Max Verstappen Leads Bahrain GP After Safety-Car Tyre Shuffle

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Max Verstappen was running at the front after the safety-car cycle, with Antonelli 8s behind and Russell a further 1.7s back as changing slick-tyre strategies reshaped the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The leading Mercedes cars had been separated from Verstappen at different stages of the race, but the Red Bull driver had opened a gap over both by the later phase covered in the live report.

Verstappen takes control after the pit cycle

Antonelli had led Verstappen and Russell out of the pits, with both Mercedes cars on mediums and the Red Bull on softs.

That pit sequence unfolded as the field reacted to changing conditions and the opportunity created by the safety car.

The entire field had pitted during the safety-car phase, including drivers who had started on slick tyres.

The safety car helped drivers who had been further behind because they could make their stops without losing as much ground to the cars ahead.

Lawson, Lindblad, Piastri and Stroll had changed to hard-compound Pirellis during the sequence.

Norris, Alonso, Gasly and Colapinto also changed to a different slick compound, while drivers still on inters came in for slicks.

The safety car allowed those tyre changes to be made more cheaply in terms of track position.

Bottas went off at Turn 12 and ended up in the gravel as the switch to slicks was taking place.

Hulkenberg had already decided to change to slicks and stopped at the end of lap 8.

Antonelli went wide at the final corner as lap 8 ended, while Verstappen lunged along the back straight but could not get past at that point.

The Mercedes driver later lost time at the final corner on lap 24, sliding wide and almost entering the pit lane before hitting the bollard marking the dividing line.

That mistake helped Verstappen extend his advantage, with Antonelli losing two seconds to the Red Bull on the lap.

By the later stage, Antonelli was 8s behind Verstappen, while Russell was 1.7s farther back.

Mercedes weighs its options

Before the gap opened, Antonelli had been close enough to challenge Russell and had also shown more pace than his team-mate.

Antonelli swept past Russell at Turn 4 on lap 21.

The move initially put Antonelli into a position behind Verstappen, but Hamilton had just passed Ocon, meaning Antonelli was listed as P6 at that moment.

Antonelli also told Mercedes over the radio, “I have more pace,” a message presented in the live report as coded language for a possible request to exchange positions with Russell.

Mercedes therefore faced a strategic decision while Russell discussed the race plan with the pit wall.

The team wanted to extend Russell’s pit window because another rain cell was incoming.

Russell was initially 3.6s behind Verstappen, with Antonelli closing in behind him.

The gap between Verstappen and Russell then moved beyond a second, with Verstappen three tenths quicker around lap 14.

Antonelli may have been quicker than Russell, but the live report said he had no answer to Verstappen’s pace and was three tenths slower over a lap around lap 21.

Verstappen also tried to pass Antonelli around the outside into Turn 1.

The move worked, giving Verstappen the inside line into Turn 2.

Antonelli fought back but could not get through, and then lost another place to Russell.

The sequence left Verstappen ahead of the two Mercedes cars and placed greater pressure on Mercedes to manage the order between its drivers.

Traffic builds behind the leaders

The top three had begun to pull away from the rest of the field.

Hadjar was running in P4 but was gradually falling away from the podium positions at more than a second per lap.

Lawson was in P5 and was losing two seconds per lap compared with Verstappen.

Lawson had Ocon’s Haas 1.8s behind him, with Lindblad, Piastri, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Norris and Leclerc forming a long line of traffic behind.

Hamilton was seven seconds and three places ahead of Piastri during one phase of the fight through the traffic.

Piastri passed Lindblad into the final corner at the end of lap 23.

Hamilton then moved past Ocon and Piastri lost a place to him.

Piastri was told to stay with Hamilton as the Mercedes driver worked through the traffic.

Hamilton also passed Lindblad, moving into P7, while Piastri remained involved in the battle behind him.

At the beginning of lap 27, Piastri passed Ocon for P7 into Turn 1.

Leclerc and Norris had also moved past Lindblad, although Ocon continued to hold position ahead of Piastri before that later pass.

Hadjar had been running on scrubbed soft tyres since the safety car.

When Leclerc stopped, he also took on scrubbed softs.

Hadjar was informed of the development and responded angrily.

Perez had made an early stop after eight laps on mediums.

Stroll was four tenths quicker than Alonso on lap 16.

Race control had enabled overtake mode, while Russell was half a second away from gaining access to it.

Bortoleto and Sainz investigated

The race also featured a stewards’ investigation following contact between Bortoleto and Sainz at the restart.

The incident had initially been noted by the stewards, and Sainz dropped to P18 after the collision.

Bortoleto later received a 10s penalty for the restart incident with Sainz.

A replay showed Bortoleto making an opportunistic move up the inside at Turn 2 and making contact with the left-rear wheel of the Williams.

Bortoleto complained, “He gave me no space!”

Sainz gave a different account, saying, “I gave him all the space in the world.”

Both drivers’ comments were made in response to the penalty and the contact during the restart.

The incident added another layer of uncertainty to a race already shaped by the safety car, tyre changes and the incoming rain cell.

The wider significance of the Malaysian race

The event is being described as the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and is taking place at Sepang.

Formula1.com said the race was the first at Sepang since 2017.

The preview identified five areas to watch, including the familiar battle between the drivers on the front row, Mercedes’ difficulty in understanding its performance, Hadjar’s progress through the field and the particular challenges presented by the track surface.

Verstappen started on pole position with Hamilton alongside him on the front row.

That exact front-row combination had not been seen since Abu Dhabi in 2021.

Verstappen and Hamilton had been involved in a major title fight that season, according to Formula1.com.

Although they had not had many opportunities to race each other for victories since then, the Malaysian round created another scenario involving two of Formula 1’s most successful drivers.

The live race itself, however, was being defined by Verstappen’s pace, the Mercedes battle behind him, Hadjar’s fading challenge and the shifting order created by the safety-car pit phase.