Summary

  • Verstappen wins ahead of Antonelli and Hamilton following several overtakes for cars off start as result of divergent tyre choices

  • Russell retires late in race from third, impacting title race

  • Race start delayed by more than hour and a half after heavy rain and confusion over grid order

  • Cars out of position during attempts to form behind safety car because of reported software issues

  • Original grid line-up used for restart

  • Two safety cars following Bottas and Albon retirements

  • Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia held at Sepang circuit near Kuala Lumpur

  • Race rescheduled from April because of Middle East unrest

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Live Reporting

Lorraine McKenna

  1. Lap 29/55

    Isack Hadjar is being fed information by his Red Bull race engineer but the Frenchman is getting more annoyed with every word that's being said. He finally tells the team to just leave him be, with quite a comical noise to end the messge.

  2. Lap 28/55

    Lewis Hamilton still has the pace in those starting soft tyres, and the seven-time world champion, who qualified on the front row, wants to have a crack at Isack Hadjar if he can for that fourth spot.

    Max Verstappen has pulled more time on Kimi Antonelli, with a nine-second buffer to the Mercedes now.

  3. Team radio - Antonelli to Mercedes

    Antonelli: "Check front wing."

    Engineer: "Copy."

  4. Lap 27/55

    The gap between Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli is 8.2 seconds, with polesitter Max Verstappen comfortably keeping tyres in check from the race lead, but Antonelli tells his pit wall to just have a little look at the front wing.

  5. Top five

    Lap 26/55

    1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

    2. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

    3. George Russell (Mercedes)

    4. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)

    5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

  6. Lap 25/55

    With possible rain on the way at Sepang, George Russell is asking what the target is now? The Baku winner is running in third spot behind Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, the two drivers both on the medium tyres.

    Meanwhile, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and McLaren world. champion Lando Norris have made it to the safety of the points places in ninth and 10th respectively.

  7. Team radio - Mercedes to Russell

    Engineer: "There is a rain cell 10 Kilometres out."

  8. Sam Bird
    Former Formula E driver on 5 Sports Extra

    It is fascinating, the different compounds that people are running and how their cars are making them work. It is all due to driver confidence at this stage. This surface has been bringing up so many surprises with regards to tyre choices.

  9. Is rain on the way?

    Lap 24/55

    Max Verstappen has put a bit of distant between himself and Kimi Antonelli and he's leading this race by 7.6 seconds.

    George Russell picks up the phone to Mercedes from third place, who say there is a rain cell hanging around somewhere.

  10. Lap 23/55

    Sam Bird
    Former Formula E driver on 5 Sports Extra

    My point on Hamilton, I think this is one of his better and best drives for Ferrari so far. The way he has been able to manage and control the soft tyres for this long is superb.

  11. Lap 22/55

    Gabriel Bortoleto has received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collisio with the Williams of Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard let his anger known when the Audi driver made contact. "I left him all the space in the world," he said.

    Lewis Hamilton is making gains again and is now fifth after passing Liam Lawson.

  12. Team radio - Russell to Mercedes

    Engineer: "How are these tyres George?"

    Russell: "OK at the moment."

    Engineer: "Understood last message. Let's just keep tyres in good nick. We'll do something different."

  13. Antonelli overtakes Russell

    Lap 21/55

    The moments comes for Kimi Antonelli and after being told to look after his tyres, he spies the chance to overtakes Mercedes team-mate George Russell at Turn Four.

    The championship leader is now second behind Max Verstappen, five seconds off the Dutchman.

  14. Hamilton up to P6

    Lap 20/55

    The recovery drive continues for Lewis Hamilton as he passes Esteban Ocon's Haas for sixth place. Those older soft tyres are serving the seven-time world champion well over 21 laps so far.

  15. Lap 19/55

    George Russell is ahead of his championship leader team-mate Kimi Antonelli after passing the Italian on the safety car restart. However, Antonelli is in the Briton's mirrors now, so will we see an overtake opportunity soon?

  16. Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent

    It is worth saying, Lewis Hamilton hasn't pitted at all, he is still on those same soft tyres that he had at the beginning of the race. Considering the age of his tyres, he's doing a good job. Very, very impressive performance from Hamilton despite the strategy errors by him and Ferrari.

  17. Team radio - Antonelli to Mercedes

    "I have more pace."

  18. Lap 18/55

    Carlos Sainz and Gabriel Bortoleto are being investigated for an earlier incident when the safety car was ending. Spaniard Sainz is now down in 15th place, with Brazilian Bortoleto in 20th.

    Kimi Antonelli has news for his Mercedes pit wall...

  19. Lap 17/55

    The fastest laps are being clocked by leader Max Verstappen on the soft tyre, who is 2.4 seconds clear of George Russell in second place on the medium compound.

    The race is starting to settle now after all the earlier drama, so there is a good chance for the midfield runners who are in the points to potentially score this weekend.

  20. Lap 16/55

    Lewis Hamilton has reached the points and is now running in ninth place after the restart, although the seven-time world champion didn't pit under the safety car, so he's still on his opening soft compound.

    Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc is 12th, one place behind world champion Lando Norris.