Max Verstappen takes historic Bahrain victory as George Russell title hopes extinguished

Max Verstappen delivered an imperious performance to win the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia after farcical early scenes at Sepang on the formation laps.

With the race already delayed by 40 minutes after a severe downpour, once cars got going behind the safety car, chaos ensued with Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton involved as cars ground to a halt for the first time they had been run in wet conditions at a grand prix. 

Verstappen was able to keep the Red Bull going, but the likes of Hamilton and Esteban Ocon stopped on track whilst a "software reset" was delivered - with the FIA quickly deciding to suspend the start sequence and red flag the race, which had not yet started.

After a further delay of around 50 minutes, the race finally got going in green flag conditions with a standing start - with a mixture of tyres throughout the field. 

Verstappen and Isack Hadjar stayed on the intermediate tyres whilst Hamilton and Charles Leclerc gambled on the soft Pirellis, with both Mercedes drivers also opting for the added security of the intermediates.

On the start, Verstappen and Hamilton both bogged down as Kimi Antonelli and George Russell rocketed away to lead from Verstappen as Hamilton and Lando Norris on the slicks tumbled down the order as intermediates proved the way to go.

As the crossover point slowly appeared, those at the front earned a free pit-stop for the safety car being deployed after Valtteri Bottas spun off.

This allowed the field to take on slick tyres all around - but Hamilton did not pit and crucially stayed ahead of the likes of Norris and Leclerc, which would pay dividends later on. 

Ultimately after the restart in the dry conditions, Verstappen was rarely seen thereafter and won the first race for Red Bull Powertrains, with Antonelli making a decisive move on Russell on-track to take second - with Russell failing to finish following a late PU failure.

This means Antonelli's points lead is now 84. 

Hamilton recovered to third after passing Hadjar late on, with Fernando Alonso eighth for Aston Martin's best result of the season with four points.

Chaos ensures in Sepang

After the initial 40-minute delay for the rain, the field started a planned two laps behind the safety car, but mayhem ensued as multiple cars ground to a halt. 

Verstappen was able to keep the Red Bull going as Hamilton stopped and fell right down the order, but under the red flag conditions, the FIA declared that the original grid positions would be used to determine a restart order, which came just under an hour later.

On the standing start, a mixture of tyre compounds were present, with Verstappen and the Mercedes drivers choosing correctly on the intermediates as Antonelli roared into the lead from Russell with Verstappen dicing with Liam Lawson as Hamilton and Leclerc sunk like a stone down the order.

Hamilton rejected an offer from the team to pit, insisting they stick with the gamble, something Leclerc and Norris had not taken, with this decision allowing Hamilton to stay ahead of both rivals after he decided not to pit under a safety car for Bottas's beached Cadillac, with his soft tyres carrying on. 

The leaders, all on intermediates, took the free pit-stop for slicks, but shortly after the restart, Verstappen roared past Antonelli for the lead, with Russell also slicing past, with this trio gapping the pack led by Hadjar as Hamilton began to carve through the field.

Leclerc triggered another round of green flag stops, with Hamilton stopping on Lap 32 as the race proceeded until late drama caused by a virtual safety car and then full safety car with 11 laps to go for Alex Albon's stopped Williams.

The entire field eventually pitted but just as the race was getting ready to resume, Russell ground to a halt with a power unit issue, with Norris also going wide to avoid ramming into the back of Piastri.

The race resumed at the end of Lap 51 of 55, with Verstappen fending off Antonelli to win his 72nd grand prix as Hamilton took third after passing Hajdar, who fell to fifth once Leclerc had passed. 

Piastri was sixth for McLaren, ahead of Lawson's Racing Bulls machine, as Alonso scored eighth for Aston Martin, with Norris ninth and Arvid Lindblad in 10th. 

Lindblad misses on points

Nico Hulkenberg took 11th, just missing out on a point, as Lance Stroll was 12th ahead of Franco Colapinto, as Oliver Bearman pipped Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon to 14th by less than second. 

Pierre Gasly was 16th ahead of Carlos Sainz in 17th, ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, with a 10-second penalty in 18th, as Sergio Perez, on a five-stopper, was 19th and last.