George Russell is hopeful Mercedes’ long-awaited car upgrade at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia will further help his performances as he bids to build on his return to winning ways from Azerbaijan last week.<\/p>\n
The Englishman delivered a strong weekend in Baku and his first win in seven rounds and scored his first career Grand Slam. Russell has also been happier with his performances since the summer break, but still finished the previous three Grands Prix behind teammate Kimi Antonelli, who leads him by eighty-one points.<\/p>\n
Russell is feeling optimistic as he goes in search of the first back-to-back wins of his F1 career on the sport’s return to Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit – a track neither of the title contenders has driven on before.<\/p>\n
When asked if another win could sow some doubts in Antonelli’s mind, Russell replied, \u201cAs I’ve really said this whole season, firstly I never really felt in a position to fight for the victories because I didn’t feel that the performances were strong enough. But now, finally, I feel I’m in a place where I can fight for victory week in week out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, there is a big deficit in the championship, but we’re only two-thirds of the way through. There’s a third of the season to go, and still so much can happen. So I’m just going to go race by race. I’m enjoying it more than I have done recently, just because I feel more at one with the car, and hopefully this new upgrade with a few characteristic changes is also going to play into my favour a bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Discussing what changed, Russell says he wasn\u2019t lost any more and his confidence was back, growing. He explained that he was having to think about how to make those adjustments, where it is now become more natural.<\/p>\n
Russell reiterated that all the pressure was on Antonelli in the chase for the Drivers’ Championship over the closing two months of the season. Russell added, \u201cFor sure there’s a lot of pressure in his position. For any driver fighting for your world championship, there’s a lot of pressure. At this point of the season it is his to lose so, from my side, I’m just going to go out there and enjoy every race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking about the upgrades, they are introducing their biggest upgrade since Montreal in May, which the Englishman describes as a \u201cgood step, purely because it’s been so long since we last brought some upgrades.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed out it\u2019s unusual for a team like Mercedes to go this long without an upgrade, which he believes was the reason recent races have been more challenging.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After their double podium in Baku, Red Bull will have a tough challenge to repeat that this weekend. For two reasons, Mercedes has a long-awaited upgrade for the W17, but Isack Hadjar will also have to serve a grid penalty.<\/p>\n
The Frenchman revealed on Thursday, when Motorsport.com asked him whether the Baku race weekend had been Red Bull\u2019s best chance of a victory, or whether the upgrade package gives him confidence that there will be more opportunities before the end of the year.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cYeah, it\u2019s a bit of both. I think Baku is definitely a track that would have suited our car anyway. The upgrade played its part, but I think going to a track with a more traditional layout, let’s say, is going to give us a better idea of where we really stand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would expect us to be less competitive here due to the layout. But if we still manage to fight for a podium this weekend, that would be good. But it’s going to be difficult for me, you know. I should be taking a five-place penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Red Bull, as of Thursday evening, didn\u2019t confirm which power unit component will be replaced. This is his car\u2019s second breach of the regulations resulting in a five-place grid penalty. It presents Hadjar with a challenge before the race weekend has even begun, although he adds that the circuit near Kuala Lumpur offers plenty of overtaking opportunities.<\/p>\n
Despite the power unit change, Hadjar believes he can go on full attack after being cautious because of his wrist injury in Baku. He added, \u201cThe layout makes it that you can go flat-out straight away. It’s an open track, there’s no walls really. So you go out to push it a lot earlier.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton launched an impassioned defence of Fred Vasseur as Ferrari’s team principal and suggested he would like to instead see other structural changes at the team.<\/p>\n
The comments came two days after an extraordinary press briefing where a spokesperson said the company’s management retained “full confidence” in Vasseur’s leadership, after growing speculation around the Frenchman’s position in the team principal role amid a run of five races without a podium.<\/p>\n
