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What time will the Bahrain Grand Prix start? Weather forecast after race delayed by heavy rain

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Gent, O. (2026, October 4). What time will the Bahrain Grand Prix start? Weather forecast after race delayed by heavy rain. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/formula-one/what-time-will-bahrain-grand-prix-start-weather-forecast-b1299363.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Evening Standard · collected 2026-10-04 · by Oli Gent

Quick Summary

The Bahrain Grand Prix, originally scheduled for Sunday at 8am BST at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur due to logistical changes, faced delays because of heavy rain. After initial postponement, a new formation lap was set for 8:40am BST, with Max Verstappen starting from pole position. Despite these adjustments, further complications during the formation lap caused additional disruptions. The race is being broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Written by AI on 2026-10-04, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Kimi Antonelli, leading the Formula 1 championship with a 66-point lead over teammate George Russell, faced challenging conditions at the rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia due to the Iran war. The race, originally planned for Bahrain but moved to the Sepang International Circuit near Kuala Lumpur, was delayed by heavy rain and thunderstorms. Despite Antonelli’s dominant position going into the event, he struggled during qualifying after hitting a wall in Baku, placing him 16th on the grid initially but later improving to fourth with penalties affecting others. The race saw Max Verstappen take an early lead and secure victory due to weather conditions that favored his driving style and car setup. George Russell, who had hoped for another pole position, finished third after experiencing issues late in the race, while Lewis Hamilton placed second.

Written for “F1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 17 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 F1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Sports · 18 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 4% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Evening Standard
Hedges 5 of 36 claims Outlet record 65/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 0 of 13 claims Outlet record 65/100
Al Jazeera
Hedges 0 of 10 claims Outlet record 60/100
BBC News
Hedges 0 of 37 claims Outlet record 68/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 0 of 12 claims Outlet record 65/100
“While both articles describe issues during the Bahrain Grand Prix due to rain, Article A focuses on delays and potential disruptions caused by heavy rainfall, while Article B discusses a separate issue involving a glitch in the running order during the formation lap.”
Al Jazeera
Hedges 0 of 14 claims Outlet record 60/100
“Article A describes the initial delay and rescheduling due to rain, while Article B discusses a software bug causing chaos during the formation lap after the race had already started.”
Al Jazeera
Hedges 1 of 13 claims Outlet record 60/100
“Article A reports on Max Verstappen securing pole position in a Formula One race, while Article B discusses delays and potential disruptions due to heavy rain for the actual start of the Bahrain Grand Prix.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 2 of 15 claims Outlet record 61/100
“Article A discusses qualifying and Piastri's sixth-place grid position, while Article B focuses on the race start delay due to rain.”
South China Morning Post
Hedges 0 of 4 claims Outlet record 64/100
“While both articles discuss issues related to the Bahrain Grand Prix and mention Max Verstappen, they describe different aspects of the event occurring at different times.”
BBC News
Hedges 0 of 13 claims Outlet record 68/100
“Article A describes Max Verstappen topping practice timesheets during the first session of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, while Article B discusses delays and weather issues affecting the start time of the actual race on a later date.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
25
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
4%
1 of 25 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
65/100
Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
18
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-04 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Evening Standard · 7995 article(s) · 66 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 66 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Oli Gent
125 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The Mexican was fighting for the first time in over a year since his stunning defeat by Terence Crawford in Las Vegas, Nevada, as ‘Bud’ jumped up the weight divisions to cause an almighty upset in the super-middleweight division.
🔮 Questions had been asked about Sage’s long-term future at Palace, and his position will be in further doubt after a sixth league defeat in nine, and just two victories coming from his the opening Premier League matches of his tenure.
🔮 Buoyed by only a second triumph at Chelsea in 36 years last weekend, Spurs’ task was made more routine by a 13th-minute red card for Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta for a studs-up tackle on Micky van de Ven. VAR intervened to assist referee Michael Oliver and it was largely one-way traffic after with Archie Gray able to open the scoring with a header after 25 minutes. Roberto De Zerbi’s team started the second half impressively and eventually doubled their lead with 17 minutes left through former Brighton centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke. It allowed De Zerbi to hand a league debut to Spurs’ teenager Luca Williams-Barnett on an enjoyable night for the north London club, but this latest defeat will increase the scrutiny on under-fire Palace boss Pierre Sage. More to follow.
🔮 Now, however, it appears that he will be retained in-post for the club’s next two matches, up to the November international break.
🔮 The stretch of poor results has plunged Carrick’s future as United head coach into serious question, with the former midfielder expected to be relieved of his duties following heavy 4-1 and 3-0 losses to both Como and Bournemouth respectively last week.
🔮 While that may work in the short-term as a caretaker or when managing sides like Cardiff or Middlesbrough, that approach will quickly get found out when trying to implement it at the very highest level. What he has not shown at all in his tenure is any kind of tactical flexibility.
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🔮 While that may work in the short-term as a caretaker or when managing sides like Cardiff or Middlesbrough, that approach will quickly get found out when trying to implement it at the very highest level.
🔮 BBC Sport reports that the Magpies would still be entitled to compensation should the Englishman take a new job within a certain amount of a time, as a result of a clause in his contract at St James’ Park.
🔮 Instead, ‘The Nuke’ will be taking on highly-rated semi-professionals as well as some of the sport’s up and coming talents.
Also by Oli Gent
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 125 articles by Oli Gent →

