Bahrain GP in Malaysia: What to Expect This Sunday

Formula one cars will race at Sepang for the first time in nearly a decade as the Bahrain GP in Malaysia goes underway. The front of the field has been shaken by a surprise Red Bull upgrade package, which appears to have left them as the strongest team this weekend.

Red Bull, after experiencing a brief period of dominance at the end of the 2025 season that nearly secured them the Driver’s Title, has been relatively weak and inconsistent for the first 15 rounds of this year. In a twist, they appear to be the team to beat this weekend, taking pole and a would be P3 on the starting grid, if not for Hadjar’s five-place penality due to an engine change.

However, with both Red Bull drivers and the team itself comfortably out of contention for the Driver’s Title and Constructor’s Title respectively, their placings this weekend mean little for the season’s outcome. More importantly, though, is Hamilton’s spot on the front row. By squeezing out two tenths of pace over his teammate, Hamilton was able to place himself in front of Antonelli, who will be starting next to Leclerc. While Hamilton faces a 103-point gulf to the Italian championship leader, fans hold out hope that a surge in late season performance and a stroke of luck could close that gap.

Following them are Norris and Piastri of McLaren, starting P5 and P6 respectively, who managed to qualify within just five hundredths of each other. Importantly, George Russell has struggled this weekend, and only managed to qualify P7. Faced with three cars between himself and Antonelli and tailed by the faster Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, Russell will need a show-stopping performance to turn Sunday in his favor for the Driver’s Championship, in which he currently sits second by 66 points.

In the midfield and beyond, standout performances include Bortoleto of Audi, whose fastest lap in Q2 was nearly a second faster than his Hulkenberg’s only Q1 hotlap, securing Bortoleto a P10 start compared to Hulkenberg’s P18. The Aston Martins of Alonso and Stroll, after a tumultuous start in the last few rounds, have managed to claw to P12 and P14 respectively, though the former world champion has tempered fan expectations of the team fighting for points. The back of the grid is marked by Alpine, Williams, and Cadillac, although Carlos Sainz of Williams managed to pull ahead to P13, leaving his teammate alone in P18. The last two spots on the grid will be held by Colapinto’s Alpine and Linblad’s VCARB due to outstanding penalties, although we can expect their superior pace to quickly allow them to carve through the field.