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, Hamilton welcomed Ferrari’s public move to silence the recent noise around the team – external criticism and speculation which the Briton said was “trying to break our spirit” but “not succeeding”.<\/p>\n
He told the media, \u201cI think it’s good that they did it. In terms of how it unifies the team, I think we were already unified. Honestly, outside sources seem to be so negative towards us as a team and be trying to break our spirit, but they are not succeeding. So people can continue with the negative narrative, but inside everyone is working really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adding \u201cFred is the guy to lead us. He’s doing a fantastic job. If you look at the history how many people they’re swapping out that role, and I feel like it’s in a better place than it’s been before, but ultimately it’s not a one-man situation.\u201d The seven-time champion is clear he still has belief in Vasseur, and he isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n
Vasseur is in his fourth season as team principal, and was the key factor in Hamilton\u2019s decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari as he mastermind of his F3 and F2, as they are now known, titles in 2005-06. He reunited when the seven-time world champion joined from Mercedes in a blockbuster transfer last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cFred has been fantastic working with me and I think our relationship as a whole, even with the bosses, is in a much better place than it ever was,\u201d added Hamilton.<\/p>\n
At Ferrari Vasseur is team principal and general manager of the F1 team and ultimately reports into the heads of the whole company, which includes its road-car division, chief executive Benedetto Vigna and executive chairman John Elkann.<\/p>\n
FP1 George Russell was fastest, setting a 46.387; he was four tenths faster than Max Verstappen. Russell set his fastest time with twenty minutes remaining, ahead of the Red Bull, and Charles Leclerc four thousandths behind. Leclerc put himself over four tenths faster than Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, but neither showed full potential, opting not to set a time on soft tyres.<\/p>\n
FP2 Russell was again fastest, setting a 43.437, which put him half a second ahead of Antonelli. Verstappen was again third, eight tenths faster than Leclerc this time, while Hamilton retained fourth, cutting the gap to a tenth and a half. Mercedes spent the first half-hour of the second session finishing off the repair to Antonelli’s car, which involved an engine change.<\/p>\n
FP3 Verstappen was fastest with a 43.992, going just under a tenth faster than Russell. Verstappen wasn\u2019t entirely happy, complaining that his Red Bull was “jumping like a kangaroo” before going deep into Turn Fifteen. Hamilton put his Ferrari third, splitting the two Mercedes; nearly a quarter of a second ahead of Antonelli. Leclerc was around a further quarter of a tenth off.<\/p>\n
In qualifying, Russell took a dominant pole over eight tenths faster than Leclerc, as Antonelli crashed out during Q1. Leclerc put his Ferrari a thousandth faster than Oscar Piastri, but neither had enough to challenge for pole. Isack Hadjar split the two McLarens on his return after missing the last three weekends; he was a tenth and a half behind the Australian when he went seven hundredths ahead of Lando Norris.<\/p>\n
Russell went onto take victory by a tenth from Verstappen, after the Dutchman dramatically closed the gap during the closing stages after the Mercedes looked on for a dominant win. Two late safety cars wiped out the Mercedes driver\u2019s advantage, when he could have won easily.<\/p>\n
Verstappen finished over ten seconds ahead of Hadjar, who secured Red Bull\u2019s first double podium since Shanghai in 2024, a strong drive by the Frenchman who hasn\u2019t raced since Budapest in July because of a wrist fracture in training. Both Alpines looked on course to finish best of the rest before they crashed at the first restart, which also took out Norris. The Argentine was awarded a ten-second penalty, which has become a five-place grid penalty for Sepang.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Round sixteen and six thousand miles away, it\u2019s time for the Bahrain Grand Prix, in Malaysia. Ask drivers, teams and fans one circuit of the Tilke era they would like back it is this one: the 3.444-mile Sepang circuit, one of his best designs.<\/p>\n
This weekend marks twenty-seven years since its debut and the first World Championship Malaysian Grand Prix. It was the first F1 layout to be designed in full by Hermann Tilke, who has subsequently gone on to pen most of the sport’s many new tracks, and is perhaps still his best in terms of absolute driving challenge.<\/p>\n
The 15-turn track features a combination of medium-high speed corners, two long straights and wide braking zones, offering both a stern challenge for car and driver, plus the possibility of overtaking.\u00a0 Add the location, which makes the weather Spa-esque; being in the tropics, a sunny day can quickly turn to tropical storms.<\/p>\n
