Max Verstappen clinched his and Red Bull’s first win of the season at the 2026 F1 Malaysia round. The Dutchman’s victory at the Sepang International Circuit was also a historic first for the team’s first-ever in-house-made power unit, the Red Bull Ford Powertrains.
Verstappen proved to be dominant at the Sepang International Circuit from day one of the 2026 F1 Malaysia event. The Dutchman had topped the time charts in FP1 and carried the momentum into Saturday, where he clinched his maiden pole of the season.
Verstappen reflects on maiden victory of the season at the 2026 F1 Malaysia round
Reflecting on his dominant end to the 2026 F1 Malaysia weekend, Verstappen shared how meaningful the win was not only for him but for Red Bull as well. The Dutchman reflected on the team’s struggles from the beginning of the 2026 F1 season and the progress Red Bull has made over the last 15 rounds of the Championship.
Hence, the four-time World Champion shared that his 72nd victory in the sport was a special one.
“Yeah, of course, very special for us. I mean, we had a very complicated and tough start to the year with all sorts of problems and just not being competitive enough. But throughout the year, the team has been working very hard to understand our issues and bring good performance upgrades to the car and make it more driveable. Step by step, we’ve been getting closer and closer, and today, and of course especially this whole weekend, we’ve been really in good form.”
Reclaiming the lead and staying ahead
Verstappen also recounted the chaos of the 2026 F1 Malaysia round where he was initially overtaken by both Mercedes on the opening lap as he had no power off the line.
While the Dutchman did eventually reclaim the lead after Red Bull made the right call to start on the intermediate tyres, he still had to strategically manoeuvre through a late-stage VSC and a full Safety Car phase before taking the chequered flag.
“So, yeah, it’s amazing. I mean, the race, of course, was quite complicated. It was not made easy for us in terms of all the calls that we had to make and then the Safety Car at the end, but we kept cool and we made all the right calls with the tyres.
“So yeah, very, very enjoyable to win here and also have our first victory for our own engine. I mean, it’s an incredible project with a lot of partners and a lot of people that are dedicated to be where we are now. So, yeah, fantastic feeling.”
On losing the lead to Mercedes on the opening lap
Off the start at the 2026 F1 Malaysia event, both Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell passed Verstappen with ease. When asked about the incident, the Dutchman admitted that it was due to a “horrendous” launch caused by a lack of power from his PU.
Nonetheless, despite the tricky start, Verstappen recounted keeping his head down and placing his trust in the upgraded RB22 over the course of the 2026 F1 Malaysia round. He would pass both the Brit and Italian to reclaim the lead by Lap 13.
The Dutchman also spoke on the wheel-to-wheel battles he had with Antonelli on track.
“I mean, I was not surprised because my start was horrendous. Again, dropping the clutch and not having power. The engine just completely died on me. But then you just have to settle in, try not to overreact as well, and just slot in, try to keep your position there. The race is long. A lot of things can happen and, step by step, I could close the gap. And then I had quite a, I think, quite a nice battle on the slicks with Kimi. It’s quite slippery in some phases of the corner, but, yeah, it was nice.”
On “complicated” engine softwares
Verstappen also lamented the power unit, labelling it as “complicated” as he discussed the suspended start at the 2026 F1 Malaysia round.
Following a 40-minute delayed race start due to heavy rain conditions, the cars started their formation lap behind the safety car.
However, many of the drivers were left without power and stopped on track.
Verstappen shared his point of view on the suspended start and compared it to the Lego race they had at the 2025 F1 Miami GP.
“That’s the problem that we have. You know, these engines are so complicated and a lot of software is implemented. And, yeah, when there’s like some kind of… I want to call it… That’s the problem. And, yeah, I triggered it first and then I look in my mirror. I just see… I was like, ‘Wait, are they waiting for me or what’s going…?’ It was like the Lego race.
“Same speed. Yeah, it was insane. Like, it’s the Lego power. At some point we were five-wide on the straight because we couldn’t understand what was going on. Then we did a lap and then I see eight other cars crawling still, and I saw you [Lewis Hamilton] by yourself crawling.”
Celebrating the win with his father present
The Dutchman also spoke on how special it was to celebrate his maiden win of the 2026 F1 season with his father, Jos Verstappen in the garage for the 2026 F1 Malaysia weekend. He shared an insight into their relationship and revealed what it was like to have him present during a race weekend.
“Yeah, I mean, we’re all very much invested in it. And, of course, you know, my relationship with my dad, we really understand each other well from all the years that we have spent together working towards our goal in Formula 1. So he’s still there in the background. He’s not coming every race, but when he is there, we talk a lot about everything. He knows everything. “
Verstappen expressed how important his victory at the 2026 F1 Malaysia round was considering the early season struggles Red Bull had.
“And yeah, also for him, I guess the beginning of the season was not nice to watch. As for me being in the car was not nice to drive. But then seeing how the team progressed and basically never really stopped working and really took the car and just really tried to fix the issues that we had, and then deliver something like this, it’s amazing.”
“And also with the people involved, honestly, the spirit in the team is very good. Everyone is on the same line and we really understand each other well. So it’s very enjoyable to work in the team and that’s why I think also everyone is super happy that we finally delivered a result like this.”
Suspended start delay
Verstappen then shared his insights on the delay following the suspended start. The FIA had ruled that the suspended start was due to a software bug that impacted multiple cars with a power loss on the formation lap. There was yet another delay before the actual race start, and when asked about it, Verstappen shared, “Yeah, that was the delay, just getting the software transferred, I guess, for everyone.”
The second major delay was for teams to download an emergency software patch distributed by the FIA to counter the power unit energy management constraints that many of the cars faced. Verstappen shared how Red Bull tackled it, plugging their title sponsor, Oracle.
“Yeah, you know, we’re partnered with Oracle, so we have very, very fast connection. So we were there, you know, we were waiting for half an hour. So maybe some others had a bit of a slower connection.”
Power loss from inside the cockpit
Verstappen then gave insight into how a power loss felt from inside the cockpit. According to the Dutchman, the 2026 power unit relied heavily on electrical deployment and software boundaries. Hence, when the cars were moving slowly behind the safety car for an extended period of time, the system cut power.
While it usually would restart automatically, the software bug led to power loss for the grid and the suspended start. Verstappen added that while he did not experience the full power loss like Hamilton at the 2026 F1 Malaysia event, he has faced similar problems early on in the season.
“Yeah, there was nothing going on. That was the problem. It was just like driving at, what, 35 kilometres, going uphill, actually losing speed. So yeah, I don’t know exactly, because when you go too low in speed and too low RPM, for whatever reason, then it just bogs down. And normally it takes one or two seconds and it comes back. That’s basically also what I had in the start. But somehow that didn’t trigger in the first software round, and then in the second software round it was a bit better, luckily. Otherwise, I think I would’ve been stuck as well in the start, which I had probably a few times in the beginning of the year as well when I had a poor start, but it meant that I was lost. So at least now it was a bit better.”
