Verstappen First Win of 2026: Sepang Ends the Wait

Max Verstappen's first win of 2026 came at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on Sunday 4 October 2026, round 16 of 23, after he turned pole position at Sepang International Circuit into victory. Our own records show no win for him in the 15 rounds before it. The win does not rescue his title hopes, but it does answer a question the season had been asking: can the Red Bull still do this?

When did Verstappen win his first race of 2026?

At Sepang, on 4 October 2026. He qualified on a 1:35.130, 0.298s clear of Lewis Hamilton, according to Formula1.com, and RacingNews365 reports he then won a race that started 93 minutes late after rain, a safety-car formation lap and a red flag. The same outlet notes the win keeps alive his run of at least one victory every year since 2016. That detail comes from one source, so treat it as reported.

The GridRaces database agrees on the part that matters most: across rounds 1 to 15 of the 2026 season, Verstappen's win count was zero.

What did the first 15 rounds look like for Verstappen?

Less like a champion's season and more like a commuter's. In the races where we hold both a starting grid slot and a classified finish, Verstappen started on average from 6.5th and finished 1.5 places better than that, gaining places in 9 of 12 races. Gaining places from sixth is respectable. It is not winning, which is what pole position at Sepang finally made possible.

That is the quiet argument of this result. The pace to win may have been there all along; the Saturday was not. That is a hypothesis, labelled as one, and a reasonable one to test when the Sepang race data arrives.

Does the win change the championship?

Not much, and the numbers are blunt. After Sepang, reported standings put Verstappen on 188 points, level with Lando Norris according to two outlets, while Kimi Antonelli leads on 320. That is a 132-point gap with seven rounds left. The most any driver can score from here, using a 25-point win and 8 for the one sprint winner, is 183. Verstappen can still reach Antonelli on paper, but only if Antonelli leaves the points on the table.

What the win changes is the conversation. A Red Bull that can win from pole in a messy race is a Red Bull that will be in the argument at the next track, and the next track is Singapore, on 11 October 2026.

What to watch next

Qualifying. If Verstappen's season so far is a story of starting too far back, then Saturday in Singapore is the whole test. Check the driver form page once the weekend starts, and make your Singapore picks before the sprint if you think the Sepang win is a pattern rather than a weekend. Our record on calling Red Bull's season, for the sake of honesty, is mixed.