What an exciting and interesting race weekend we have. As the Malaysia circuit is being brought back into the F1 calendar for this season due to the ongoing issues in Bahrain. They have decided to host the Bahrain GP here.
Around half the grid have driven at the Sepang circuit before, but many haven’t, including Antonelli, the current championship leader. We’ve got a brighter blue/green livery for Mercedes in celebration of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The future of some drivers has been confirmed this weekend as both Aston Martin drivers confirm they’re sticking with Stroll and Alonso for next year. Ocon is let go by Haas and will be a free agent.
The glory of the Sepang circuit
There’s some excitement in FP1 with Russell going wide and Lawson battling brake failures. Hulkenberg had a wacky lock-up moment as Sainz and Ocon had a racing moment, getting a bit too competitive for practice. Verstappen tops the 1st practice session with Russell in 2nd and Hadjar in 3rd.
Norris and Perez had a tight moment heading into the pit lane as Verstappen had issues in this session. As Bortoleto and Lindblad are racing early, Bortoleto goes wide in the corner, allowing Lindblad to go through ahead of him. This time Leclerc takes the top spot, followed by Hadjar and Norris.
The final practice session brings several struggles for both Racing Bulls as Lindblad goes wide at turn 7 and off the track while Lawson has a big heel spin, nearly losing it at turn 11. Antonelli soars and takes 1st for FP3 with both Red Bulls hot on his heels behind him – it’s still all to play for.
A quick qualifying
Straight away, both Red Bulls set super quick times, followed by both Ferrari drivers as well. Bearman ruins his first quick lap due to a bad lock-up and going wide in Q1. And out in Q1 we have Bottas and Perez for Cadillac, along with both Haas drivers. Albon is 20th, and Hulkenberg just misses out in 17th as his teammate beats him through to Q2. A great qualifying for Aston Martin as both drivers make it through to Q2 for the first time this season.
We’re in Q2, and Mercedes seem to be struggling as Antonelli’s latest time is deleted for exceeding track limits. Lindblad gives his teammate a tow across the line, hoping to help him get into Q3. Lindblad and Colapinto are out in Q3, not setting times as they have grid penalties already, and Sainz secures 13th. Stroll settles for 14th, and Alonso gets 12th, a great showing from Aston Martin. Bortoleto just makes it through to Q3, knocking Lawson out in 11th place.
Verstappen has set the lap to beat in Q3 as he’s showing pure dominance at the Sepang circuit where he has won before. It’s going to be tough to beat his time, and so far no one can. Hamilton looks close with a flying lap but just misses out and takes 2nd behind Verstappen. Antonelli will start in 3rd place with Leclerc next to him in 4th, with a good showing from both Ferrari teammates.
The McLaren duo can only finish in 5th and 6th, with Russell in 7th; not a great lap from him. Although Hülkenberg has a fabulous final lap securing 3rd, he will actually start in P8 due to a 5-place grid penalty for having his 7th replacement engine. Gasly manages to hold onto 9th as Bortoleto finishes in the final spot.
An excellent qualifying from Verstappen and I for one am very excited to see Verstappen and Hamilton on the front row together.
A wet start
It’s pouring down in Malaysia, so there will be a delayed start time for the race, but let’s hope we get racing soon.
We start 40 minutes after the original start time, and on the formation lap, Hadjar aquaplaned and went off onto the gravel. And it’s touch-and-go for Hamilton, as he has issues on the formation lap and has stopped on the side, and they’ve now suspended the starting procedure.
There seems to be a debate about whether the cars should restart in the grid order or in the order of how they entered the pits. That would indeed damage both Ferraris chances. The FIA decides that we will restart in the grid order, so the team engineers are reordering the cars in the pit lane. Hopefully we will get going soon.
