Max Verstappen was in trouble the instant the lights went out. The reigning world champion released the clutch at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on Sunday and his Red Bull simply refused to respond.
“I was not surprised because my start was horrendous,” Verstappen told reporters afterwards. “Again, dropping the clutch and not having power. The engine just completely died on me.”
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and George Russell slipped past him into Turn 1 at the Sepang International Circuit, in a rain-hit race that had already been held up by two delays and a hurried power-unit software fix.
“But then you just have to settle in, try not to overreact as well, and just slot in, try to keep your position.”
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Bottas spin flips the race
The race turned on lap 7, when Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac snapped around on a greasy surface and ended up in the gravel. The safety car came out, and Red Bull pitted Verstappen onto the soft tyre while Mercedes kept race leader Antonelli on mediums.
Verstappen hunted Antonelli down on the restart, fought him on slicks across a track still drying in patches, and came out on top.
“The race is long, a lot of things can happen and, step by step, I could close the gap. And then I had quite a nice battle on the slicks with Kimi. It was quite slippery in some phases of the corner, but it was nice.”
Lewis Hamilton completed the podium for Ferrari after charging back from 18th on a mis-timed Ferrari tyre gamble, according to Sky Sports. Russell’s Mercedes retired on lap 50 with a power-unit failure.
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First win for the Red Bull Ford engine
The result carried weight well beyond the standings. It was the first race victory for the power unit Red Bull Powertrains has built from scratch in Milton Keynes in partnership with Ford.
“It’s incredible. To win our first race in our first year with our own power unit is pretty impressive.”
Verstappen returned to the engine milestone in the post-race press conference, as reported by Pit Debrief.
“So very enjoyable to win here and also have our first victory for our own engine. It’s an incredible project with a lot of partners and a lot of people that are dedicated to be where we are now. So, yeah, fantastic feeling.”
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Verstappen also pointed to the strategy work through the chaos.
“The race was quite complicated. It was not made easy for us in terms of all the calls that we had to make and then the safety car at the end, but we kept cool, and we made all the right calls with the tyres.”
Antonelli still leads the drivers’ championship after Russell’s retirement. The next round is the Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay.
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