The start at the Sepang International Circuit was postponed twice, totalling over 90 minutes of delay after rainfall and software issues in the hybrid cars held up the first race in Malaysia in nine years. Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton was feared to have abandoned the race altogether after coming to a standstill, but hastily regained power and rejoined the pack.
The rolling start brought chaos as the field split into groups on wet and dry tyres, struggling with the conditions as Pierre Gasly went off-track and nearly crashed into the wall.
Race control opted for a standing start instead, and pole sitter Max Verstappen lost the top spot with a slow start as Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and George Russell jolted in front.
As the drivers on dry-weather tyres struggled to get anything going on the damp tarmac, the Dutchman fought back to P2, but his rally ended when Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas beaching his car in the Malaysian gravel triggered a safety car.
After four laps of neutrality, Verstappen made the most of the restart and beat leader Antonelli in a daring side-by-side move through three turns, with Russell piling onto the Italian's sorrows by demoting him to P3 and opening the race up.
As Hamilton marched up the field, Antonelli overtook Russell to regain P2 and opened a gap to his teammate, who quickly fell 10 seconds behind the championship leader.
With 10 laps remaining, the field was neutralised once more after Williams' Alexander Albon parked his car by the side of the track with a gearbox issue. The Thai driver was not the last to retire, as championship contender George Russell was forced to retire five laps before the chequered flag with a power unit issue.
After Lando Norris took a detour under the safety car and lost several spots, the race restarted with four laps to go. Lewis Hamilton completed an unlikely comeback, overtaking Red Bull's Isack Hadjar to take third place, while Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso secured his team's first points of a dreadful season after a mammoth drive.
Max Verstappen held on to the lead to secure back-to-back wins in Malaysia, nine years removed from his previous win at Sepang, and his first win of the 2026 Formula 1 season with the new Red Bull Ford Powertrains engine. Kimi Antonelli finished second, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc claiming third and fourth.
The second-place finish has greatly improved Antonelli's lead over teammate George Russell in the drivers' championship, now 84 points with seven races to go.