Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

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Max Verstappen took his and Red Bull's first win of the year with a dominant drive in a dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia that started amid chaotic and unprecedented scenes.

Verstappen led home the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who took a giant leap towards his first world title when team-mate George Russell retired from third place with a power unit failure with five laps to go.

Antonelli now leads Russell by 84 points with either six or seven races remaining.

Lewis Hamilton drove an extraordinary race after dropping towards the back with an incorrect tyre choice for a wet start to fight back to pass Red Bull's Isack Hadjar for third place with three laps to go.

All that came after a delay of an hour and a half caused initially by heavy rain and then by a series of bizarre technical problems that left several cars crawling as they completed formation laps on the wet track behind the safety car.

Read the full repot here

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My word. What a race.

We had heavy rain in the build-up, delays, software issues, safety cars, championship contenders retiring - and it's still only lunchtime here in the UK.

Max Verstappen returns to the top step of the podium for the first time since December, but can the Dutchman and Red Bull score another win next weekend in Singapore?

The final race in this triple-header heads to the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the sixth and final sprint event of the season. There's a chance to score some Saturday points in the shorter race, but they won't be enough to stop runaway title leader Kimi Antonelli, who sits 84 points free of Mercedes team-mate George Russell with seven grands prix remaining.

The first and only practice session of the Singapore weekend starts at 09:30 BST on Friday, 9 October.

See you then!

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who finished just outside the podium in fourth, speaking to Sky Sports: "Honestly, in the first half of the race, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. On the second part, everything that could have gone right, went our way. So at the end of the day, I prefer it that way to the other way around. That means we are P4 today, I honestly think that with a normal race, we would have finished P3, P4. The two guys at the front were just too quick for us.

"I think Lewis had good pace, for me I just struggled a lot with the car, which we will look into. I had a good feeling on Friday, a good feeling until Q2 and then in Q3, I started to lose out and today in the race, it was tricky.

On whether the car can perform at Singapore: "I hope so. At the end of the day, we went through the track characteristics in the last two, three races and clearly the tendency is that we are losing performance compared to Red Bull and Mercedes, so we have got to bring upgrades, eventually. We don't quite have the performance that we want."

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In the constructors' championship, Mercedes are ahead of second-placed Ferrari by 151 points thanks to Kimi Antonelli podium finish minimising the damage of George Russell's DNF.

Can Red Bull catch McLaren for third place? Max Verstappen's win has put them within 18 points of the defending constructors' champions with seven races to go.

Another double points haul for Racing Bulls means they move 22 points clear of Alpine in the midfield battle for fifth in the standings.

And Aston Martin have increased their tally thanks to Fernando Alonso's eighth place in Malaysia

1. Mercedes - 556pts

2. Ferrari - 405

3. McLaren - 316

4. Red Bull - 298

5. Racing Bulls - 90

6. Alpine - 68

7. Haas - 27

8. Audi - 17

9. Williams - 12

10. Aston Martin - 7

11. Cadillac - 0

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Mercedes' George Russell, speaking to Sky Sports, after his DNF at Sepang: "You've almost got to laugh. I'm beyond disappointment. It's just so many times this season it's happened. It's a real shame. Of course, but just keep on fighting. Just keep on trying to go podium to podium.

"Solid race. Not amazing race but solid race. Not the first time so I'm probably used to these feelings and these questions, let's say."

On whether the hope of winning the championship is gone: "I don't need to say I think it's gone but, of course, it's exceptionally unlikely and that's just the reality. I knew if I wanted to come back, I needed luck on my side. Unfortunately, I had luck not on my side. So, you know, a three point loss today being behind Kimi turned into an 18 point loss. Of course, if it was on the other side it would have been an 18 point gain. So it's a real shame, but that's just how it is."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff speaking to Sky Sports about the issue with George Russell's car: "It was a PU failure, wasn't caused by the safety car. We haven't assessed it yet.

"I am so massively annoyed and not in a happy place. First of all, we didn't have the speed we were hoping to have before the weekend, so there is a lot of homework to be done in order to recover. Which I am sure we will.

