Verstappen beats the leader in the chaos of Sepang and Alonso comes back and defends himself from champion Norris; bad luck for Sainz

Max Verstappen won again. In a Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia with previous absurdity and initial chaos after the intense rain that hit Sepang, but also with final suspense due to a ‘Safety Car’ in the final laps, the Dutchman imposed his law with an improved Red Bull that already allows him to shine. And boy did it shine, achieving victory against Kimi Antonelli (2nd) and Hamilton (3rd), who achieved the podium after passing a Hadjar, both benefiting from Russell’s abandonment due to a problem when George was 3rd with 5 laps to go.

Max thus achieved his first victory of the season, a victory that is more than that in a race in which the other main protagonist was Alonso, with a masterful comeback from the last places to be 8th, the best result of the year for Aston Martin.

The Dutchman’s victory was a warning that the ‘bogeyman’ is already here. He had to wait like a caged lion for too many races for his car to improve, still maximizing his results, with a less competitive car at the start than McLaren and Ferrari, juggling and magic to add seven podiums, including four second places. But it’s already here.

Red Bull has resurfaced too late for Max to think about the title. It’s already too far away with 7 races left. But if one thing is clear, it is that Red Bull’s comeback with the evolution demonstrated in its car is the perfect message for next year.. Max stayed at Red Bull to win. Many wondered why Max decided to continue at Red Bull after the bad start to the year. I trusted the team. He renewed for this. He wants to fight for the 2027 crown and everyone is already more than warned.

Max recital

Verstappen took advantage of the great performance of his car to beat Kimi Antonelliwhich he surpassed with a spectacular overtaking maneuver on the outside at the beginning, when the asphalt was still wet, after the two Mercedes stole everyone’s wallet with a spectacular wet start that placed them in the first two places, with Kimi leading, with all the drivers at the top opting for the intermediate tires.

Kimi began to suffer the degradation of the intermediate rubbers and Verstappenafter passing to Russelwas already attacking him. There were tense moments, with the Italian defending himself as best he could from Max. And there, a ‘Safety Car’ On lap 9, caused by Valtteri Bottas, it allowed all the drivers in front to get rid of the intermediate rubber and put on dry tires. And there, Verstappen decided to opt for the soft tire to attack Kimi at the start. And he did it wonderfully.

He Dutch ‘lion’ He went after his prey without remorse, with enormous hunger and a kind of genius. He overtook him on the outside, risking a lot on a delicate asphalt, still wet, with dry tires. And he did it. He placed himself as a leader.

With that pass, Max made it clear to Kimi that he can win this World Cup with whatever advantage he wants.but Max is still the best driver on the grid. He only needed a car at his level, and judging by the trend of his car after the developments in Baku, Max already has the car he wanted.

After that initial overtaking, Verstappen gave the Mercedes no option. George passed Kimi just as Max overtook him, but then, The Englishman had to leave second place to the World Championship leader because Verstappen was moving away.

Mercedes wanted to try to go after the flying Dutchman. But Kimi couldn’t either. He even suffered an off-track in the last corner due to another problem that was already seen with Bottas in Baku, with his engine’s software understanding that it should continue accelerating when Kimi braked. The Italian was able to save that situation, who was already more than 7 seconds away from the Max. There was nothing to do.

Not even a virtual safety car with 12 laps left allowed the Mercedes to attack in any way. Kimi could only do the opposite of Red Bull. And Max stopped to prevent Kimi from doing the same and to have new tires to attack him at the end.

The four-time champion put on new tires and started behind Kimi to once again overtake Antonelli, with a great wheel advantage. But Mercedes avoided that image and major problems to secure second and third placefinally stopping Kimi and Russell. Max returned to the lead.

final cliffhanger

But the thing was not over. On the next lap, the safety car finally came in. That could change everything. The outcome became a sprint cvarrera with a few turns. The group of cars regrouped again and that gave Kimi a final opportunity to challenge Max. Also Russell. Verstappen had to defend himself in a big way.

George was then eliminated from that fight with only 5 laps remaining, even with the safety car on the track. His Mercedes stood still. And their minimal chances of coming back in the World Cup were definitely going overboard. With 3 laps remaining the race resumed. Max messed it up again and Kimi couldn’t get the car into it. And there he put the spice Hamilton festival, which had reached 17th after the poor initial choice of dry tires and, after a great comeback, had the podium to touch.

Lewis came on. He was 4th and took the stickers off Hadjar with his pace to get on the podium. And I wanted to go after Antonelli. He was 1″7, attacking with everything, but not finally, the 7-time champion could not reach a Kimi who is the great beneficiary of the day: he is even closer to the crown after Russell’s abandonment.

Alonso’s comeback, with everything against

The Bahrain GP in Malaysia was a rollercoaster of emotions for Alonso. It looked like it could be a very good day, a great opportunity to take advantage of the downforce of its chassis and the hands of Alonso due to the strong storm that hit the circuit, which forced the start to be postponed for 40 minutes. The man from Oviedo rubbed his hands to go to the start attack with the asphalt still very wet, for intermediates. However, a very strange situation during the formation lap prevented him from doing so. Several cars suffered from an incomprehensible software problem (presumably due to water) and the start was postponed again.

This meant that the start was done on drier, even wet, asphalt. Things changed a lot. And there, Alonso, like Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris did and other drivers, took to the track with a very risky strategy: with dry tires. He did it by taking even more risks: he started with the medium rubber, even more difficult to warm up in a very delicate situation. Only Norris, Piastri and Stroll started with that same rubber. It could go very well if the track dried quickly. But it wasn’t like that. It went very wrong.

That made Fernando, who started 12thwill go down to the last positions. All those with dry tires sank and those with intermediate tires escaped. Hamilton, in fact, was just ahead of Fernando with the theoretically better tire, the soft one, but Alonso easily surpassed him in braking with the medium tire, a clear message that his class is still intact.

The track was still too wet and drying too slowly. Then, on lap 9, the ‘Safety Car’ originated by Bottas appeared.

That allowed the intermediate cars to maintain their position to put on free dry tires. It hurt the rest, although not completely, since at least the cars were regrouped. Then began a race of resistance, of survival of a Fernando who was 14th for most of the race, trying to lengthen his tires. And that strategy and perfect execution of the race allowed the Spaniard to climb back to 8th place after overtaking Pérez, Stroll, Ocon and Lindblad through pure pace and conviction.

When I was 10th, before Hulkenbergafter a great overtake on the brand’s Lindblad, with a loop in turns 1 and 2, the man from Oviedo gained two positions after the safety car due to the abandonment of Russell and a Norris errorwhich went to gravel.

And with three laps to go, with champion Lando Norris with a McLaren far superior to his Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso held on tooth and nail to that eighth place, defending himself with everything from the current champion to finish ahead and be 8th. He did it cleverly: he reserved battery to use on a straight line. Masterly. He once again demonstrated that If Aston Martin gives him a winning car, he is ready to fight for everything.

Bortoleto touches Sainz and ruins his career

For Sainzthe race was totally against Alonso. It was one of the cars that could benefit from going out with the intermediates. With a great start, he even placed 6th.

However, at the start of the first safety car, When he was 8th, Bortoleto wore it in turn 2causing a spin and possible damage. What could have been a race fighting for points turned into a final 17th place for the Madrid native.