POWER RANKINGS: Who impressed our judges at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia?

Max Verstappen delivered a masterclass as he and Red Bull returned to winning ways at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. But who else impressed our Power Rankings judges at the Sepang International Circuit? Check out the latest scores and overall leaderboard below...

How it works

• Our five-judge panel assess each driver after every Grand Prix and score them out of 10 according to their performance across the weekend – taking machinery out of the equation
• Our experts’ scores are then averaged out to produce a race score – with those scores then tallied up across the season on our overall Power Rankings Leaderboard (at the bottom of the page)

Verstappen, Red Bull and their all-new power unit have scored a solid number of podiums over the first 15 rounds of the season, but pole position and victory had eluded them. That was until last weekend at Sepang, where the Dutchman – making good use of recent updates – stormed his way to P1 on the grid and then mastered the mixed conditions on Sunday to bag a breakthrough win. Our judges were unanimous in giving him 10/10 scores.

Aston Martin and Honda’s 2026 problems have been very well documented, but the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia marked a big step in the right direction for the new partnership. After securing a best grid slot of the campaign so far in P12, Fernando Alonso used all of his experience on a wet/dry race day to come away with a superb P8 finish.

It looked like it had all gone wrong for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari at the start of Sunday’s race, with P2 on the grid becoming P17 at the end of the first racing lap after a gamble to start on slick tyres backfired. However, the seven-time World Champion came back fighting as the track dried out, displaying rapid pace and pulling off a series of fine moves – passing Isack Hadjar for the final podium spot in the closing stages.

While Hamilton tumbled down the order on the first lap, intermediate-shod Liam Lawson charged his way from 11th to fourth. He enjoyed wheel-to-wheel moments with Verstappen’s Red Bull, before understandably losing touch with the front-runners as conditions moved from damp to dry. Still, seventh place marked a great reward, and another boost for Racing Bulls in their battle for P5 in the standings with Alpine.

Mercedes faced a headache at Sepang as they tried to understand a host of car updates on a hot, demanding track surface. Kimi Antonelli salvaged fourth in Qualifying, which became third thanks to Hadjar’s engine-related penalty, before charging into the lead at the start and then settling for second behind Verstappen. The personal struggles of Azerbaijan behind him, Antonelli was already set to gain points over George Russell when his team mate ground to a halt late on – boosting the Italian’s championship lead to 84 points.

Hadjar impressed plenty of paddock figures when he returned to action from a wrist injury on the streets of Baku and bagged a podium finish. His strong form continued over the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia weekend, bringing third in Qualifying (before his penalty) and the potential for another rostrum in the tricky, wet/dry conditions. A slight drop in pace over the second half of the race allowed the two Ferraris through, but fifth still represented a very solid result.

Arvid Lindblad faced a massive recovery drive at Sepang after taking on new power unit elements and dropping to the very back of the grid. Remarkably, the Racing Bulls rookie made up 13 places on the first racing lap alone, putting him firmly in the mix for a points finish. After the transition from intermediates to slicks, Safety Cars, race restarts and more, a late move on Nico Hulkenberg earned himself and Racing Bulls another important point.

Speaking of Hulkenberg, the German had done plenty of things right on Sunday to rise from 15th on the grid to the points-paying positions. Unfortunately for the Audi driver, who has narrowly missed out on a reward plenty of times this season, Lindblad and McLaren’s Lando Norris – after his off-track excursion behind the Safety Car – both managed to sneak past in the closing laps and deny him.

Esteban Ocon announced that he will be leaving Haas at the end of the 2026 season in the build-up to last weekend’s event. Starting 17th, just behind team mate Ollie Bearman, he was another driver to make a sensational start to the race, climbing all the way to P7 and remaining in the top 10 over the first half. His and the team’s pace faded as conditions got drier, but the Frenchman offered another glimpse of what he can do.

Carlos Sainz also made up a hatful of positions on the first racing lap, turning 13th (after another Q2 appearance) into sixth. He remained in the battle for points as the race developed, only to be tipped into a spin by Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto exiting Turn 2. Given the drying conditions, that effectively ended his chances of scoring points there and then.

Missing out

Just missing out on the top 10 of this week’s Power Rankings list are Lance Stroll, who also displayed encouraging pace for Aston Martin, as well as McLaren driver Oscar Piastri (who finished P6) and the aforementioned Russell (who had been on course for a podium).