Max Verstappen Claims First Pole Position of the Season as Hamilton Starts Second

Max Verstappen left no doubt as to who was the fastest driver at Malaysia's Sepang circuit today, clinching his first pole position of the Formula 1 season in qualifying ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion essentially produced two laps good enough for pole, ultimately topping the timesheets with a 1:35.130. Lewis Hamilton came closest to the Red Bull driver, setting a benchmark middle sector on his final flying lap before crossing the line 0.298 seconds adrift of Verstappen.

Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar qualified third, finishing 0.428s behind the Dutchman. However, Hadjar will start from eighth on the grid after picking up a five-place penalty for taking an additional internal combustion engine this weekend.

That promotes championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli to third on the grid following a far from straightforward qualifying session. The Italian had only one set of new soft tyres available for Q3 after being forced into an extra run in Q2 when his initial effort was deleted for track limits.

Despite that, Antonelli managed to outqualify Mercedes teammate George Russell, who lines up seventh following Hadjar's penalty. Splitting the two Mercedes drivers will be Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri. The fifth row is completed by Pierre Gasly and Gabriel Bortoleto, who were the slowest of the Q3 runners.

Liam Lawson was the first driver to miss out on the top 10, pipped by 0.209s by Bortoleto at the end of Q2 in the fight for the final spot in the decisive shootout. Lawson settled for 11th and will share the sixth row with Fernando Alonso, who secured both his and Aston Martin's best qualifying result of the season.

Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll will line up 13th and 14th, with Stroll's result cementing a strong showing for Aston Martin. Qualifying at Sepang marked the first time in the 2026 season that both Stroll and Alonso survived the initial cut to make it into the second segment.

Franco Colapinto and Arvid Lindblad, facing 15-place and 30-place grid penalties respectively, did not post timed laps in Q2. Both did head out on track, with Lindblad attempting to give teammate Lawson a tow down the back straight, though it was not enough to propel the New Zealander into Q3.

Nico Hülkenberg was the first driver to drop out in Q1, missing out on 16th place by 0.087s to Lindblad. The German suffered a lock-up under braking for the penultimate corner, a mistake that comfortably cost him more than the fractional deficit.

Joining him in an early exit after the opening 18 minutes were Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Pérez. Haas pair Bearman and Ocon took an aggressive approach by completing three runs on three fresh sets of soft tyres, but even that proved insufficient to see them through.

The Bahrain Grand Prix, Round 16 of the 2026 Formula 1 season, gets underway tomorrow at 10:00 Bulgarian time and will be covered live on Sportal.bg.