Topics

Bahrain Grand Prix Baku Malaysia Sepang the Bahrain Grand Prix

Subjects

Malaysia GPE · 5× Baku GPE · 2× Sepang GPE · 2× Sky Sports ORG · 2× George Russell PERSON · 1× Max Verstappen PERSON · 1× Mercedes ORG · 1× Red Bull ORG · 1× Standard ORG · 1× Verstappen PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The rain finally started to ease and the formation lap was re-scheduled for 8:40am BST, after which the grand prix was expected to begin with Max Verstappen on pole position, though the wet track and any further rain always had the obvious potential to cause more disruption. And so it proved, with starting procedures again suspended as problems ensued on the formation lap, with multiple cars and drivers experiencing issues in chaotic scenes before returning to the pit lane once more.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-04
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Claims (25 extracted, 1 hedged)

The Standard's journalism is supported by our readers. asserted
journalism → support → readers
If you click links to other sites on this page, we will earn commission. asserted
we → click → commission
The race was initially due to get under way at 8am BST, only for the Sepang International Circuit to be soaked by an unrelenting downpour. asserted
Circuit → get → downpour
The rain finally started to ease and the formation lap was re-scheduled for 8:40am BST, after which the grand prix was expected to begin with Max Verstappen on pole position, though the wet track and any further rain always had the obvious potential to cause more disruption. And so it proved, with starting procedures again suspended as problems ensued on the formation lap, with multiple cars and drivers experiencing issues in chaotic scenes before returning to the pit lane once more. asserted
cars → start → lane
At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend, George Russell claimed an important victory over his Mercedes colleague, who was fifth, with a resurgent Verstappen and Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar completing the podium. asserted
Verstappen → claim → podium
Antonelli had crashed out by hitting the wall in the first session of qualifying in Baku, leaving him in 16th position on the starting grid. asserted
Antonelli → crash → grid
Russell could only qualify seventh in Malaysia however amid a surprise lack of pace in his Silver Arrow on Saturday. uncertain
Russell → qualify → Saturday
The 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix takes place today on Sunday, October 4 at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. asserted
Prix → take → Lumpur
The race was due to start at 8am BST - 3pm local time - on Sunday, only for rain to delay proceedings. asserted
rain → start → proceedings
A new formation lap has been scheduled for 8:40am BST, after which the grand prix should get under way. asserted
prix → schedule → way
Why is the Bahrain Grand Prix taking place in Malaysia? asserted
Prix → take → Malaysia
The original Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grand Prix weekends were cancelled at the start of the year as a result of the US and Israel’s invasion of Iran in February. asserted
weekends → cancel → February
As a result, the Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa was able to negoiate a deal that would revive the event, and as such, it will go ahead in Malaysia. asserted
it → negoiate → Malaysia
Geographically, a return to Sepang after a nine-year hiatus makes sense, with the drivers able to travel via Malaysia from Baku for the Sinagpore Grand Prix, which follows this race. asserted
which → make → race
In the UK, the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix is available to watch live on Sky Sports. asserted
Prix → watch → Sports
The main build-up starts at 6.30am BST on Sunday, with the race itself from 8am. asserted
up → start → am
Sky Sports subscribers can also catch the action live online through the Sky Go app. asserted
subscribers → catch → app
There should not be risk of further deals in Sepang, where the weather should now brighten up with high temperatures of 32 degrees that will feel more like 39 with the extreme humidity. asserted
that → brighten → humidity
Plenty of cloud will remain. asserted
Plenty → remain → cloud
We aim to offer every online gambler and reader of The Standard a safe and fair platform through unbiased reviews and offers from the UK's best online gambling companies. asserted
We → aim → companies
Gambling can be addictive, always play responsibly and only bet what you can afford to lose. asserted
you → play → what
Gambling sites have a number of tools to assist you to stay in control, including deposit limits and time outs. asserted
you → have → limits
If you think you have a problem, advice and support is available for you now from BeGambleAware or Gamcare. asserted
advice → think → BeGambleAware
Any offers or odds listed in this article are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change. asserted
offers → list → change
Terms & Conditions apply to all offers. asserted
Terms → apply → offers
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