High track temperatures in dry conditions provide an intense workout for drivers, tyres and engines, while in 2009 the race was red-flagged with 25 laps remaining and never restarted after a huge downpour left cars undriveable and saw several aquaplane off the track. Malaysia and Singapore are the races that demand the most from the drivers.<\/p>\n
Drivers are excited for the sport’s return in Malaysia, irrespective of whether they have driven at Sepang before or not. Lewis Hamilton has joint-record five poles and won once in 2014, and the Ferrari driver is looking forward to re-familiarising himself with both the country and track.<\/p>\n
One of the big questions after George Russell\u2019s win in Baku is whether he can use that to build back momentum and fight back against Kimi Antonelli. His win was dominating from the opening lap, topping the first practice sessions, taking a dominant pole position and then leading every lap on his way to victory.<\/p>\n
Antonelli has his worst weekend of the season in Baku, with technical issues in practice and crashing out in Q1; how does he bounce back from last weekend?<\/p>\n
Mercedes also has an upgrade; the practice sessions will be key in understanding the car and seeing whether they can rebuild the sizeable advantage they had at the start of the year.<\/p>\n
Team dynamics will be another thing to watch; the second half of the race in Baku was where it came alive with crashes between Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, and Racing Bulls teammates Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.<\/p>\n
Colapinto has a five-place grid penalty for this weekend\u2019s race in Malaysia as a result of causing a collision, and Alpine Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore suggested there could be further internal repercussions.<\/p>\n
Practice will be about the drivers who haven\u2019t raced here learning the circuit; over half the drivers have never raced here, as we haven\u2019t been here for a decade, and it will be interesting to see how long they take to learn the circuit. Those who have been here will be back in the groove in a few laps; the data is out of date.<\/p>\n
Weather is always a factor here, as we said, making strategy and communication key again, though we rarely have had crashes as the run-off is quite large.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been nine years since the last race at Sepang; I closed that weekend with \u201chopefully we will return in the future.\u201d We are back, though our coverage has evolved over the last decade, but where were the drivers?<\/p>\n
The sport last raced at the Sepang International Circuit in 2017, meaning more than half of the grid are set to take it on for the first time. Some, meanwhile, weren’t even teenagers when Max Verstappen triumphed ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo.<\/p>\n
The now four-time champion was competing in his first full season for Red Bull after getting promoted early in 2016, after just one year at Toro Rosso. He was only 20 years old at the time of the last race in Malaysia, but he won from third place after a dominant drive.<\/p>\n
Hamilton was on his way to his fourth world title with Mercedes and finished second between the two Red Bulls. The now Ferrari driver has the most poles shared at Sepang with Michael Schumacher and started on pole. His teammate Charles Leclerc was on the verge of winning the F2 title and took part in FP1 for Sauber. He was fighting with Alex Albon for the title.<\/p>\n
Hamilton\u2019s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas started fifth on the grid, finishing in the same position.<\/p>\n
Carlos Sainz is one of the drivers who has raced here before when he was driving for Toro Rosso. But it didn’t last long, as he only completed half the race after suffering a power unit issue, which forced him to retire from seventh. Esteban Ocon had just lost his seat with Force India.<\/p>\n
Pierre Gasly was making his debut with Toro Rosso, qualifying fifteenth before finishing fourteenth. Nico Hulkenberg finished sixteenth, with Force India teammate Sergio Perez finishing sixth; all three being lapped.<\/p>\n
There was no Sepang round for F2 or F3; George Russell won that year\u2019s GP3, now F3, title and would move into F2 the following season before his Williams debut in 2019. Fernando Alonso was in his second stint in an uncompetitive McLaren\u2013Honda; a decade on, he is still in an uncompetitive Honda.<\/p>\n
Kimi Antonelli, Ollie Bearman, Isack Hadar, Arvid Lindblad, Franco Colapinto, and Gabriel Bortoleto were still in karting.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The FIA has declared a heat-hazard warning for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, the third time it has used this year. A heat hazard is an official status for an event where it is forecast that temperatures will be more than 31C at some point during the race.<\/p>\n
