by Jody Scheckter at 11:57 pm, Oct 4
The Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia already sounded like a crazy idea, so can we really be surprised that the race itself was even crazier? Max Verstappen had been the class of the field in practice and qualifier, but after a long rain delay, two completely chaotic formation laps that led to a suspended start and an emergency software bug fix for an issue that caused cars to stop running on track due to low speeds, Verstappen still had to overcome a poor start, and a lengthy safety car period near the end of the race, before winning his 72nd race at the same circuit he won his second, nine years prior, the last time F1 raced at Sepang. Kimi Antonelli shot past Verstappen off the grid, but couldn't really challenge the Red Bull, which won for the first time this year, and for the first time with their own power unit. The Mercedes had to settle for second while George Russell's power unit failed him while in third, just as the safety car period was to end. Lewis Hamilton drove a remarkable comeback drive, having fallen far down the field from second at the start, driving on slicks when most of the leading cars were on more suitable intermediates. Yet Hamilton resisted pitting and gradually charged back to fifth, before passing Isack Hadjar and benefiting from Russell's retirement to take a hard earned third.Alessandro Zuccarello wins the round on a tie-breaker, picking the top four, while Jody Scheckter and MercedeezNuhts share second with the same point total. Atop the standings Suyash jumps into the lead, Jim Clark drops to second and Arun remains in third. Singapore and the final Sprint Race of the season is next weekend, so picks will be due early. In addition, Qatar and Abu Dhabi have been green-lighted to end the season, so unless something changes, players will need to make picks for those races. But the situation is volatile, so we'll keep an eye out for any further updates.