Max Verstappen took his first pole of the 2026 Formula 1 campaign to deliver on his early weekend promise by dominating qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
The Red Bull driver was fastest in all three sessions after also topping FP1 on Friday to take his first pole since the 2025 Abu Dhabi finale with a 1m35.130s at Sepang.
Verstappen will be joined on the front row by Lewis Hamilton on the weekend Malaysia ends its nine-year hiatus from F1 to host the Bahrain Grand Prix due to conflict in the Middle East.
It comes after the four-time world champion also went fastest in the first runs of Q3, taking the provisional top spot with a 1m35.250s, 0.308s quicker than team-mate Isack Hadjar in second.
Verstappen then failed to improve in the first two sectors of his second lap, before bouncing back with a purple final sector to go 0.120s quicker for the 49th pole of the Dutchman’s career.
His final time was 0.298s faster than Hamilton’s 1m35.428s for Ferrari, which pushed Hadjar down to third after the F1 sophomore failed to improve on his final lap. The Frenchman will drop five places for an ICE change.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli endured a struggle by taking fourth, 0.501s off the pace, after entering Q3 already compromised by what happened in Q2.
