Verstappen becomes the third driver to win a race in 11 consecutive seasons, Red Bull record a third successive victory at Sepang and Lindblad becomes the first driver to score points from 22nd on the grid in almost exactly a decade. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia!
VERSTAPPEN WINS THE 2026 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX IN MALAYSIA
Max Verstappen took victory at the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, securing his and Red Bull’s first win of the season. This was Verstappen’s 72nd career win.
Recording his 72nd win with Red Bull, Verstappen equalled Michael Schumacher for the second-most wins with a single team in F1. Schumacher recorded 72 wins with Ferrari between 1996 and 2006. The record for most wins with a team is 84, for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.
Verstappen’s win made him the fourth driver to win Grands Prix in as many as 11 different F1 seasons, as well as only the third driver – after Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – to have won in as many as 11 consecutive seasons. Schumacher reached the milestone in 2002, while Hamilton did so in 2017.
Having won at least one race in every season since 2016, Red Bull became the fifth team – after Lotus, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes – to record wins in as many as 11 successive years.
This was Red Bull’s third consecutive win at Sepang International Circuit.
Verstappen has now finished on the podium in seven of the last nine race weekends, having recorded just one podium in the seven races prior to that.
Having won the last race at Sepang in 2017 nine years ago, Verstappen set a new record for the longest gap between consecutive wins at a circuit. The previous record was seven years between wins for Nigel Mansell at Kyalami in the 1985 and 1992 South African Grands Prix.
Verstappen recorded the fastest lap of the race for the first time since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. With that, he recorded the 38th fastest lap of his career and equalled Sebastian Vettel for fifth on the list of most fastest laps in Formula 1.
ON THE PODIUM
Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton joined Max Verstappen on the podium at the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Antonelli finished in the top three for the sixth time in the last seven Grand Prix weekends.
This was the sixth consecutive race in Malaysia in which a Mercedes driver finished on the podium.
With his third place finish, Hamilton overtook Sebastian Vettel as the driver who has scored the most points at Sepang International Circuit.
Hamilton returned to the podium for the first time since the British Grand Prix. This was his sixth top three finish of the season.
Hamilton extended his record for the most podium finishes at Sepang. This was his seventh top three finish at the circuit.
This was Ferrari’s first podium finish in Malaysia since Vettel’s 2015 victory.
IN THE POINTS
Charles Leclerc recorded his fourth fourth place finish in the last six Grand Prix weekends.
Isack Hadjar finished fifth in the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix. He has finished in the top six in all of the last nine Grands Prix which he has started.
After a point-less race last weekend, McLaren returned to the points with both drivers in the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri finished sixth, while Lando Norris finished ninth. Of races which they have both finished, this was the first time Piastri finished ahead of Norris since the Belgian Grand Prix.
Liam Lawson finished seventh in the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix, scoring points for the ninth time in the last 12 race weekends.
Finishing in eighth place, Fernando Alonso recorded his and Aston Martin’s best result of the season to date.
During the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix, Alonso overtook Jenson Button as the driver who has raced the most laps at Sepang International Circuit. Alonso’s total of laps raced here now stands at 829.
Arvid Lindblad became the first driver to score a point from 22nd on the grid in almost exactly ten years. Fernando Alonso was the last driver to do so, also at Sepang International Circuit. On that day, Alonso drove from 22nd on the grid to seventh at the finish line.
Lindblad’s 12th place finish in the Dutch Grand Prix is the only time he has failed to scored in the last 11 Grands Prix.
This was the second time, after 2015, that both of the Red Bull junior team’s cars finished in the points in Malaysia.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Lance Stroll’s 12th place finish at the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix ended a streak of four consecutive retirements for the Canadian driver. This was his best result of the season to date.
This was the first time since the Hungarian Grand Prix that both Aston Martin drivers crossed the finish line.
With Ollie Bearman 14th and Esteban Ocon 15th, Haas failed to score a point for the ninth time in the last ten Grand Prix weekends.
Audi failed to score a point in the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix. Nico Hulkenberg’s 11th place marked the ninth time this season that an Audi driver finished in 11th place.
For the first time this year, Alpine failed to score points at successive races.
With Carlos Sainz finishing 17th and Alex Albon failing to finish, this was the first time since 2013 that Williams failed to score a point in a Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit.
THE RETIREES
George Russell recorded his third retirement of the season. He did so while running in third place close to the end of the race.
Alex Albon failed to finish the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix, recording his seventh non-finish of the season. This was the first time the Williams driver recorded consecutive DNFs since recording three in a row at the 2025 Spanish, Canadian and Austrian Grands Prix.
Ending his race in the gravel, Valtteri Bottas recorded his eighth retirement of the 2026 season. This was Bottas’ first retirement in his six appearances in Malaysia.
Since the Miami Grand Prix, the British and Italian Grands Prix are the only races which both Cadillac drivers have finished.