Just a few days and 4,000 miles further south-east of Baku, Formula One turned up in Malaysia for Round 16 of the 2026 World Championship, for the rearranged Bahrain Grand Prix, which took place at the Sepang International Circuit near Kuala Lumpur. Following the cancellation of the original Bahrain race, in April, the Crown Prince of Bahrain, an avid F1 fan, persuaded Malaysia to step in as a replacement venue, returning Formula One to Sepang for the first time since 2017. The race still retained the Bahrain Grand Prix title, although the Sepang circuit has had considerable F1 history, having staged the Malaysian Grand Prix from 1999 to 2017. It was a welcome return to a circuit that has long been popular with the drivers.
The 5.543km, 15-corner circuit was the first Formula One venue designed by Hermann Tilke and combines two lengthy straights leading into heavy braking zones with a flowing, high-speed middle section – it is often rated as the best of the modern day tracks. Approximately two-thirds of the lap would be spent at full throttle, making power-unit performance and cooling particularly important, while the abrasive surface would place significant demands on the tyres. Sepang's other traditional challenge was the Malaysian climate: intense heat and humidity could be interrupted without warning by torrential tropical downpours.
For Aston Martin, there was some happier news to take to Malaysia following a dispiriting Azerbaijan Grand Prix. During the week the team confirmed that both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso had extended their contracts and would remain its race drivers in 2027, giving Aston Martin continuity as it persists its efforts to become a front-running team. Sepang also held particularly happy memories for Alonso. He has raced there 16 times, taking three victories with three different teams – Renault in 2005, McLaren in 2007 and Ferrari in 2012 – as well as scoring his first Formula One pole position and finishing on the podium in 2003. Stroll's only previous appearance came during his rookie season in 2017, when he finished eighth for Williams. After three consecutive difficult weekends Aston Martin were hoping that Sepang might provide a favourable environment for the AMR26.
Free Practice
With Formula One having been absent from this circuit for nine years and no meaningful data available for the current generation of cars, Friday's practice sessions assumed greater importance than usual, as teams attempted to establish setups and understand tyre behaviour. When the lights turned green for FP1, the drivers were keen to begin reacquainting themselves with the track and the Aston Martin pair were out early, initially running on medium compound tyres. Alonso made an encouraging start, placing his AMR26 eighth in the early running, while Stroll was P14. A quarter of the way into the session Alonso remained a respectable P9 – faster than both McLarens at that stage – with Stroll still P14, while Verstappen set the early pace. As more drivers improved their lap times the Aston Martins gradually slipped down the order and by the halfway point Alonso was P12 Stroll had fallen to P20. Both drivers switched to the soft compound tyres for the final quarter of the session at which point Alonso was P14 and Stroll P22. When the chequered flag fell, Alonso remained P14, having completed 21 laps, and finished 2.163 seconds behind Verstappen's fastest time. Stroll though, improved during the closing runs, to P18, having completed 19 laps, although his deficit to the Red Bull was 2.893 seconds. That deficit underscored comments Stroll had made in interviews, declaring that Aston Martin was missing around two seconds per lap in engine performance, which would put him in a top ten position.
Conditions presented a very different challenge ahead of FP2. The Malaysian heat had intensified and the track temperature reached a sweltering 61°C, while dark clouds gathered overhead and thunderstorms threatened within 10-15 minutes. There was little hesitation to get going when the track was opened and the field headed onto a slightly damp track immediately, to maximise dry-weather running. Both Aston Martins initially ran on medium tyres. Stroll completed five laps before returning to the garage, although his early running only produced a lap time that was 50 seconds slower than Verstappen’s, who was setting the early pace. Alonso also came into the garage shortly afterwards, having recorded the 15th fastest time, while Stroll’s was the slowest. With the anticipated rain still holding off, both drivers returned to the circuit on soft tyres to make sure they could gather some data on those compounds before conditions deteriorated. Inversely though, the threatening clouds gradually gave way to blue skies and the expected monsoon never arrived. At the halfway point Alonso maintained P15 and Stroll improved, to P18. Both then returned to the garage for further setup adjustments before heading back on track, as Leclerc established himself at the top of the timesheets. With 15 minutes remaining there was no further improvement in Aston Martin's positions - Alonso remained P15 and Stroll P18. Alonso subsequently suffered a substantial lock-up during the closing stages, appearing to experience some difficulty with the front axle, but continued without incident. The only interruption to an otherwise trouble-free day came with two minutes remaining when Bortoleto stopped on track, triggering a brief Virtual Safety Car (VSC). Running resumed under yellow flags before the chequered flag brought FP2 to an end. Leclerc finished fastest, while Alonso remained P15 after completing 26 laps, 1.95 seconds adrift of the Ferrari, while Stroll finished P18, 2.622 seconds off the pace, having accumulated 25 laps. Combined with the morning session, Aston Martin had completed 95 laps during an uninterrupted and productive opening day. The team felt that they still have work to do with the car balance on Stroll’s side. Alonso seemed accepting of the car’s balance but reported issues with low grip of the tarmac.
