F1 in Bahrain… in Malaysia: The race needed a software update to start

The race restarted on lap 13, and Verstappen pounced on Antonelli, taking the lead, with Russell following into second. Hamilton, meanwhile, was in 15th, although not for long. Within a lap, he was up to 11th. Within 10 laps of the restart, he was in 5th.

Slightly further back, another legend of the sport was also having a good day.

Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin might have been a laughingstock at the start of the season, as it was multiple seconds slower than the cars of the frontrunners, but the Adrian Newey-designed aerodynamic update that arrived in Hungary closed some of the gap to the rest of the field. And Honda has now introduced a second power unit upgrade that has helped drivability even while at a power deficit to the others. It’s not quite as effective a package as Hamilton’s Ferrari, but Alonso began moving forward, and by lap 40, he was in 10th place, the final points-paying position.

Up front, Verstappen was building a commanding lead, and Antonelli had overtaken Russell for second, having first asked the team unsuccessfully if they’d simply tell Russell to let him by.

Extra chaos

Then Alex Albon’s Williams suffered a gearbox failure on lap 43, triggering a virtual safety car. Verstappen and Hamilton stopped for tires, followed a lap later by Antonelli, Russell, and the other Red Bull of Isack Hadjar. The broken transmission of the Williams prevented it from being easily moved, so a full safety car was declared, bunching the pack up.

The race would restart on lap 52 (of 55), but not before Russell came to a stop by the side of the track just past the pit exit on lap 50. “Another [power unit] failure, when we were on course for a pretty certain podium. It’s a tough one to take. It’s unfortunately happened too many times this season, and, yeah, this is just where we are,” Russell said after the race as he acknowledged his title chances for 2026 were over.