EP 90: Max Verstappen finally wins as the Bahrain GP in Malaysia delivers chaos on and off track

The 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia had pretty much everything: tropical rain, strange technical problems, Ferrari strategy gambles, a late Mercedes retirement and, finally, a first win of the season for Max Verstappen.

In Episode 90 of Away We Go, Dianne joins me from Kuala Lumpur to talk through the race and what it was actually like to spend three days at Sepang. It turned out to be one of those weekends where the experience around the Grand Prix was almost as memorable as the racing itself.

Max Verstappen gets his first F1 win of 2026

Red Bull have shown signs of improvement over the last few races, but Sepang was the first weekend where everything really seemed to come together. Max took pole and looked comfortable for most of the race, at one stage building a gap of around ten seconds to Kimi Antonelli behind him.

When you're watching from the grandstand, a ten-second gap feels enormous. You see Max go past, wait, and wait some more before the next car arrives. It really brought home how dominant he was at certain points in the race.

Considering how difficult the beginning of the season was for Red Bull, this felt like a proper statement. Laurent Mekies took over a team that had been led by Christian Horner for years, so it was never going to be a simple transition, but the progress is starting to show.

And once Max had a car underneath him that could actually fight at the front, he did what he tends to do. He made the most of it.

The rain turns the Malaysian Grand Prix upside down

The weather had mostly behaved itself over the weekend, right up until the race. Then Malaysia delivered the kind of tropical downpour you always know is possible at Sepang.

The start was delayed by around an hour and 40 minutes, with the Safety Car going out to assess conditions while everyone waited for the rain to ease. At one point even the Safety Car appeared to be struggling for grip, which raised the familiar question of what Formula 1's full wet tyres are actually for if the cars still can't race when it is properly wet.

Eventually the race got going, and that immediately created a strategy split. Some teams went for intermediates while others took the risk of staying on slicks.

Mercedes got it right. Ferrari very much did not — at least initially.

Ferrari's tyre gamble almost ruined Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc's race

Watching Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc trying to survive on slick tyres while cars on intermediates drove past them wasn't particularly enjoyable if you're a Ferrari fan.

Charles dropped down the order, Lewis fell towards the back and it looked like Ferrari had thrown away both drivers' races almost before they had properly started.

Then the team split the strategies. Charles came in for intermediates, while Lewis was given the choice of pitting or staying out and gambling on conditions improving. He stayed out, and somehow managed to keep the soft tyres going for 33 laps.

As the track dried, that decision started to look a lot better. Lewis gradually worked his way back through the field and his fight with Isack Hadjar became one of the most entertaining parts of the race. By the closing stages, what had looked like a disastrous afternoon had turned into a genuine podium fight.

Lewis eventually finished third, with Charles just behind him in fourth. Quite how Ferrari went from both cars disappearing backwards early in the race to leaving Sepang with P3 and P4 is still slightly baffling, but the drivers deserve a lot of credit for recovering it.

Why were the 2026 F1 cars being rebooted?

One of the strangest moments happened before the race had even properly settled down.

Behind the Safety Car, several drivers suddenly started reporting power problems. Max slowed, Lewis slowed and other cars appeared to be suffering similar issues. Then Ferrari told Lewis to stop the car and reboot it.

Yes, reboot it.

The problems appeared to be linked to the new 2026 power units, the very slow speeds behind the Safety Car and the way the cars' electrical systems were operating in those conditions. Some cars effectively went into a reduced-power mode and needed to be reset.

There is obviously a much more technical explanation involving the MGU-K, electrical deployment and the internal combustion engine, but the simplest way to describe it is that the cars seemed to get confused.

I found it fascinating because it added another layer to an already chaotic race, but I can also understand why some fans look at this generation of F1 cars and wonder whether things have become overly complicated. Having one of the world's most advanced racing cars essentially need to be switched off and back on again is certainly a very 2026 problem.

George Russell's retirement changes the F1 championship picture

Mercedes had the pace for a very strong result in Malaysia, and Kimi Antonelli eventually finished second, but George Russell's race ended in another frustrating DNF.

There was a moment earlier in the race when Kimi came onto the radio to say he was faster than George. My immediate reaction was pretty simple: if you're faster, go and pass him.

Mercedes largely allowed them to race and Kimi eventually made the move on track, which felt like the right way to handle it. Unfortunately for George, his power unit failed with fewer than ten laps remaining.