As the cars finally come out of the pit lane. We see a mixture of tyres as the rain has stopped and some parts of the track are still quite wet, whereas others are bone-dry. Redbull and Mercedes have gone for intermediate, as other cars choose soft tyres. We have another lap starting behind the safety car; we see Gasly go off and nearly skid into the barrier. He’s on soft tyres, and Hamilton says the track is still very wet.
Norris wants to come in to change tyres, but he’s told to stay out as we’re told we will have a standing start. It’s clear the cars on soft and medium tyres are struggling more than those on intermediate tyres. However, Piastri and Bortoleto are then called in to pit to change onto intermediate tyres. The rest of the cars get onto the grid for the standing start.
Let’s get racing!
Verstappen is off the line, but Antonelli is much quicker and gets ahead of both Verstappen and Hamilton. Both Ferraris fall to 15th and 16th, the soft tyres not working for them. Those cars on intermediate tyres manage to get right up into the top 10. Russell shoots ahead of Verstappen too but just had a bad start, and he slots behind Antonelli.
Leclerc and Hulkenberg collide at the start, Leclerc going into the back of Hulkenberg and losing some of his wing, which. He pitted, they gave him a new nose too. The yellow flag is briefly shown as a Marshall removes the debris from the track.
Mercedes receive instructions to work together as they look a bit feisty, as Verstappen and Lawson are fighting behind, but Lawson sticks with him. Hadjar gets up to 6th, and both Williams on intermediate tyres are up into 6th and 7th; fantastic work from them. Ocon and Lindblad manage to get up into the top 10; brilliant from Lindblad making up so many spaces on the intermediate tyres.
Ferrari are called into the box to go onto intermediate tyres – the track has held onto the water like a sponge, so anyone on soft or medium tyres seems to be struggling on these first few laps. Both Alpinés are in the bottom places struggling on soft tyres, and Aston Martin are going steady in 13th and 14th.
On lap 6, Russell goes wide and Verstappen swoops in, getting ahead of him into 2nd place; Antonelli is pulling away in front. Linblad and Albon are fighting hard for 8th place as Piastri slots into 10th, and his teammate Norris is down in 15th, struggling on the soft tyres – they should’ve pitted both McLarens for the change of tyre.
Verstappen is coming after Antonelli and is now within a second of each other. On lap 8 Anotnelli runs wide, and Verstappen launches down the straight trying to overtake him around the outside, but Anotnenllis is defending Verstappen all the way.
On lap 9, Bottas goes off track and is beached in the gravel. That then means everyone is called into the pits under the safety car and gets a quicker pit stop. They are changing out of the intermediate tyres and onto soft, medium and hard tyres, with the track now drying up for them to work, but interesting with such a mix of tyres on the grid.
The safety car ends a few laps later, and Antonelli needs to have a clean start, but Verstappen is raring to go behind him. Antonelli goes down, but Verstappen is with him and dives around the outside and manages to overtake Antonelli, and then his teammate Russell jumps Antonelli as well into 2nd. Sainz falls down the order to 18th after having a collision with Bortoleto.
It’s very tight between the top 5 as Ocon is steady in 6th and Lindblad in 7th. Norris and Stroll are fighting neck and neck with each other, and Norris gets ahead into 12th place. On lap 16, Hamilton gets ahead of Bortoleto and then is fighting Hulkenberg for 9th; he gets it.
Red Bull dominance
Verstappen is showing tremendous pace in 1st as he’s slowly working a gap between him and Russell in 2nd. But Antonelli is gaining on his teammate and is within a second of him. Hamilton makes an excellent move on Piastri and gets ahead up into 8th place; he’s the only car that hasn’t pitted.
On lap 22, Antonelli gets ahead of his teammate and moves up into 2nd and will be trying to close the gap to Verstappen. Hamilton makes some more overtakes on Lindblad, Ocon and Lawson and gets up to 5th on soft tyres – Piastri receive instructions to stick with him.
Bortoleto is given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sainz, where he turned into him, spinning Sainz around and facing the wrong way. Piastri makes a move on Lindblad and is up into 8th place, as Norris is just outside the points in 11th at the moment.
