Verstappen dominates delayed Bahrain Grand Prix for Red Bull's first win of 2026
Max Verstappen won the Bahrain Grand Prix on 4 October, giving Red Bull their first victory of the 2026 season with a dominant drive from pole position. BBC Sport
Verstappen had set the pace a day earlier with a 1m 35.130s lap to take his first pole of the year. Lewis Hamilton lined up second for Ferrari just under three-tenths back on 1:35.428, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar third on 1:35.558 and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli fourth. Formula 1
The race did not start on time. Heavy rain plus technical problems delayed the start by an hour and a half, and several cars crawled around behind the safety car on the formation laps as they struggled on the soaked track.
Hamilton gambled. He chose soft-compound slick tyres — smooth tyres made for dry weather, with no tread to clear water — for the wet start and tumbled toward the back. Up front, the order held until lap nine, when the safety car was deployed to recover Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac after he spun off at Turn 13.
That triggered the key sequence. The leaders pitted for slick tyres under the safety car, and on the restart Verstappen attacked Antonelli and swept past at Turn Four for the lead. He controlled the race from there.
The finish was chaotic. George Russell was running third for Mercedes when he retired with five laps to go with a suspected engine problem. Hamilton, recovered from his early drop, passed Hadjar with three laps left to take third behind Antonelli. A late safety car for Alex Albon’s Williams then set up a four-lap dash to the flag, which Verstappen handled to win ahead of Antonelli and Hamilton.
The result tightens little at the top of the standings arithmetic. Antonelli still leads Russell by 84 points in the drivers’ championship.
What makes this stand out is the arc of the afternoon. A delayed, spluttering start. A bold tyre call that backfired, then came good. And a familiar sight at the end: Verstappen out front, making a messy race look simple.