The Sepang track, near the capital Kuala Lumpur, is close to the equator and has long been known as one of the most demanding for drivers. Temperatures through out this weekend and next weekend in Singapore are forecast to be over thirty degrees, with the threat of rain.<\/p>\n
The heat-hazard ruling means drivers can use an in-car system that flows cooled liquid, such as glycol, through a system of pipes in a fireproof top worn under their overalls. The cooling kit is not mandatory, but any driver who chooses not to use it has to carry 5kg of ballast in their car to ensure there is no competitive advantage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Arvid Lindblad will start Sunday\u2019s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia from the back of the grid after a series of power unit penalties set to be applied for the race at Sepang. The Racing Bulls driver will move onto a fifth completely new power unit for this weekend.<\/p>\n
Lindblad had reached the limit, a penalty-free maximum of four for each part, for those components last time out in Baku. The complete power unit change automatically triggers a back-of-the-grid start, rather than a five-place grid penalty for each component.<\/p>\n
The decision to take a penalty for this round in Malaysia suggests that the Racing Bulls driver’s previous powertrain components are no longer in the pool, and that the Red Bull-owned team figures that Malaysia presents the best opportunity to stray beyond that pool and overcome the penalties applied.<\/p>\n
Last weekend he used a new set of less restricted power unit components, parts of the fuel system, wastegate, oil tank, and the cooling system.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Esteban Ocon and Haas have announced the Frenchman will leave the team at the end of the season. The announcement came on Wednesday he and the team confirmed his departure following months of speculation about his future.<\/p>\n
Haas said that there would be no imminent news on his replacement, despite reports that Brazilian Ferrari junior Rafael Camara has been lined up to partner Britain’s Oliver Bearman next season. Ocon joined the team last year partnering Bearman, the Ferrari junior driver outperforming him since they have been teammates.<\/p>\n
Ocon wrote on social media: “My time with Haas F1 Team will come to an end at the end of the 2026 season. I leave this project with my head held high and proud of my performances in what were not always the easiest of circumstances for various reasons and factors outside of my control.”<\/p>\n
The gap in performance between the pair has only increased in 2026, with Bearman thirteenth in the Drivers’ Championship on twenty points and Ocon sixteenth on seven points. Bearman also holds a 10-4 head-to-head advantage over Ocon in qualifying this season.<\/p>\n
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said, “I’d like to thank Esteban for everything he’s contributed to the team since joining us in 2025. His professionalism and commitment have proved valuable as we continue to grow as an organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether this year we tackled the challenge of a major regulation change, where Esteban’s driving experience and inputs were significant as we’ve worked hard to develop the VF-26 across the season. There’s still plenty of racing ahead, and our focus remains on working together to maximise every opportunity through to the final race of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The timing of the announcement, with just eight rounds of the 2026 season remaining, means Ocon is highly likely to be without an F1 seat next year. With few clear openings elsewhere, the Frenchman may have to settle for a reserve driver role in 2027, but he remains adamant he will return to the grid before long.<\/p>\n
Ocon has been without a seat since missing the 2019 season before joining Alpine for five seasons, where he took his only win in 2021. His best result for Haas came in just his second race with the team, when he finished fifth at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. His best result of 2026 came on Saturday, when he claimed eighth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
His likely replacement, Camara, leads the F2 championship, but there is uncertainty about the final rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi because of the situation in the region.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fernando Alonso has committed to staying with Aston Martin for at least one more year and says the biggest single reason for his decision is because he “still feels fast”. The Spaniard has been weighing up his future all year.<\/p>\n
