Max Verstappen secured his first win of the 2026 season with victory at a chaotic Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton had an eventful race and finished third, while Kimi Antonelli extended his championship lead to 84 points over Mercedes team-mate George Russell with his second place at Sepang.

Russell retired from the grand prix while in third place with a power unit failure.

Here are my ratings for how the drivers performed across the whole weekend in Malaysia…

Max Verstappen – 9.5/10

Hard to find much wrong this weekend. Dominant through every part of qualifying for his first pole of the season. A poor start but then recovered after losing out to both Mercedes drivers to control a hugely difficult race.

Kimi Antonelli – 9/10

Proving Baku was just a blip for the championship leader. Produced an excellent start to take the lead and ultimately brought home second on a weekend where Mercedes never looked entirely comfortable.

Lewis Hamilton – 9.5/10

A superb recovery after Ferrari’s decision to start on slick tyres sent him tumbling from the front row to 18th. Hamilton fought all the way back to the podium and passed Isack Hadjar after the final safety car to complete one of his best drives of the season.

Charles Leclerc – 8.5/10

Close to team-mate Hamilton in qualifying before suffering the same early tyre nightmare in the race. Recovered impressively through the field to fourth and ensured Ferrari salvaged a huge result from a strategy that initially looked disastrous.

Isack Hadjar – 8.5/10

Third fastest in qualifying was an excellent performance before his engine penalty dropped him to eighth on the grid. A great battle with Hamilton even if he did lose out with Leclerc denying him fourth at the end too.

Oscar Piastri – 7.5/10

Never quite had McLaren at the sharp end but made the right early call to abandon the slicks and start from the pit lane on intermediate tyres. Recovered to sixth and comfortably beat Norris on a day when simply keeping everything clean counted for plenty.

Liam Lawson- 8.5/10

One of his strongest races of the year. Just missed Q3 and then made a sensational start in the wet conditions, gaining seven positions and briefly running fourth before eventually bringing his Racing Bulls home in seventh.

Fernando Alonso – 8/10

Aston Martin finally showed some signs of life and Alonso made sure to capitalise. Reached Q2 on merit and converted 12th on the grid into an excellent eighth-place finish. Comfortably the team’s best result for some time.

Lando Norris – 5.5/10

A frustrating weekend that ended with an avoidable mistake. Qualified ahead of Piastri and was right behind his team-mate before the final restart, only to lose control behind the safety car and ran through the gravel, dropping him to ninth.

Arvid Lindblad – 8.5/10

A really impressive recovery considering he started at the very back because of his power unit penalty. Helped Lawson with a tow on Saturday and then charged through to score the final point on Sunday.

Nico Hulkenberg – 7/10

Missing Q2 was disappointing but he responded with a strong recovery on Sunday. Climbed from 15th on the grid to finish just outside the points and comfortably ahead of Audi team-mate Bortoleto after the Brazilian’s penalty.

Lance Stroll – 6.5/10

A much more competitive weekend for Aston Martin generally. Stroll joined Alonso in Q2 and kept himself out of trouble through a chaotic race to finish 12th, even if his team-mate ultimately extracted more from the opportunity.

Franco Colapinto – 7/10

Started 21st due to grid penalties, so 13th represented a very respectable recovery. Kept things clean after his costly mistake last time out and made up plenty of ground in difficult conditions.

Oliver Bearman – 5/10

Another fairly anonymous weekend for Haas. Knocked out in Q1 and although he gained a couple of places during the race, 14th was about all there was to show for it.

Esteban Ocon – 5/10

Frustrated with Haas’ qualifying run plan after going out in Q1 and never really recovered from there. Great start and was fighting well inside the top 10. Ultimately finished behind Bearman and was unable to make the changing conditions work sufficiently to threaten the points.

Pierre Gasly – 5.5/10

Qualifying ninth was an excellent start but Sunday unravelled almost immediately. Nearly lost the car on slicks during the formation procedure and ultimately fell all the way to 16th as Alpine’s gamble failed to pay off.

Carlos Sainz – 6/10

Williams struggled for pace throughout the weekend but 13th represented a good qualifying. His race was then further compromised by contact with Bortoleto, for which the Audi driver was penalised, so 17th doesn’t tell the whole story.

Gabriel Bortoleto – 4.5/10

There was plenty to like about reaching Q3 in the Audi, but the race undid that good work. Contact with Sainz earned him a penalty and left him 18th after starting inside the top 10.

Sergio Perez – 4/10

Qualified last and never looked likely to make meaningful progress even amid all the chaos. Reaching the chequered flag was at least something for Cadillac, but 19th completed another difficult weekend.

George Russell – 8/10

A far better race than his eighth place in qualifying suggested. Made an excellent start, ran inside the top three for virtually the entire afternoon and, even if he couldn’t match Mercedes team-mate Antonelli, was heading for another podium before a power-unit failure stopped him with five laps remaining.

Alex Albon – 4.5/10

Williams lacked pace from the outset and qualifying 20th left him with an enormous amount of work to do. His eventual retirement was caused by a gearbox problem rather than a driving error, but there had been little sign of any kind of meaningful challenge before then.

Valtteri Bottas – 3.5/10

A weekend to forget. Qualified ahead of Cadillac team-mate Perez but admitted his decision to run slicks was a risk before spinning into the gravel on lap nine and triggering the first safety car.