"And then the race literally went against us. We had such an advantage, one VSC, two safety cars, you couldn't be more unlucky. To make things worse, PU failure with a few laps to go until the end with George. Which is terrible for his championship and not good at all for our constructor points. As much as I love to be here, when I look at the pure races, one of my worst experiences to be honest.

"[Kimi Antonelli] scored a few more points than Lewis behind him. I am happy because he did the job. But it is just this overarching topic of the DNFs that could cost us dearly, also for the remaining seven races. Our championship has quickly turned around against you if you have a DNF and that is why that can't continue."

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From the high of winning in Baku last weekend to the low of retiring in Malaysia today. George Russell now finds himself 84 points behind Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the battle for this year's drivers' world championship.

Max Verstappen's victory has put him level on 188 points with fifth-placed Lando Norris, while Arvid Lindblad is sitting on the shoulder of Pierre Gasly in 11th, three points behind the Alpine driver, who stays 10th despite finishing outside the points.

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) -320pts

2. George Russell (Mercedes) - 236

3. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) - 214

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 191

5. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 188

6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 188

7. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 128

8. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) - 96

9. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) - 65

10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) - 41

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Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, who finished third on the podium at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia: "Yeah, well thank you guys. Big congratulations to Max. What a tough, tough race that was, we had the wrong call at the beginning which was so difficult and I could just see everyone pulling away and I could see on the screen it was a minute down. And I thought that was the race over for us.

"But, I just kept my head down, the guys did a great job with the pit stops, lots of tyre changes, lots of chasing and honestly of all the years I have been here, this is the best race we have had here. Particularly because of this crowd. Big thank you everyone."

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Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who finishes second: "I think that was the maximum we could have done. Of course, a massive congrats to Max and Red Bull for the incredible weekend.

"On our side, a lot of work to do. Of course, you know, we've been struggling a bit more than usual but still really happy to come away with P2.

On racing in Malaysia: "It was amazing and the fans were incredible this weekend, so thank you so much and hopefully it will come back in the future to Malaysia."

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Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who wins the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia - the 72nd win of his career: "It is a really nice one after the year that we had and the progression that we have made. I am incredibly proud of everyone and it is super nice to win here.

"It was very hectic, I mean there was a lot of different things in the start, no power so you have to wait for the power to kick in. But then we made the right call, with the intermediates and after that, step by step we moved our way forwards and from there onwards we can do our own race until the end and then with the safety car, but we kept it all under control."

On the first victory with Red Bull's own power unit: "It is incredible, to win our first race, in our first year with our power unit, it is really impressive."

Podium momentpublished at 11:45 BST

11:45 BST

The top step of the podium is calling for Max Verstappen after his long absence. There is a delay for the national anthems but thankfully, it's only a short one this time.

Verstappen is then handed his winner's trophy and celebrates to the delight of the fans inside the circuit. As this is the Bahrain Grand Prix, the three drivers are spraying each other with rose water this weekend.

The top three are in the cooldown, chatting about this incident-packed grand prix. Max Verstappen says he was surprised to see his rivals on slick tyres at the start, adding it didn't look that wet but there was "so much water on the tarmac".

It's a shame Sepang won't be on the Formula 1 calendar full time, but it's been a great one-off appearance for Malaysia.

"Was difficult today. Congrats Max and sorry for George."

The crowd are serenading race winner Max Verstappen, as Lewis Hamilton gives a hug to his Ferrari team waiting to congratulated him. The seven-time world champion went started on the front row in second, fell all the way down to 17th on his slick tyres but made his way through the field to claim a spot on the podium.

Charles Leclerc is fourth, Isack Hadjar has to settle for fifth and Oscar Piastri, who didn't get the luck with the change from the virtual safety car to a full safety car at the end, is sixth.

Liam Lawson is back in the points in seventh and Fernando Alonso will be the toast of Aston Martin in eighth.

World champion Lando Norris is ninth, but the McLaren driver is under investigation for driving erratically for that moment he went off the track when the safety car was ending.

Rookie Arvid Lindblad is our final points scorer in 10th, so double points for Racing Bulls.

Engineer: "Yes Max. Well done mate. Never in doubt. You're the man today."

Verstappen: "72 mate, 72. What a fantastic weekend."