By Rohith Nair
SEPANG, Malaysia, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Red Bull's Max Verstappen won a chaotic rain-hit Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on Sunday for his first victory of the season after the race start was delayed by more than 90 minutes due to treacherous conditions at the Sepang International Circuit.
Verstappen was the last driver to win in Sepang in 2017 before it was taken off the calendar and the Dutchman, who had also taken pole, gave Red Bull a first victory with their own power unit despite an early
setback when he lost the lead before turn one.
"It's a really nice one after the year that we've had and the progression that we've made. So I'm incredibly proud of everyone. It is super nice to win here," said Verstappen.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was second for Mercedes and now has an 84-point lead over his closest rival and teammate George Russell, who was third when he retired with a suspected power unit issue with five laps remaining.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton finished third despite a tyre gamble that had dropped the Briton down to 18th at the start of the race.
"Obviously, we had the wrong call at the beginning, which was so difficult and I could see everyone just pulling away," Hamilton said.
"I thought that was kind of race over for us, but I just kept my head down. The guys did a great job with the pit stops."
Antonelli held on to second from Hamilton in the closing laps.
"Today was the maximum we could have done... On our side, a lot of work to do," Antonelli said.
"We've been struggling a bit more than usual, but still really happy to come away with P2."
The last four laps were a straight shootout for podium places after a lengthy safety car period and that was when Hamilton, who had been chasing Red Bull's Isack Hadjar for several laps, made his move.
Charles Leclerc, who had also been closer to the back of the grid at the start of the race amid the chaos of a wet track, salvaged fourth for Ferrari when he overtook Hadjar with two laps to go.
Hadjar finished fifth ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri. Liam Lawson was seventh while Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, their best result of the season.
FIRST WET RACE OF 2026
The season had not yet had a wet race where the 2026 cars could be tested and the rain - which had stayed away in practice and qualifying - arrived with heavy showers sweeping across the circuit, delaying the start.
After a suspended start procedure, the second start had drivers split between intermediate and slick tyres but it was the former that thrived early in the race.
When the lights went out, Antonelli accelerated through the middle from third on the grid to take the lead from Verstappen while Russell shot past on the outside to move up from seventh to second.
But Verstappen's recovery began on lap six when he attacked Russell, overtaking the Briton by diving down the inside of turn four to set his sights on Antonelli.
The Italian had to defend his position until lap 10 when Valtteri Bottas spun his Cadillac into the gravel, bringing out the safety car as Verstappen pitted while the two Mercedes cars double stacked to switch to slick tyres.
VERSTAPPEN TAKES LEAD
When the safety car came in, Verstappen stayed glued to Antonelli's rear tyre before overtaking the Italian on turn three, with Russell also surging past his team mate on the next turn to flip the order.
Verstappen looked comfortable setting the pace up front as he set fastest laps and extended his lead over Russell to over four seconds as a frustrated Antonelli informed the team that he had the pace to chase the Dutchman.
An impatient Antonelli overtook Russell on lap 21 to move up to second while behind them Hamilton had quietly been chipping away on his ageing soft tyres to move up to fifth behind Hadjar.
But Antonelli missed his braking point at turn 15 and went briefly off track, hitting the pit lane bollard and costing him valuable time as Verstappen extended his lead to eight seconds.
When the second safety car came out towards the end for Alex Albon's Williams that was stuck in the gravel, Russell suddenly parked his car on the main straight and shook his head as he got out of the car with a suspected power unit issue.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Sepang;Editing by Christian Radnedge)
