Verstappen beats Hamilton to pole at Bahrain GP in Malaysia

Max Verstappen stormed to pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia ahead of 2021 title rival Lewis Hamilton as the Mercedes drivers wilted.

Verstappen dominated the session by topping every segment of qualifying, including with two laps in Q3 that were quick enough for pole position.

His second lap improved on his first by 0.12s at a time most other drivers failed to find significant gains, setting the benchmark at an unreachable 1m 35.130s with a purple final sector.

Hamilton rose to the occasion for Ferrari with a purple middle sector but couldn’t match the Dutchman down the straights, leaving him 0.298s adrift.

With no other challengers presenting themselves, Verstappen claimed his first pole position of the season.

He’s also the first driver without a Mercedes engine to take pole in 2026, giving Red Bull Powertrains its first P1 start.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “We’ve been trying many grands prix to get pole, sometimes a bit closer than others.

“To finally get it from where we started the season — pretty incredible.”

The Dutchman is now targeting his first victory of the season.

“I’m happy with today, and for sure I’m going to try to win tomorrow. When you start first, that’s the target,” he said.

Hamilton will start on the front row for the third time this season after last-minute set-up changes put his Ferrari into the right window.

“We made so many changes through all these practice sessions,” he said. “Because the cars are sliding, the tires are overheating, it was really, really hard to find a good balance.

“We made one last change going into qualifying, and I think we hit the sweet spot.

“To be able to close the gap to 0.3s to Max, who’s been so quick all weekend, is great. I’m so, so grateful.”

Isack Hadjar equaled his season-best third qualifying result — his previous was at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March — though the Frenchman is carrying a five-place grid penalty for taking a new internal combustion engine, which will drop him to eighth.

“I’m enjoying it, fighting for the top three,” he said. “Even though it wasn’t my finest qualifying session, it’s a good feeling.

“It’s a bit unfortunate we take the penalty on a track where we’re that fast, but from eighth I’m confident we can go through the field and come back for a good result.”

The penalty will promote championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli to third, though the Mercedes driver was a stunning 0.501s off the pace in his upgraded car.

Antonelli made life difficult for himself by having a lap deleted in Q2 for track limits, forcing him to burn a second set of softs and leave himself just one for Q3.

He opted to set only one lap in Q3 between the runs set by others. It was clean but not competitive enough to get him anywhere near top spot.

Teammate George Russell fared worse, though, even with two laps, qualifying eighth and 0.741s slower than Verstappen — though he’ll gain a place from Hadjar’s penalty.

Between them qualified Charles Leclerc, whose last lap was scrappy to leave him 0.536s off the pace, and the two McLaren drivers, who were split by just 0.005s just over 0.6s off the benchmark.

Pierre Gasly qualified ninth for Alpine ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto in 10th for the Audi driver’s first Q3 appearance since the Dutch Grand Prix in August.

Liam Lawson was slipstreamed by teammate Arvid Lindblad in Q2 but couldn’t make it into the top 10, missing out by more than 0.2s to qualify 11th.

Fernando Alonso qualified a season-best 12th in just his second Q2 appearance of the season, one place and 0.3s ahead of Carlos Sainz.

Lance Stroll made his first Q2 appearance of the year in 14th, marking Aston Martin’s best qualifying result of 2026, with both cars inside the top 16.

Franco Colapinto did not set a time in Q2, abandoning a final lap that wouldn’t have got him through to the top 10. The Argentine will serve a 15-place grid penalty — five for causing a three-car crash in Baku last week and another 10 for engine component changes — that will leave him starting 21st anyway.

Lindblad also did not set a time given the Racing Bulls rookie is carrying a back-of-grid penalty for engine changes that will see him start the race from 22nd.

Nico Hulkenberg rued running deep at Turn 14, leading onto the back straight, on his final lap, which left him just 0.087s short of a spot in Q2, leaving him 17th and eliminated at the first break for the second consecutive week.

Teammates Oliver Beraman and Esteban Ocon qualified 18th and 19th, just the second time this season both Haas drivers were knocked out in Q1. It was Ocon’s worst qualifying result of the season.

Alex Albon also lost his final lap to a mistake at Turn 14, where he locked up to leave himself a distant 20th, his worst qualifying result of the year.

Valtteri Bottas outpaced Cadillac teammate Sergio Perez to qualify 21st and 22nd.

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