The final Free Practice session of the weekend got underway amid humid conditions and the air temperature reaching 32°C. There was little urgency when the pit lane opened, with only two cars venturing on track initially. Aston Martin elected to wait, allowing the circuit's grip levels to improve before sending Alonso and Stroll out on soft tyres after 15 minutes. Alonso returned to the pits without setting a time, while Stroll completed his first flying lap and initially went P5, only for the time to be deleted for exceeding track limits. Alonso returned shortly afterwards and began his first proper flying lap, going P5 among the 14 drivers who had set a time. However, with 25 minutes completed, the red flags appeared after debris from Bearman's Haas had been deposited on the track and required clearing away by the marshals. The session resumed at the halfway point, with Alonso still P5 and Stroll P17, who had still not set a time. Alonso headed back on track, while Stroll remained in the garage, where considerable attention was being paid to the rear wing of his AMR26. As the leading cars began their representative runs, Alonso slipped down the order and, with 20 minutes remaining, was P11. Stroll, meanwhile, remained in the garage and was still without a representative time. He finally returned to the circuit with around 12 minutes remaining and completed a flying lap that put him P14. His AMR26 was performing reasonably well through the corners but was suffering on the long, high-speed straights, where the lack of power from the Honda power unit was again revealing itself. Both Aston Martins were on track for their final attempts as the session entered its closing minutes. This time Stroll was slower through both the first and second sectors and could only manage P19 - a second slower than his previous effort. His soft tyres appeared to be struggling for grip, leaving the AMR26 sliding around rather than producing the improvement he needed. When the clock reached zero, Alonso finished in P12, 1.9 seconds behind Antonelli's fastest time, having completed 12 laps. Stroll ended the session P19, 2.5 seconds away from the benchmark, having managed to complete 11 laps, despite his considerably interrupted programme. Alonso's P12 represented Aston Martin's highest FP3 position of the season. His relatively strong showing throughout the weekend until that point also raised the possibility that the team had found a more effective specification setup for Sepang - the Malaysian circuit appeared to be allowing the AMR26's better cornering performance to play a greater role. Qualifying would provide the first real indication whether that improvement was genuine.
Qualifying
The overriding question overhanging Aston Martin when Qualifying began was whether Alonso could repeat his encouraging FP3 performance and achieve Aston Martin's strongest Saturday of the season? Neither green machine was in any rush to leave the garage, but after five minutes the pair joined the queue to get onto a rapidly congested track, both on soft tyres. Verstappen set the early benchmark time and behind him Alonso produced an encouraging opening effort to go P5, with Stroll P8, although the Ferraris and McLarens were still to complete their first runs. Once all the drivers had completed their initial runs, Alonso had slipped to P12 while Stroll was down in P20, leaving the Canadian under considerably more pressure, with seven minutes remaining. Both Aston Martins returned to the circuit on soft tyres for their final attempts with four minutes left. Stroll immediately began improving and jumped to P11 before Alonso subsequently displaced him. As the remaining cars completed their laps they slipped down, but not out. This time they had done enough to avoid elimination - Alonso was P14 and Stroll P15. For the first time in the 2026 season, both Aston Martins progressed to Q2.
Stroll was the first Aston Martin driver on track for the second round, while Alonso remained in the garage. The Canadian initially went P10, although his time was 3.1 seconds off Verstappen's benchmark. Alonso adopted a different approach. He remained in the garage, saving his tyres and waiting for the circuit to evolve before committing everything to a single attempt. With three minutes remaining both Aston Martins headed out for their decisive laps. Alonso was shown the black-and-white flag for driving too slowly on his out lap as he attempted to preserve as much life as possible in his soft tyres before beginning his flying effort. They did the best they could although they didn’t reach the final round. Alonso secured P12 and Stroll P14. Nevertheless, they achieved the highest Qualifying positions for Aston Martin this season and brought joy to my household.
The battle for pole continued and Verstappen seized provisional pole in Q3, ahead of Hadjar and Hamilton. After all the final attempts Verstappen secured his first pole position of the season, with Hamilton alongside him on the front row, in P2, and young Hadjar third. However, Hadjar as carrying a five-place grid penalty and would drop to P8, promoting Antonelli to third.
Unfortunately, none of the grid penalties applied to Hadjar, Colapinto and Lindblad would benefit Aston Martin as the latter two finished below Alonso and Stroll in Q2. Consequently they would start Sunday's 56-lap Bahrain Grand Prix 12th & 14th on the grid. The team worked into the evening analysing the data ahead of the race and on devising strategies to earn a finish in the points.
