The day F1 crashed — and Max didn't
Formula 1 spent two years selling us the most advanced cars in history. On Sunday at Sepang, those cars sat on the formation lap like phones waiting for an update. Then Max Verstappen got in the restarted race and made everyone else look like they were still loading.
What happened
The Bahrain Grand Prix — held in Malaysia as a one-off stand-in — was the first wet race of the 2026 rules. Thunderstorms delayed the start by about 40 minutes. When the cars finally rolled, several of them, including front-row starters Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, lost power on the formation laps. Out came the red flag, for another 53 minutes.
The FIA has now explained it: a software bug in the 250 kW power cap used for wet running. At very low engine revs in slow sectors, the cars lost more power than intended and the electric motors locked down. Nobody saw it in testing at Spa or Zandvoort because the cars never ran that slowly there. The temporary Sepang fix carries over to Singapore if it rains, with a permanent update due before Austin on 25 October.
Hamilton and Verstappen called it a "Lego race". Helmut Marko called it "shameful". Mercedes asked for the cars to be simplified. We call it the most expensive "have you tried turning it off and on again" in sporting history.
Max being Max
Less than a month after calling his Red Bull a car "made of paper" at Monza, Verstappen put it on pole by a distance and won by 2.3 seconds. It was his and Red Bull's first win of 2026. The new upgrade is clearly real, and the team now runs without the old management drama — Verstappen told reporters life is "less stressful" these days.
Strategy decided the rest. Only nine drivers started on intermediates; the rest gambled on slicks and lost. A safety car for Valtteri Bottas's Cadillac in the gravel on lap 7 let teams shuffle, and a later virtual safety car and full safety car kept the pack tight. McLaren and Ferrari both paid for the slick gamble, and McLaren still can't explain why a track that should suit the MCL40 bit back so hard.
The result
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | Winner |
| 2 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +2.307s |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +4.919s |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +7.258s |
| 5 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | +8.571s |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +9.454s |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +12.753s |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +13.372s |
| 9 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +13.993s |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | +15.928s |
Retired: George Russell (technical, lap 49), Alex Albon (technical, lap 41), Valtteri Bottas (accident, lap 7). Source: Autosport race report.
Russell: the title slips away
George Russell came to Sepang fresh from what he called the most dominant weekend of his career in Baku. He left with a power unit failure on lap 49, a "you've got to laugh" quote, and — confirmed this week — a back-of-the-grid start in Singapore for new engine parts. With team-mate Kimi Antonelli second on Sunday and leading the championship, the cruelest thing about Russell's season may be that his biggest rival sits in the other side of his own garage.
Our driver ratings
Singapore: what to watch
Verstappen has never won in Singapore, and he now arrives with the fastest car of the moment. Russell starts from the back. The FIA has declared a heat hazard for the fourth time this season. And if the rain comes, every engineer on the grid will be watching the power read-outs on the formation lap.
Sources: Autosport race report and FIA investigation report; BBC Sport race report and "Lego race" coverage; Motorsport.com (Marko, Wolff, Hadjar, McLaren analysis). Facts as reported 4–8 October 2026; opinions are ours. See all headlines on the wire →