It’s been nine years since Formula 1 last raced in Sepang, but Red Bull’s Max Verstappen picked up right where he left off, winning an action-packed Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. The confusingly-named race matched the extraordinary way it came to be with thrills and spills of its own, offering plenty of drama, chaos and triumphs up and down the field.
The rain threatened to scupper the event before it even got going, with the country’s infamous torrential shower delaying the start by 40 minutes. And when officials did find the track sufficiently dry to race on, a software glitch – which the FIA attributed to low engine speeds, wet-weather energy management settings and Sepang’s unique sector layout – caused half the grid to grind to a halt, resulting in nearly another hour of delay as F1 scrambled for a fix.