While, like Max Verstappen, he has been outspoken in his criticism of the new hybrid engines introduced in 2026, his love for the sport has won out. Speaking to BBC News, the two-time champion said, \u201cFirst, this is my life. I have this in my blood, and I keep racing, and I keep enjoying, and this is a way of life, in a way. Probably for me the biggest, or the clearest thing to keep racing is I still feel self-confidence that I have something extra.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I think about stepping down or taking a different role in the team or not driving the car or whatever, in a way I feel it should not be like that because I still feel as fast as anybody. So let’s have another go.\u201d The Spaniard has one of the longest careers in the sport, taking part in every season except three from 2001.<\/p>\n
His own personal performance was only one factor at play in Alonso’s decision, he explained in an extensive and open conversation. Alonso also considered the new rules, and the competitiveness of his team, which has been close to rock bottom for most of this season.<\/p>\n
Despite statistically not being near Michael Schumacher or Lewis Hamilton, still two decades after winning his last world title, the Spaniard is regarded as one of the greats and has endured over a quarter of a century in the sport. he continues to reject any suggestion that he has lost any of his ability.<\/p>\n
Adding \u201cWhen I get changed and I go back home, even if I’m P18, in a way I feel some satisfaction and pride inside, even if it should not be the case because we are not competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, I feel it was not the time because I’m better than that guy. I’m better than that other guy. I will think like that. And I cannot stop racing if I still think like that.\u201d Despite the team\u2019s thought season, Alonso says he is at peace with being \u2018anonymous\u2019 and the team were preparing for a moment of truth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Franco Colapinto has issued a plea to his fans after Lando Norris was targeted by online trolls for comments he made after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In Saturday\u2019s race in Baku at the restart, the Argentine locked up and went deep at the first corner, crashing into teammate Pierre Gasly, who was knocked into Norris.<\/p>\n
All three drivers were wiped out in the collision, with Norris calling for Colapinto be handed a ban in the heat of the moment. The reigning world champion later apologised for his comments after he was subjected to abuse on social media. \u00a0It marked the latest instance of Colapinto\u2019s Argentinian fans abusing rival drivers.<\/p>\n
He was awarded a five-place grid penalty<\/p>\n
Speaking in Sepang, Colapinto revealed he also has endured online abuse. He said, \u201cMy message is always the same: they sometimes don’t realise what you can create by writing in your keyword, and that we are humans, and it’s not easy for us when we get these kind of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
“I think it always goes to Argentinians, but we miss that it doesn’t come only from Argentinians. It comes a lot from them, I fully agree. It doesn’t just come from them, and they are extremely passionate, and they support me a lot. And it’s bad, and they are bad many times, but it comes from all the world, and from many other fanbases.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Norris\u2019 criticism, Colapinto said: “I think he was in the heat of the moment…he knows what comments create because he suffered from it. \u00a0He was probably the driver that was speaking the most about hate a couple of years ago, just a few seasons ago. So I was very surprised. But then, of course, he apologised.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The latest news and analysis behind the headlines ahead of this weekend\u2019s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, looking at the biggest talking points going into this race at Sepang International Circuit, Selangor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2209],"tags":[2339,125,2382,2335,198,2348,229,242,243,647,707,709,773,781,814,882,885,2232,2252,1131,2388,1203,1204,1287,1290,1298,2296,2349,1637,2344,1642,1796,1800,1801,1843,2223,2210,2211],"class_list":["post-16510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-welcome-the-grand-prix","tag-2339","tag-alpine","tag-alpine-mercedes","tag-arvid-lindbland","tag-aston-martin","tag-aston-martin-honda","tag-ayao-komatsu","tag-bahrain-gp","tag-bahrain-grand-prix","tag-esteban-ocon","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-ferrari","tag-franco-colapinto","tag-fred-vasseur","tag-george-russell","tag-haas","tag-haas-ferrari","tag-isack-hadjar","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-lando-norris","tag-malaysia","tag-malaysian-gp","tag-malaysian-grand-prix","tag-mclaren","tag-mclaren-mercedes","tag-mercedes","tag-racing-bulls","tag-racing-bulls-ford","tag-red-bull","tag-red-bull-ford","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-selangor","tag-sepang","tag-sepang-international-circuit","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-talking-points","tag-welcome-to-the-grand-prix","tag-wttgp"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16511,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16510\/revisions\/16511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}