Max Verstappen won the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday at Sepang International Circuit, his 72nd career victory and his first win of the 2026 season. The race finished almost three and a half hours after its scheduled start following a torrential downpour and software issues.
The sharpest detail is the milestone inside the win. It was the first victory for a Red Bull Ford power unit, and Verstappen’s first Sepang win since 2017, as Formula 1 returned to Malaysia after a nine-year absence and delivered a marathon afternoon.
A Race That Refused To Start On Time
The delay defined the day before a wheel turned in anger. Heavy rain and software problems pushed the start back by one hour and 45 minutes, testing the patience of teams, drivers and a crowd that had waited nine years for Formula 1 to come back to Sepang. When the race finally ran, it ran 55 laps through changing conditions that rewarded the driver most comfortable thinking several corners ahead.
Verstappen started on pole, then dropped to third at the start behind Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. He retook the lead on Lap 13 after a safety car restart, the decisive move of the afternoon, and controlled the race from there. It was the kind of recovery drive that separates champions from fast drivers: no panic after losing two places, one clean strike when the restart offered it, and clean air for the rest of the day.
Verstappen reflected on what the win meant after a difficult year:
“It’s a really nice one after the year that we’ve had and the progression that we’ve made. I’m incredibly proud of everyone.” Max Verstappen, Red Bull driver, published by PK Revenue
The Title Race Tightens Behind Him
Antonelli finished second and extended his championship lead from 66 to 84 points, a result that keeps the young Mercedes driver firmly in control of the title picture even on a day his rival won. Lewis Hamilton completed the podium in third after passing Isack Hadjar late, a result that rewarded patience on a day when several faster cars faltered.
Russell’s afternoon ended the hardest way. A power unit failure five laps from the finish took him out of a scoring position entirely, the mechanical cruelness that defines long, delayed races on a hot, wet circuit. For Canadian fans, Lance Stroll finished 12th, just outside the points on a day when simply finishing cleanly was an achievement.
The championship conversation continues at the next classic venue in our launch coverage, Verstappen’s first win in Singapore, where Antonelli’s lead is again the number to watch. The Canadian angle from Sepang, beyond Stroll’s finish, matches the rest of this launch weekend, from a record kicking day at BMO Field to the global headline here in Malaysia.
By The Numbers
- Winner: Max Verstappen, Red Bull, at Sepang International Circuit
- Career win number 72; first victory of the 2026 season
- First win for a Red Bull Ford power unit
- Race delayed one hour and 45 minutes by rain and software issues
- Verstappen retook the lead on Lap 13 after a safety car restart in a 55-lap race
- Kimi Antonelli finished second and extended his championship lead from 66 to 84 points
- Lewis Hamilton finished third; George Russell retired with a power unit failure five laps from the finish
- Canadian Lance Stroll finished 12th
Sepang Earned Its Comeback
Circuits returning after long absences face a simple test: does the race remind everyone why the place mattered. Sepang passed it on Sunday, with weather, drama, a first win for a new power unit program and a championship leader extending his advantage even in defeat. The nine-year wait produced a race worthy of the history attached to the track.
The marathon timing also deserves credit in the final accounting. Drivers sat through a delay of nearly two hours, then raced for 55 laps in punishing heat and humidity, a physical and mental test that rewards experience above almost everything else on the calendar.
For Verstappen, the win changes the temperature of his season. A first victory of the year, at a circuit he had not won at since 2017, does not erase an 84-point championship gap. It does announce that Red Bull Ford has arrived as a winning program, and that the driver most capable of a late-season charge is the one who just reminded the field how he takes a race over.