Race
As forecast, torrential rain poured down onto the Sepang circuit, with a thunderstorm thrown in for good measure, when the Bahrain Grand Prix was due to start. It was somewhat ironic, as it very rarely rains in Bahrain and yet this was Malaysia, where monsoon-type downpours are frequent. The start was initially delayed by ten minutes, but that turned into more than 40, when the 22-strong field moved away from their grid slots, with Alonso starting from P12 and Stroll from P14, for an initial formation lap all on intermediate tyres. According to Race Control, there was to be a minimum of two laps behind the Safety Car before a standing start – subject to change based on driver feedback. However, due to Lawson being unable to get away from his grid position and Hadjar sliding off the wet track on his way around, another formation lap was required. This time Hamilton got into trouble – he circulated slowly after losing power and came to a halt before managing to get going again, but he wasn’t the only one. With the start procedure becoming increasingly complicated and cars getting out of position the FIA decided to suspend the entire start procedure and the Safety Car brought the field back into the pit lane. As some cars had completed one formation lap less than others this led to a deliberation about how the race should eventually begin. During the deliberation the FIA sent a software update out to all the cars to fix an issue with wet-weather energy management settings in the existing software (see post-race statement below). After the teams had installed the update it was determined that the original grid order would be reinstated, which required the cars to be reshuffled in the pit lane. Eventually, more than an hour and a half after the scheduled start time, the field headed back onto the track behind the Safety Car. Conditions had improved sufficiently that necessitated a major strategic decision. Some drivers opted to stay on intermediate tyres, while others gambled that the track would be dry enough for slicks. Both Aston Martins were among the latter and Alonso and Stroll headed out on medium tyres. After two laps behind the Safety Car, the field assembled for a standing start. Feeling that the track was still treacherous Stroll, along with other drivers, reconsidered the gamble and pitted for intermediate tyres and convened on the grid. Alonso chose to remain on medium tyres.
When the start lights eventually went out, Antonelli launched past Verstappen to lead into the first corner and Russell also passed the Red Bull. At the end of the first lap the order at the front was Antonelli, Russell and Verstappen. Behind them, the advantage of the intermediate tyre was immediately apparent. The Aston Martins initially dropped to P14 and P15 before Stroll, on intermediates, passed Alonso and climbed to P13.
Alonso's decision to remain on slicks proved costly. He fell to P16 and found himself battling Norris, who was also on medium tyres. By lap six, Verstappen had regained his rhythm and had caught and passed Russell. Further back, Norris and Alonso, the first two runners on slicks, were already some 50 seconds behind race leader Antonelli. Norris, in P15, was around 33 seconds behind Perez, the lowest-placed driver running on intermediates. With a pit stop taking approximately 30 seconds, the scale of the disadvantage was clear. Leclerc passed Alonso on lap seven, but shortly afterwards Bottas slid his Cadillac off the track which required the Safety Car. The timing played helpfully into the hands of those who had started on intermediates, allowing them to pit as the track had dried out sufficiently and was ready for slick tyres. Stroll stopped for hard tyres and emerged in P11 still. Alonso also switched to fresh hard tyres but came out considerably further back, in P19, still under Safety Car conditions, but gained a place when Bearman came in for a tyre change. Racing resumed at the beginning of lap 13 with Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell in the top three positions. Alonso gained a further position immediately, while at the front Verstappen passed Antonelli for the lead and Russell also found his way past his Mercedes teammate. Stroll, still in P11, had a fast-charging Hamilton overtake him while Alonso gained another position, following contact between Sainz and Bortoleto and continued on, passing Perez on lap 15. Norris overtook Stroll on the same lap, meaning the Aston Martins were P13 and P16. Alonso soon caught up to Albon and the pair began battling, just when Bortoleto stopped for fresh tyres which promoted the duelling pair. Stroll, meanwhile, lost a place to Leclerc but retained P13 because of Bortoleto's stop. When Albon pitted on lap 17, Alonso moved up another position, to P14. Three laps later, with Hülkenberg ahead of him, Stroll began narrowing the gap to the Audi, while Alonso was simultaneously closing in on his teammate.
