Verstappen achieves his first win of the year in Malaysia

In a race marked by constant shifts in tyre strategies, pole-sitter Verstappen reclaimed the lead following an early safety car period, and crossed the finish line 2.307 seconds ahead of world championship leader and Mercedes driver, Italian Kimi Antonelli, while seven-time world champion and Ferrari driver, British Lewis Hamilton, finished third following a strong and thrilling comeback at the Sepang International Circuit.

However, the race ended in disappointment for the second Mercedes driver, British George Russell, who was forced to retire from third place with five laps remaining after his car's power unit seemingly suffered a failure during a late safety car period.

Hamilton's Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc of Monaco finished fourth after dropping to the last place in the opening laps, ahead of the second Red Bull driver, French Isack Hadjar, Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), and New Zealander Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls).

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain finished the race in eighth place, his best result of the season with Aston Martin, ahead of McLaren world champion driver Lando Norris of Britain and Racing Bulls newcomer Arvid Lindblad of Britain.

The result consolidated Antonelli's lead in the world championship, extending his gap to 84 points ahead of his teammate Russell (320 points to 236).

Difficult race

Massive crowds greeted Hamilton with loud cheers, and the British driver said: "What a difficult race," adding, "I was more than a minute behind after we made the wrong tyre decision at the start, while everyone was pulling away at the front."

The race followed a long 100-minute delay due to a tropical rainstorm, with about half of the drivers starting on intermediate wet tyres.

Verstappen started from pole position for the first time this season, following his dominance in free practice and qualifying, but had a slow start on the intermediate wet tyres, allowing the Mercedes duo Antonelli and Russell to easily overtake him in the damp conditions at the start of the race.

As for Hamilton, who started on soft slick tyres, he lacked grip and quickly dropped from second place on the grid after it became clear that conditions remained extremely dangerous.

The race dynamics changed completely on the ninth lap when Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland spun out into the gravel, prompting the deployment of the safety car and forcing most drivers to pit for dry tyres, with Antonelli choosing intermediate tyres while Verstappen opted for softs.

Hamilton stayed out on track, but as the race resumed, Verstappen pounced to overtake Antonelli and reclaim the lead, which he did not relinquish until the finish.

Hamilton continued his charge through the field, and by the 23rd lap had overtaken Lawson to move up to fifth, closing to within less than six seconds of Hadjar before both pitted on the 31st lap.

Hamilton said of his new intermediate tyres: "These tyres are terrible."

The final stages saw the deployment of a virtual safety car followed by a full safety car, prompting everyone to pit for fresh soft tyres.

The seven-time world champion used his vast experience to gradually fight his way back as the track dried, finishing in an advanced and impressive position by overtaking Hadjar and benefiting from Russell's retirement.

The Bahrain Grand Prix was held in Malaysia due to unrest in the Gulf region linked to the US-led war against Iran.

Next week, the Formula 1 World Championship moves to neighbouring Singapore for a night race and a sprint race.