A few laps later, Antonelli goes wide, nearly hitting a bollard. That is a shame as he had been making a bigger gap between him and his teammate, but not anymore. Verstappen is stalking away as he’s 8 seconds ahead of Antonelli.
We’re halfway through now, and Norris is making moves as he overtakes Lindblad and Ocon and is up into 8th behind his teammate. A good effort from McLaren to get back onto the points. Leclerc is called into the pits along with Lindblad and Stroll, but with still 26 laps to go, we’ll see if their tyres will last that long.
Hamilton is putting pressure on Hülkenberg for 4th place as Piastri overtakes Lawson up into 6th now and Ocon goes wide in the pit lane. Alonso is up into 10th and is in contention for points. As we’re seeing several cars coming in to pit, Hülkenberg and Hamilton, and then we see the top 3 also pit but not losing positions.
On lap 35 Hamitlon is within 0.5 seconds of Hadjar in 4th, and he is inching closer with each lap. Alonso storms ahead of Lindblad, and up into 10th fighting for points a nd nearly comes into contact with Lindblad but manages to stay clean as he’s now got the other Racing Bull ahead of him.
On lap 43, Albon’s gearbox breaks and he pulls off to the side and a virtual safety car is placed on track. Verstappen takes the chance to pit and will come out behind Antonelli in 2nd. Both Ferarri’s are called in to pit in the hopes they can utilise the last 10 laps and come back to get the other drivers.
But as the virtual safety car continues whilst they remove Albon’s car. Both Mercedes drivers and Hülkenberg are called into the pits to ensure they secure their positions. Verstappen is now back in 1st with Antonelli in 2nd and Russell in 3rd, and Hülkenberg just came out in 4th ahead of Piastri and Hamilton right behind them.
They’ve now brought out a full safety car, which will bring them all together. They have called Piastri and Norris in to pit to not allow them to be taken over, but they’ve now come out behind both Ferraris. All the drivers are bunched together as we have 5 laps left to race, as the safety car should end on this lap.
Tragedy strikes for Russell
With 5 laps to go, still behind the safety car, we’re about to keep racing, and suddenly Russell has a power unit issue. He’s pulled off to the side and is out of the race. Then we see Norris going off after nearly crashing into his teammate and avoiding him, going off into the gravel and falling down to 11th. He will not be able to regain those positions.
With 4 laps to go, the safety car is ending as Verstappen will lead and Hadjar is now in 3rd place. But the Ferraris are desperate to get onto the podium. Verstappen shoots off and gets a good start, with Antonelli hanging onto him as Piastri and Lawson are fighting for 6th place.
Hamilton is putting a lot of pressure on Hadjar as he swoops down the inside and gets ahead of Hadjar with only 2 more laps to go. Hadjar is sticking with him as Antonelli is 1.2 seconds behind Verstappen. Leclerc makes a move on Hadjar, and he’s up into 4th, and Hadjar has lost 2 places on the restart.
1 more lap to go, Alonso is trying to hold on to 8th place from Norris to score points for Aston Martin. Lawson is in 7th and a tough fight between Hulkenberg and Lindblad for the final point in 10th.
Verstappen wins the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit. Antonelli in 2nd and Hamilton in 3rd, a podium finish for Ferrari. Leclerc secures 4th, and Hadjar settles for 5th. Piastri holds onto 6th, and Lawson takes 7th. Alonso stays in 8th, scoring the most points for his team this season, and Norris settles in 9th, and Lindblad takes the final point in 10th.
A fantastic return to the Sepang circuit, and glad that Malaysia were able to host the Bahrain Grand Prix. It’s still all to play for in the drivers’ championship, and our final stop on this triple header will be in Singapore at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. That is always an exciting and tough track.
See you next week!
World In Sport Forum
Continue the discussion
Join other fans in the World In Sport Forum and debate the biggest talking points from this article.