Five years on from the Abu Dhabi debacle, Verstappen and Hamilton are sharing the front row again

Lewis Hamilton didn’t have the most competitive machinery during his final years at Mercedes, and last season was also largely a struggle at Ferrari, but it’s still remarkable to think the last time he lined up second to Max Verstappen to start a grand prix was in Abu Dhabi in 2021.

On that occasion, Hamilton was immediately through into the lead in a car that clearly had the pace to then go on and win the race. Until… well, let’s not dig all that up again right now.

Instead, let’s look forward to the fact that we finally have the same scenario of two of the best drivers Formula 1 has ever seen starting alongside each other with victory on the line. The Red Bull has looked particularly strong this weekend at Sepang, but the Ferrari often has better race pace than qualifying performance. Both believe they can win on Sunday.

“Personally, I’m confident with what I did [with race set-up],” Verstappen said. “If others make bigger sacrifices, then good luck to them, but I’m ready.”

“We just have to focus on ourselves,” Hamilton added. “I don’t know what the others are doing. I think Max had really good long runs. Ours were OK, but I think the balance was a bit off. I think our car is better, hopefully, now for the race.

“So, I think we’re all in a similar ballpark because overtaking is not that easy here either. Even though we have these long straights, we’re all on SM (straight mode), and following is quite difficult because we’re always overheating. It’ll be interesting tomorrow.”

To get to this point, though, both teams have needed to make improvements. Ferrari's were perhaps more immediate, but for Red Bull it’s been a gradual build through the season.

That progress has led to Laurent Mekies’ team going from early rounds fighting with the best midfield teams to firmly establishing itself in the top four and then picking up podiums. As soon as those started, they came on a regular basis, and off the back of Red Bull’s first double-podium in over two years last weekend in Baku, a first pole position of this season for the team and Red Bull Ford Powertrains has followed.

“It’s been an incredible result for us,” Verstappen said. “Looking at the season, how it started for us and the progression that we have made. At some tracks we were kind of close, but now I think this weekend it was very positive for us.

"I think from FP1 we started quite well and from then onwards we’ve just been trying to improve the car further. It’s incredible, honestly. I’m very happy to be on pole here.”

Verstappen and Hamilton on the front row... we've not seen it since that day in 2021. ANP Sport via Getty Images

The Dutchman was congratulated on his performance by Hamilton, who admitted he was surprised to be able to secure a spot alongside Verstappen on the front row. At no stage during the practice sessions did it look as likely that a Ferrari would hit the front, but Hamilton said the car was finally in a sweet spot after a change made just before qualifying.

“I'm so, so, so happy – really, really happy,” Hamilton said. “It's definitely been a trying year, lots and lots of positives, lots of good days, for sure more bad days in terms of on the race weekends, and it's just been a massive challenge.

“It's so competitive out here every weekend, everyone's doing a really great job across the teams, there's been some races we're all within tenths of each other and getting the most out of these cars and these power units has been honestly the bane of probably all of our lives. “I didn't expect to be on the front row, so that's why I'm so elated because I thought we'd be like fourth or fifth or something like we usually are, so to be second is pretty awesome, that makes the race just a different perspective of the race tomorrow.”

Hamilton believes Ferrari faces a similar task to its usual battles against the likes of Mercedes this year, as he highlights Red Bull’s straight line speed as the main differentiator. But should he take the lead at the start, Hamilton will have the advantage of looking after his tires more through the corners than if he was behind, while overtake mode might also allow him to stick with Verstappen on the straights should the Red Bull hold position.

“We saw Mercedes come with a big upgrade and, considering they’ve been winning every race, thought the upgrade would really propel them even further forwards,” Hamilton said. “But it’s just interesting to find ourselves here.

“The car felt great. We’ve made lots of changes. I think they’ve got a great package - Red Bull have obviously been making some great progress - [but] the only place we lose is down the straights to them. I think we’re losing three or four tenths on the straights to them, which we know of, and so we just work as hard as we can to try and maximize in the corners. But I think we were able to do that today.

“So, this is really down to the mechanics and the engineers. We all did a really great job together, and then also execution was really on point. So, if we could keep this up, hopefully we can get better results moving forwards.”

For both teams, better results have tended to also be dependent on Mercedes, and Kimi Antonelli starting from third is hardly a threat that can be dismissed, despite the unexpected upgrade struggles. But the fact that this is only the second time that Verstappen and Hamilton have shared the front row in five years just heightens the focus on the first two positions.

In Hungary in 2023 it was Hamilton on pole, but Verstappen took the lead off the line to win with ease during a dominant campaign. Neither driver has had such a luxury from their cars so far this year, and the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia provides the setting for what could be a thrilling fight between two old rivals.