Max Verstappen claims first win of season after rain delay

Max Verstappen claimed his and Red Bull’s first win of the season after dominating a dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, which was delayed by around 90 minutes because of heavy rain and technical problems.

Verstappen lost the lead at the start to Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell but soon fought his way back into second.

He took the lead after the drivers switched from intermediate tyres to slicks and then pulled clear of the field.

Antonelli finished second and extended his lead in the drivers’ championship after team-mate Russell retired with five laps left because of a power unit problem.

Antonelli is now 84 points ahead of Russell with six or seven races remaining.

Lewis Hamilton produced a strong recovery after choosing soft slick tyres for the wet start. The Ferrari driver quickly dropped to 17th and fell almost a minute behind the leaders.

However, Hamilton gradually moved back through the field and passed Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar after the final safety-car restart to take third place.

The race was interrupted twice by safety cars after Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon both went off the track.

Verstappen stayed calm through the late drama and comfortably secured victory.

Charles Leclerc finished fourth, ahead of Hadjar, Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson and Fernando Alonso.

Lando Norris recovered to ninth after avoiding Russell’s stranded Mercedes, while Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.