Red flag in Sepang: most of the field stops in the rain, Verstappen keeps going
After a long rain delay, most cars came to a halt on the wet track while Verstappen kept going, and nobody has explained why yet
The Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia has been stopped before it could really begin. After a long rain delay at Sepang, most of the field came to a halt on track in the wet, Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari among them, and the race was red-flagged. Max Verstappen kept his Red Bull moving. All cars are back in the pit lane, and the race is now set to restart at 16:33 local time, 10:33 in the Netherlands.
What made so many cars stop at the same time has not been explained. The FIA and the teams had not commented when we published this article.
A delay, warm-up laps and then a standstill
Heavy rain hit the circuit shortly before the scheduled start at 15:00 local time, 09:00 in the Netherlands, and the start was delayed. The FIA then set the formation lap for 15:40 local time and sent the field out for a series of warm-up laps first.
The trouble started there. Isack Hadjar went through the gravel during the warm-up laps but was able to rejoin. Verstappen, on pole for the first time this season, also appeared to struggle with his throttle on the TV pictures. Then car after car came to a stop on the wet track, and the red flag came out.
Not the first time Sepang has stopped for rain
Sepang and tropical downpours have a long history together. In 2009 the Malaysian Grand Prix was red-flagged because of torrential rain and fading light, and it was never restarted, so only half points were awarded. In 2001 a sudden downpour early in the race sent several cars off the road at the same corner, and the race carried on.
The difference today is who stopped. In 2009 the race director stopped the race because the track was unsafe. This time the cars themselves came to a halt.
Our doubt
The 2026 cars are the most electrified Formula 1 has ever raced, with roughly half of their power coming from the battery and a hybrid system that has to manage every press of the throttle. That is impressive on a dry track. On a soaking one, where drivers feed in the throttle in a completely different way, it looks like the rulebook has built a car that does not like the rain. Our hunch: if the electronics adapt to how a driver normally uses the pedal, the very different inputs in the wet may have thrown them off. That is a theory, not a fact, and we will update this article as soon as the FIA or the teams explain what happened. But a world championship car that cannot cope with rain at a circuit famous for its afternoon storms is not a good look.
Is the new rulebook to blame, or was this just a freak downpour? Tell us in the comments.
What happens next
The race is set to resume at 16:33 local time, 10:33 in the Netherlands. When it does, the cars line up in their original grid positions, so the chaos of the warm-up laps does not change the starting order: Verstappen stays on pole with Hamilton alongside. Read why the rain was always the wildcard in our Pirelli tyre strategy preview, how Verstappen took pole in our qualifying report, and see the grid on our Bahrain Grand Prix 2026 results page.
