Max Verstappen outperformed Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, earning him and Red Bull their first pole position of 2026.
After winning all three qualifying sessions, Verstappen, whose last pole position and victory was in the season finale in Abu Dhabi in 2026, was 0.298 seconds faster than Hamilton.
Isack Hadjar of Red Bull finished third, but he has a five-place grid penalty. As a result, Kimi Antonelli, the clear leader in the championship, will move up to third.
George Russell, the Italian’s teammate and closest competitor, could only finish ninth.
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari finished fifth, surpassing Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris’ McLarens.
Aston Martin achieved their best qualifying position of the year with 12th place, behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, thanks to Fernando Alonso, who recently announced he will remain in Formula One for at least another year in 2027.
Carlos Sainz of Williams separated Lance Stroll’s second Aston Martin from Alonso in 14th place.
Where did Ferrari and Red Bull originate?
At the most recent race in Azerbaijan, Red Bull implemented an aerodynamic update that has shown to be a significant improvement at the challenging Sepang track, which is hosting this race after it was postponed earlier in the year due to the Middle East conflict.
Although Verstappen has had a challenging year and has struggled with pace and balance for a large portion of it, he is on a great run of performances following consistent improvements to the car.
“Fantastic,” he remarked. “We have been attempting to win the pole position at several Grand Prix, sometimes getting a little closer than others. However, it is very amazing to ultimately earn it from where we began the season.”
Hamilton’s spot in the first row sparks excitement for Sunday’s grand prix and brings back memories of their fierce title fight in 2021, when the seven-time champion was at Mercedes.
“It is very hot here,” Hamilton remarked. “Because the tyres are sliding, it is so hard to achieve a decent balance and we made one modification and we eventually reached the sweet spot.” This has made it extremely difficult for the cars, the tires, and the garage workers.
Merc’s significant upgrading causes them to regress
Mercedes has made their first significant update since the June Canadian Grand Prix, but it has not shown the anticipated improvement.
Unusually, Antonelli only had four new sets of soft tires for qualifying instead of the customary five. He further jeopardized his plan by having his first lap in the second session erased for exceeding track regulations.
He only had one pair of tires for the last shootout because he had to use another set during the session.
After the rest completed their first runs, he went out in the middle of the session, and his time was 0.501 seconds from pole—much farther away than Mercedes had anticipated.
“It is unfortunate because there is a lot of pressure with just one set,” Antonelli remarked. I tried my best, but we could have competed for the top row with another set. Max was too fast today, thus it was not P1.”
However, he outperformed Russell, who throughout the day was slower than his teammate and finished 0.240 seconds behind Antonelli.
“We do not know exactly why we did not have the pace, but it is the most taxing track on the tires,” the British driver stated. We have not really advanced since Friday, and it was evident that we were not keeping up with the Red Bulls. The others have surpassed [us] and caught up.”
It was also a challenging day for McLaren, who Russell had predicted would be the front-runners heading into the weekend due to their car’s impressive recent results on tracks similar to this one.
However, they were slow all weekend, and Norris’s best lap was only 0.627 seconds slow.
However, Aston Martin saw this as proof that the modifications they had made to their vehicle in recent races had paid off.
Despite two recent improvements, their Honda engine is still the poorest in the industry, which caused them to struggle in Italy and Azerbaijan.
However, the weight and aerodynamic improvements made to the chassis during the summer piled up on a track where power sensitivity is lower.
Alonso’s lap, which was 1.524 seconds off the pace, is by far their best of the year, and there may be some truth to the veteran’s belief that they could make substantial progress in 2027.
Alonso remarked, “It was undoubtedly one of the greatest qualifying of the year.” “The lowest margin, 1.5 seconds above Q2. This circuit appears to be a little better for our package; let us see if we can capitalize on this tomorrow.”
Top 10 1. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, 1:35.130
- Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton +0.298
- *Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar +0.428
- Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli +0.501
- Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc +0.536
- McLaren’s Lando Norris +0.627
- +0.632 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Mercedes’ George Russell +0.741
- Alpine Pierre Gasly +2.080
- Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto +2.543
- Hadjar’s grid penalty is five places.
Complete qualifying outcomes
