Max Verstappen secures his first GP win of 2026 and crowns victory with DHL Fastest Lap

Max Verstappen celebrated his 72nd GP win at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, and victory tasted especially sweet, as this was his first major success of the 2026 F1 season, ending a 301-day spell without a win for the four-time champion.

Verstappen started the race from pole position but was immediately overtaken at the start by both Mercedes drivers when the revs on his RB22 dropped suddenly as he released the clutch. He subsequently overtook George Russell after six laps.

He used the safety car period on lap 9 to switch from intermediates to softs. At the restart, Verstappen also overtook the second Mercedes driven by Kimi Antonelli and defended the lead – apart from a brief period while making his third pit stop under the safety car – until the end of the race. He crowned a brilliant drive with a 1:38.220-minute DHL Fastest Lap on lap 55.

“What an incredible result!” he said. “The race wasn’t made easy for us with all the decisions we had to make and then the safety car at the end on top of everything. But we made all the right calls with the tires, kept our cool, and it all paid off.”

This 72nd victory was also the first win for Red Bull Ford Powertrains as an engine manufacturer in Formula 1, and Verstappen finished by saying: “To win a race in the first year of being a new power unit manufacturer is honestly just incredible and something everyone should be really proud of.”