Verstappen ends drought as Russell suffers pain - Bahrain GP Winners & Losers

Formula 1's improvised journey to Sepang produced a race weekend nobody will forget, for better or worse.

A software bug froze cars on the formation lap, George Russell's Mercedes died again, and Lando Norris speared into the Turn 1 gravel, yet somehow Max Verstappen still emerged with his hands on the trophy after 55 laps.

Sepang, drafted in at roughly 10 weeks' notice after the Bahrain Grand Prix was relocated amid security concerns, drew a record 261,000 fans across the weekend, even as transport chaos and a stalled start threatened to derail the show entirely.

Here are the winners and losers from a grand prix that was anything but conventional.

Winner - Max Verstappen

Verstappen converted a hectic opening, in which his power unit briefly refused to respond, into a maiden win for this year at Sepang, charging once his intermediates came to life after a poor start.

The Red Bull driver's call to switch tyres at the right moment proved decisive as conditions shifted lap by lap, and despite a late safety car to test his nerve, he was rarely troubled.

From the lows at the start of the season, Red Bull has delivered an RB22 of which it can be proud.

"It's a really nice one, after the year that we've had and the progression that we've made," Verstappen said. "I'm incredibly proud of everyone, and it's just super nice to win here.

"It was very hectic with a lot of different things in the start. No power, so you have to wait for the power to kick in. But then we made the right call with the intermediates, and after that, step by step, we moved our way forward."

Winner - Malaysia

Handed the job of hosting F1 again in a matter of weeks, with 561 marshals mobilised and paddock fittings airlifted in from Bahrain, the local organisers delivered a record crowd and a circuit that reminded everyone why it was once a calendar fixture.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim even confirmed talks are underway with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali about the track's future on the schedule.

Bahrain circuit chief Sheikh Salman Isa Al Khalifa was equally pleased with how the event turned out. "Over 260,000 fans came to witness the biggest event ever held at the Sepang International Circuit, and we are truly grateful to them for bringing their passion and energy," he said.

Yes, there were infrastructure issues outside the circuit, but at short notice, it was always going to be difficult to please all of the people, all the time. Overall, Sepang is a circuit that needs to be permanently back on the calendar.

Winner - Fernando Alonso

It has been a horrid year for Aston Martin, but in Malaysia, the Silverstone-based squad delivered its best all-round performance of the campaign.

In qualifying, it managed to get both cars into Q2 for the first time this season, with Alonso lining up a year-high 12th, and team-mate Lance Stroll 14th.

Veteran Alonso then proved the pace over one lap was no fluke. He initially held his own in the tricky, changeable conditions, and once on slicks, although the AMR26 lacked a degree of performance, he still managed to deliver the team's best result this year with eighth.

George Russell

Running third and seemingly on course for a decent haul of points, Russell suffered a suspected power unit failure during a late safety car period, forcing him to pull over on the main straight and retire. It capped a bruising weekend for the Mercedes driver.

After dominating in Baku the previous weekend, Russell could reasonably have hoped his campaign had turned a corner, but not a bit of it.

At no stage did he look comfortable around the Sepang track, culminating in his worst qualifying performance of the season with eighth. Although he was a rocket ship off the line in the wet conditions, it was clear he did not have the pace of team-mate Kimi Antonelli.

The retirement has seemingly dealt a fatal blow to his championship chances as he heads to Singapore this weekend now 84 points behind Antonelli.

Lando Norris

Starting on the medium tyres in the wet conditions was a severe miscalculation that ensured his race got off to the worst possible start as he plummeted down the order, whilst those on inters all surged past.

A recovery followed as the race unfolded, but the damage had been done earlier, from which he never truly recovered, and a modest points haul was only ever on the cards.

Even that, however, was wrecked when he misjudged the cars ahead of him during a safety car period, forcing him to take evasive action that saw him drive over a kerb and the gravel before narrowly avoiding McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Norris was summoned to the stewards post-race for alleged erratic driving, and was ultimately given his first reprimand of the season.

Formula 1

The sport's return to Sepang was overshadowed by an embarrassing technical failure that froze throttles on the formation lap.

The FIA later confirmed a software bug in the standard power unit controller triggered a lockdown mode, known as continuous offset, when cars slowed behind the safety car at Turn 9 and lost turbo boost pressure, cutting electrical deployment across the grid.

Technical delegate Nikolas Tombazis admitted the governing body had not had enough opportunity to stress-test the system. "We didn't manage to test the software as extensively as we would have liked, because there's been very little wet running this year, and there was a bit of a combination of circumstances which caused this bug to kick in," he said.

Drivers across the grid, including Hamilton and Verstappen, were affected. Hamilton even had to stop and restart his car on the start-finish straight.

None of the drivers were happy, with Cadillac's Sergio Perez describing the situation as "unacceptable", and Norris saying that what unfolded was "horrible". It was not a good look for F1, the so-called pinnacle of the sport.