At the half-distance point, Alonso was less than a second behind Stroll. Leclerc pitted shortly afterwards and Stroll followed on lap 30 and rejoined in P15. This released Alonso, who moved up to P11, and when Ocon and then Lawson decided to make their tyre stops it cleared the way for Alonso to advance all the way to P9 and a points paying position. Alonso had to make his stop on lap 32 and emerged P14, immediately behind Stroll. Hülkenberg, now ahead of the Aston Martin pair, came in as well, which promoted Stroll and Alonso to P12 and P13, with Alonso again less than a second behind his teammate and with 20 laps remaining. On lap 36, Alonso passed Stroll and quickly closed up to Ocon. He went past him shortly afterwards, to take P11 and immediately set about catching Lindblad, who occupied the final points-paying position. Meanwhile Stroll had been caught and passed by Hülkenberg, who was on fresher rubber. Within two laps Alonso was less than a second behind the Racing Bulls driver and the pair began battling for P10. Alonso eventually squeezed past on lap 40, narrowly avoiding contact as he completed the move and put the Aston Martin back into the points. Alonso now had to contend with the Audi closing rapidly behind him on fresh soft tyres - with 15 laps remaining, Hülkenberg was less than two seconds behind the Aston Martin. Good fortune was shining on Alonso though, as he received some temporary respite, when Albon pulled off track with a gearbox problem, triggering the VSC. Aston Martin used the opportunity to bring Stroll in for soft tyres and he emerged without losing a position. With ten laps remaining, Alonso was still in P10 and Stroll had moved up to P13 – then the VSC was upgraded to a full Safety Car and Aston Martin chose to bring Alonso in. Hülkenberg also stopped, enabling Alonso to retain P10 as the race approached its final stages. With the cars bunching up together and the Safety Car due to end there came some further twists. With just five laps remaining, Russell suffered a power unit problem and pulled to the side of the track at the end of the pit lane and out of the race. Moments later Norris, who was ahead of Alonso, slid off track and lost several positions. These incidents meant that Alonso found himself in P8, with Stroll P12. The Safety Car finally came in with three laps remaining, setting up a frantic sprint to the finish. Verstappen led the restart with Antonelli immediately behind, while Alonso had Lawson and Piastri fighting ahead of him and Hülkenberg just half a second behind. Two laps from home, Norris passed Hülkenberg and was aiming to recapture the place from Alonso. Alonso rose to the task of defending P8 against two cars over the closing kilometres. Despite his efforts Norris was unable to find a way past, even on the long straights on the final lap, where the McLaren had clear power superiority. Alonso brought the AMR26 home in P8, securing four World Championship points. Stroll completed the race in P12, giving both Aston Martin drivers their best finishing positions of the season. At the front, Verstappen took victory ahead of Antonelli and Hamilton, recording his 72nd Grand Prix win for Red Bull and equalling Michael Schumacher's Formula One record for the most race victories with a single constructor.
We had witnessed a captivating and completely chaotic race, but with a superb outcome for Aston Martin.
Regarding the software update, after the race the FIA made the following statement: ‘On the formation lap ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, an unprecedented combination of low engine speed, low-grip conditions, wet-weather energy management settings and the Sepang circuit’s sector configuration led to an unintended loss of power for a number of cars. As a result, the FIA Technical Department removed the energy limit constraint in the affected sectors through an updated software release distributed to all competitors during the race delay caused by heavy rain enabling teams to make the necessary changes to the Power Unit before the start of the race.’
Reaction and Comment
After a season in which points had proven exceptionally difficult to come by, Alonso's P8 represented Aston Martin's best result of 2026. More importantly, it had not simply fallen into the team's hands. Alonso had fought his way into the top ten, making decisive passes on Ocon and Lindblad, before successfully defending his position through the final laps. Stroll had also spent much of the race fighting around the fringes of the points and ultimately finished P12. It had taken torrential rain and a thunderstorm, repeated starts, changing tyre conditions, two Safety Cars, a Virtual Safety Car and almost four hours from the originally scheduled start to get to the chequered flag, but Aston Martin finally enjoyed one of its strongest weekends of a desperately difficult season – and they and Alonso had four thoroughly hard-earned points to show for it.
After the race, a very elated Fernando said, "We have been more competitive this weekend and P8 is a good result for us. There were a lot of things that happened in the race. We started with dry tyres and put ourselves in a difficult position, but thankfully the Safety Car started a new race for us. There are not many weekends where we can score points, so we executed well and took the opportunity. Let's see if we can keep up this pace into Singapore where on paper we have some hope. The issues at the start were quite strange and we need to understand what happened there." Lance was equally buoyant, "We came to Malaysia knowing this track would suit our car slightly better – less power and grip limited so that helped us. It was fun being out there today and battling with other cars. The weather conditions were very tricky and I think we missed some good racing with the delayed start. But I was surprised how slippery it was when I first got out there so I came in and switched to inters, which was the right choice. The hard tyre seemed very robust and I think I could have pushed the second set we used more in hindsight. That's where we lost a couple of positions and finished outside the points."
In separate interviews Alonso sounded very positive about the possibility of doing well in Singapore which is where this current triple header concludes next weekend, at the Marina Bay circuit.