been a long time coming. For Hamilton it's a reminder of what he can still do when the race gets messy enough to reward it. But the lasting story is quieter and harsher: Antonelli finished second, did nothing spectacular, and walked away 84 points clear. Russell has now had his two best chances in a fortnight turn into a win and a nothing, and the maths has gone from difficult to close to settled. Seven rounds left, and a title that's starting to look like a formality.
No comments:
Post a Comment