Given the reliability problems he has already dealt with this season, it was hard not to feel for him. He looked completely deflated afterwards, and the retirement could have a significant effect on the championship.

Kimi now leads on 320 points, with George on 236. Lewis Hamilton sits third on 214, Charles Leclerc has 191, while Lando Norris and Max Verstappen are both on 188.

There are still seven races remaining, so mathematically plenty can happen. Realistically, though, this increasingly feels like Kimi's championship to lose.

Then again, Red Bull have just won a race and Max Verstappen is still Max Verstappen. Ruling him out completely never feels like a particularly sensible idea.

What is it actually like to watch F1 at Sepang?

From a racing point of view, Sepang was brilliant.

It's the kind of circuit where you can actually see cars racing. There are long straights, genuine overtaking opportunities and grandstands with views of multiple sections of the track. The Malaysian fans were fantastic too, and the atmosphere across the weekend was really good.

Being there also reminded Dianne what Formula 1 loses when circuits like Sepang disappear from the calendar. There has already been talk about Malaysia potentially hosting F1 again in the future, and purely from a racing perspective we'd love to see it happen.

Unfortunately, the experience of getting to and from the circuit was a completely different story.

Five hours to get home from Sepang

On paper, the transport setup sounded easy enough: take the fast train from Kuala Lumpur towards the airport and then use shuttle buses to reach the circuit.

In practice, it was chaotic.

On Friday there seemed to be very little useful signage or organisation around the shuttle system. At one point Dianne got onto what they had been told was a bus to the airport, only for it to drive around the outside of the circuit for about an hour before ending up almost back where they'd started.

When they finally reached the airport, the queue for the express train was enormous. There were thousands of people trying to leave at the same time, but trains were only coming roughly every 20 minutes.

By Saturday, Dianne decided to avoid that system completely and use taxis to get closer to the circuit instead. Unfortunately, that wasn't much better. After qualifying, it took them around five hours to get back to the hotel.

And from what Dianne had heard, they were actually among the lucky ones.

Things seemed more organised on Sunday. There were clearer queues and barriers in place, but fans were still standing around for long periods in Malaysian heat and humidity. Some people were fainting.

Which made what happened with the water even harder to understand.

How does an F1 circuit in Malaysia run out of water?

Fans had been told they couldn't bring food or water into the circuit, and bags were being checked at the entrances.

Then, during qualifying day, the circuit ran out of water.

Before 2pm.

That is bad enough anywhere, but in Malaysia, with the heat and humidity, it becomes a genuine safety problem.

At one point Dianne ended up asking someone at a corporate hospitality entrance if they had a spare bottle of water. She very kindly gave her one, and she rationed it for the rest of the afternoon because she had no idea when she'd be able to get another.

There were families with children at the circuit, older fans and people who may have had medical conditions. Food queues being long is frustrating. Running out of drinking water when you've told people they can't bring their own is something else entirely.

There also seemed to be confusion about what fans actually were allowed to bring in. Some people had reusable bottles, others had unbranded bottles or bottles with the labels removed, but none of it seemed to have been communicated particularly clearly.

By Sunday, Dianne brought her own water anyway. There was no chance she was risking that again.

Should Formula 1 return to Malaysia?

This is what makes the weekend so frustrating, because Sepang itself is fantastic.

The racing is good, the circuit is interesting, the fans are enthusiastic and Kuala Lumpur is a great place to visit. Malaysia absolutely feels like somewhere Formula 1 could return to.

But the logistics have to improve.

Fans who have travelled internationally and spent a lot of money on tickets and accommodation shouldn't have to choose between missing part of the weekend and facing hours of transport chaos. They also shouldn't struggle to find something as basic as drinking water.

The good thing is that most of those problems feel fixable. More shuttle buses, better traffic management, more frequent trains, clearer signage, more food and drink outlets and free water stations would make an enormous difference.

Fix that side of the experience and Sepang could easily become one of the best weekends on the Formula 1 calendar.

Because on track, it already delivered.

Listen to Episode 90 of Away We Go

In Episode 90 of Away We Go, we talk about Max Verstappen's first win of the 2026 F1 season, Ferrari's strategy gamble, Lewis Hamilton's recovery drive, Kimi Antonelli's growing championship lead and George Russell's latest DNF.

We also get into what it was really like attending the race at Sepang, from the tropical rain and incredible atmosphere to the transport chaos, lack of water and five-hour journey back from qualifying.

WatchEpisode 90 of Away We Go on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.