Verstappen takes first 2026 pole at Sepang as Mercedes slumps
Photo: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Formula 1 is back in Malaysia for the first time in nine years, and nobody got close to Max Verstappen in qualifying at Sepang. The Red Bull driver topped all three parts of the session for the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is being held in Malaysia because of the conflict in the Middle East. His pole is the first this season for a car without a Mercedes engine. Mercedes, which leads the constructors' championship, had its weakest qualifying of the year.
Verstappen beats Hamilton to pole
Verstappen set a 1:35.130, 0.298s faster than Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton. Isack Hadjar, Verstappen's Red Bull teammate, was third, and championship leader Kimi Antonelli was fourth for Mercedes. Verstappen had also been fastest in Friday's first practice session (FP1).
It is the four-time world champion's first pole since the 2025 season finale in Abu Dhabi, where the title fight was decided, and the 49th of his career. Red Bull will start from pole with its own power unit for the first time in its history.
"We've been trying to get pole position for many Grands Prix. Sometimes we were closer than at other times, but to finally get it, considering where we started the season, is something incredible," Verstappen said.
Two laps in Q3
On his first Q3 run, Verstappen clocked 1:35.250, 0.308s quicker than Hadjar. On his second attempt he did not improve in the first two sectors, but he set the fastest final sector of anyone and found another 0.120s.
Hadjar, in his second Formula 1 season, did not improve on his final lap, and Hamilton pushed him down to third.
"I'm happy with today and I'll definitely try to win tomorrow. When you start from pole, that's the goal," Verstappen added.
Hamilton back on the front row
Hamilton lapped in 1:35.428 and praised the "perfect timing" of his run. It is his first front-row start since the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in June, which he won.
He has started from the front row on each of his last five visits to Sepang. The last time he shared the front row with Verstappen was at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Mercedes' worst qualifying of the season
Mercedes brought a long-awaited upgrade for the W17 to Malaysia, one of the few major packages the team has introduced. Antonelli finished 0.501s behind Verstappen, and George Russell was eighth, 0.741s off the pace. That is the team's worst qualifying result of 2026, worse than fourth and seventh in Hungary in July.
Antonelli went into Q3 on the back foot. In Q2 his first flying lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 6, so he had to use an extra set of new soft tires and managed only one flying lap in Q3.
"You expect to find three tenths, and it looks like we've gone backwards by three, four or five tenths," team principal Toto Wolff told Sky. He added that this was the first time Mercedes had fallen outside the top three by such a margin.
Wolff pointed to two clear problems. For the first time, the team is losing a lot of time on the straights, especially to Verstappen, which he said indicates the car is generating a lot of drag. In the slow Turn 2, the car has too much understeer. According to Wolff, Sepang's very rough asphalt and the heat make it harder to understand the new package, and on Friday the team saw car behavior it had not recorded all year.
"We still believe the upgrade works, we just need to understand why it isn't working here," Wolff said.
Penalties and Sunday's starting order
Hadjar received a five-place grid penalty for his seventh internal combustion engine of the season and will start eighth. That moves Antonelli up to third on the grid, with Charles Leclerc fourth and defending champion Lando Norris fifth. Oscar Piastri starts sixth and Russell moves up to seventh. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) completed the top ten in qualifying.
Alpine's Franco Colapinto qualified 15th but will start from the back after a 15-place penalty: five places for a collision in Baku and ten for a power unit change. Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad will also be moved to the back of the grid. He sacrificed his Q2 to give Liam Lawson a tow, and Lawson still ended up 11th, two tenths short of reaching Q3.
Fernando Alonso was 12th, his best result of the season, and called it a "miracle." Lance Stroll reached Q2 for the first time this year and finished 14th there, giving Aston Martin both cars in Q2 for the first time in 2026. Both Haas drivers were eliminated in Q1 for the first time since Monaco. At Cadillac, Valtteri Bottas was more than three tenths faster than teammate Sergio Pérez.
The Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang takes place on Sunday.