Verstappen Claims Pole For 2026 Bahrain GP in Malaysia

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has claimed pole position for the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia at Sepang International Circuit. 

Having finished second in FP3, Verstappen dominated all three qualifying segments to claim his and Red Bull’s first pole position of the season.

 

FP3

A quiet start to the final practice session saw Cadillac’s Sergio Perez set 1m 41.252 as the initial benchmark, before Alpine’s Franco Colapinto then Pierre Gasly displaced him as the trio ran the soft tyres – with Gasly setting 1m 38.241 as the time to beat.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc opted for the hard tyre in his opening stint and lowered the benchmark to 1m 37.772 in the 16th minute, before McLaren’s Lando Norris found 0.611 seconds to go fastest with 1m 37.161 three minutes later ahead of his teammate – Oscar Piastri by 0.322s.

Red flags were flown in the 25th minute after some debris flew off the right front tyre of Haas’ Oliver Bearman, but the session resumed six minutes later.

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli was amongst the first to venture straight out after he spent the opening half hour in the pits, and the Italian proceeded to set 1m 36.924 to head teammate, George Russell by 0.129s,

Once the soft-tyre qualifying simulations began with some on older tyres, Isack Hadjar displaced Antonelli by 0.064s, yet the Italian responded with 1m 36.302 to top the session from Max Verstappen by 0.278s.

Norris was the only driver who failed to set his quickest lap on the soft tyre, as the reigning champion instead did his time on the medium tyre.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1m 36.302
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.278
3	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+ 0.558
4	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.610
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.714
6	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.739
7	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.859
8	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 1.064
9	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 1.618
10	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+ 1.782
11	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 1.902
12	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 1.921
13	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.939
14	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 1.950
15	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+ 1.964
16	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+ 2.054
17	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 2.390
18	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 2.414
19	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 2.509
20	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 2.747
21	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 3.629
22	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+ 3.921

 

Qualifying

Q1

Ocon was first out on track and laid 1m 38.879 as the benchmark from teammate, Bearman who went 0.115s slower than the Frenchman after only those two ventured straight out on track.

Once everyone else ventured out just as the Haas duo finished their first flying laps, Verstappen set the segment-topping pace on 1m 36.477 from Hamilton and Leclerc, with the latter pair plus Bortoleto and Hulkenberg having ran the medium tyre unlike everyone else who opted for the soft tyres on their first runs.

The bottom six meanwhile comprised of; Albon, Ocon, Bearman, Stroll, Bottas and Perez once everyone set their first lap times, but Ocon running out of sync displaced Albon to 18th in the 11th minute.

As the checkered flag fell, Hulkenberg’s initial medium-tyre gamble backfired despite a switch to the soft tyre for his final run as he qualified 17th just 0.010s ahead of Bearman in 18th, whilst Ocon, Albon, Bottas and Perez were also eliminated.

 

Q2

After an initially quiet start to the segment, Hadjar was first to hit the circuit and laid 1m 36.192 as the initial benchmark time, which Verstappen beat with 1m 35.696 to put himself firmly top of the timesheet.

The bottom six meanwhile comprised of Stroll and Sainz in 11th and 12th out of those who set lap times, whilst Antonelli found himself 13th after his lap time was deleted but Lindblad, Colapinto and Alonso didn’t opt to do an opening run in the first half of the segment.

Antonelli consequently opted to go early for his second flying lap and with just two minutes left, he set 1m 35.959 to go second and dropped Lawson into the elimination zone.

At the checkered flag, Lawson missed out on Q3 to Bortoleto by 0.209s but outqualified Alonso, Sainz and Stroll, whilst Colapinto and Lindblad elected not to set lap times due to grid penalties dropping them to the back of the field, and the pair instead provided tows for their teammates.

 

Q3

After a quiet start, Russell led everyone out and laid 1m 36.032 as the benchmark but Verstappen soon lowered the benchmark time to 1m 35.250 ahead of; Hadjar, Hamilton, Piastri, Leclerc, Norris, Russell and Bortoleto, whilst Antonelli and Gasly stayed in the pits.

Antonelli opted to do his sole flier whilst everyone else pitted and set 1m 35.631 to go third with three minutes left in the segment, just as everyone exited the pit lane.

At the checkered flag, Verstappen lowered his benchmark time to 1m 35.130 to take pole position from Hamilton by 0.298s.

Hadjar qualified third but will start the race from eighth due to a five-place grid penalty for a power unit component change, which promoted Antonelli, Leclerc, Norris, Piastri and Russell up a position, whilst Gasly and Bortoleto rounded out the top ten.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1m 35.130
2	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.298
3	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+ 0.428
4	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 0.501
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.536
6	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.627
7	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.632
8	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.741
9	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 2.080
10	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 2.543
11	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	1m 37.023
12	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 0.197
13	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 0.504
14	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 0.543
15	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	No Time
16	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	No Time
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1m 37.970
18	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 0.010
19	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 0.263
20	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 0.630
21	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 0.641
22	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+ 0.963