Lewis Hamilton's chaotic afternoon in the Bahrain Grand Prix encapsulated a race that was both painful and brilliant to watch, as Formula One's return to Malaysia after nine years delivered drama from start to finish.
Monsoon-level rain delayed the start, several cars suffered engine issues on the formation lap, and there were arguments over the starting order before the race even began. After a 93-minute stoppage, the drama continued when the lights eventually went out, with bad tyre choices, two safety cars and a DNF for George Russell keeping viewers engrossed.
Hamilton's roller-coaster afternoon
Hamilton, starting second after one of his best qualifying performances in years, looked set to lose out when his Ferrari was struck by a software issue on the lap to the grid. He got it going again, but after another long stoppage Ferrari got the tyre choice wrong, mistakenly thinking the track had dried while everyone sat in the pit lane. It had not.
From the front row, Hamilton skated around on slicks and tumbled down the order, falling more than a minute off the lead within four laps. He, and everyone else, thought his day was done. But the first safety car on lap nine brought him back in contact with the pack.
With the track dry by then, he switched to soft tyres and delivered a vintage drive, cutting through the pack aggressively while looking after his rubber. He did half the race distance on that same set of softs, rising back up to fifth and pitting only to cover off others.
Verstappen's first win of the year
He struggled more on the mediums but got back onto softs when the second safety car came out after Alex Albon pulled over. His pace was rediscovered, and he zoomed past Isack Hadjar to finish third, securing one of the more eventful of his 208 career podiums.
Despite the extraordinary comeback, his initial reaction was disappointment that he could have won had Ferrari not got their tyre call wrong. Hamilton said: "My heart sank. I was kind of like, 'That's the race over'. But I just didn't give up. I definitely didn't expect to get back to P3. It's crazy to think we were over a minute down."
The day, though, belonged to Max Verstappen, who took his first win of the year. He was strongest all weekend and, despite losing the lead off the line to the fast-starting Mercedes pair, had the pace to reel them in. Verstappen won by 2.3 seconds from Antonelli but, without the safety cars, he would have been well up the road.
It was Red Bull's first win as an engine manufacturer, which the Dutchman called a "pretty special" achievement. He said: "Apart from the start, everything else was good. Also, as a team, we made all the right calls in a very calm and straightforward way, and that's how we like it. For us, this is a very proud moment, to win our first race with our own engine."
