Verstappen Finally Won in 2026 — and Red Bull’s Comeback Is Bigger Than One Wet Race
GOATIFYMax Verstappen arrived at Sepang with Red Bull finally looking fast enough to threaten the front. He left with something much more concrete: his first victory of 2026, Red Bull's first win of the season and the first Grand Prix victory for Red Bull Ford Powertrains.
The result was anything but routine. Heavy rain delayed the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, an unprecedented software problem disrupted the formation laps, Verstappen lost the lead when racing finally began and Mercedes briefly controlled the front. Yet once conditions settled, the four-time champion worked back past George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, then controlled the race through further interruptions.
That makes Sepang a far stronger signal than Saturday's pole. Red Bull did not merely produce one fast lap. It had the pace, tyre call and execution to win a race that repeatedly changed shape.
F1’s first wet race exposed a software problem nobody had seen
Before Verstappen could prove anything about Red Bull's race pace, Formula 1 had to get the race started. Heavy rain pushed the original start back, and when the field finally headed out behind the safety car, several cars suddenly lost power at low speed. Verstappen slowed dramatically, Hamilton came close to stopping, and other drivers reported similar problems.
The FIA later explained that an unusual combination of low engine speed, low grip, wet-weather energy settings and Sepang's sector configuration triggered an unintended loss of power. The start procedure was suspended while an updated software release changed the affected energy-limit constraint. It was the first wet race for the 2026 cars, and the problem had not appeared in testing.
The episode mattered beyond the spectacle because it underlined how much of the new power-unit formula depends on software and energy deployment. Drivers were understandably frustrated, but for the race itself the key point was that the reset restored the original grid and created a fresh strategic decision: intermediates or slicks on a track that was still treacherous.
Verstappen lost the start — then showed why Red Bull’s pace was real
When the race finally began, Verstappen's pole advantage disappeared almost immediately. Antonelli and Russell both launched past him, putting two Mercedes cars between Red Bull and the victory it had spent the weekend threatening to take. That could have turned Saturday's pole into another near miss.
Instead, Verstappen's recovery made the strongest case yet for the RB22's improvement. He stayed on the intermediate tyre, moved back past Russell and then attacked Antonelli around the first Safety Car sequence. Once he reclaimed the lead, he built a gap that reached more than ten seconds before late interruptions compressed the field again.
The distinction from qualifying is important. A pole can come from a narrow setup window or one exceptional lap. Sepang asked Red Bull to manage changing grip, tyre crossover, traffic and restarts. Verstappen had enough pace to recover after losing track position rather than simply defending an inherited lead.
That is the real reason this win changes the tone around Red Bull. The team had already shown signs of progress in Baku and then dominated qualifying in Malaysia. Winning after the race went against the original script turns a promising trend into a complete weekend.
Red Bull Ford Powertrains just got its first Grand Prix win
The trophy also belongs to a project much bigger than one driver's season. This was the first Formula 1 victory for Red Bull Ford Powertrains, achieved in the first year of Red Bull's new in-house power-unit era. That milestone changes the meaning of the weekend.
Red Bull entered 2026 accepting a level of technical risk that established engine customers do not carry. Building a power unit while also adapting to a new chassis formula created two development battles at once. Early-season difficulties made it easy to question whether the team had taken on too much.
Sepang does not answer every reliability or performance question, especially after a race in which the entire grid encountered software-related energy-management trouble. But a win proves the Red Bull package can now reach the level required to convert opportunity into a Grand Prix victory. Verstappen called the achievement impressive, and the timing is valuable: the team has a result to validate its development direction before the final seven rounds.
There is also a practical benefit. Winning pressure exposes weaknesses that midfield running does not. Red Bull had to make tyre decisions from the front, execute restarts and protect a lead through Safety Car phases. Those are the operational tests it needs if this package is going to challenge consistently in 2027 rather than simply steal occasional results.
Antonelli lost the race but left Malaysia much closer to the title
Verstappen owned the victory, but Antonelli may have gained even more from the championship arithmetic. The Mercedes driver finished second while teammate and nearest title rival Russell retired from third with a late power-unit problem. Antonelli now leads Russell by 84 points with seven rounds remaining.
That margin changes how Mercedes can approach the closing stretch. Antonelli no longer needs to beat every rival every weekend. He needs to keep converting difficult races into heavy points. Sepang was a good example: Mercedes could not match Verstappen once Red Bull found clean air, but second place became an excellent result when Russell's car failed.
Hamilton's recovery added another layer. Ferrari's decision to start on slicks dropped him deep into the field, yet he fought back to third, passing Hadjar late. That showed how much opportunity the mixed conditions created, but it also emphasized Verstappen's control once the race settled. The winner did not need the chaos to hand him first place; he had to recover it.
For the championship, Red Bull is now more spoiler than contender. Verstappen remains too far back for the title to be the realistic story. But a Red Bull capable of taking poles and wins can remove points from Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren every weekend. That makes the final seven races less predictable even if Antonelli's cushion is now enormous.
Sepang will not suddenly put Verstappen back into the 2026 title fight. Antonelli's second place, combined with Russell's late retirement, expanded the Mercedes driver's championship advantage to 84 points with seven rounds remaining. The biggest consequence for Red Bull is therefore not mathematical. It is competitive.
A team that spent the first half of the season trying to make an awkward car manageable has now produced a pole, a race win and a landmark victory for its own power-unit project in the same weekend. Singapore will immediately test whether that progress transfers to a very different circuit.
But Red Bull no longer has to argue that its comeback is coming. Verstappen just gave it a result that says it has already started.
