Verstappen Takes First Pole at Sepang

Max Verstappen took his first pole position of the 2026 Formula 1 season in qualifying for the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia 2026 on Saturday, 3 October, at the Sepang International Circuit near Kuala Lumpur (formula1.com). The Red Bull driver topped every segment and set 1:35.130 in the final shootout, 0.298 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton (1:35.428), who starts on the front row (formula1.com; Sky Sports). Teammate Isack Hadjar was third on time (1:35.558) but starts eighth after a five-place grid penalty for an extra power-unit engine change. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli (1:35.631) starts third, ahead of Charles Leclerc, the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and George Russell (formula1.com; Sky Sports). Malaysia had not hosted a Formula 1 qualifying session since 2017. Bahrain still titles this one-off Round 16 weekend (2⁠–⁠4 October) after the April Bahrain date was cancelled over Middle East hostilities (formula1.com). The race is Sunday at 15:00 local Malaysia time (3:00 a.m. ET).

Formula 1 qualifying is three knockout segments — Q1, Q2 and Q3 — that set a provisional order. Pole position is the first grid spot, on the inside of the front row. A grid penalty moves a driver back from the order the clock produced; each car he drops behind moves up one place. The medium tyre is a step harder, and usually slower over one lap, than the quicker dry compound used for a single flying lap (formula1.com).

The session went green at 16:00 local (4:00 a.m. ET). Practice had split three ways — Verstappen quickest in the first hour, Leclerc in the second, Antonelli in the third — so pole looked open (formula1.com). Sky Sports said Antonelli had topped final practice by nearly three tenths from Verstappen. In Q1, Antonelli’s 1:37.041 was the first benchmark, then Verstappen went about half a second clear. Hamilton and Leclerc climbed the order on medium tyres (formula1.com).

Verstappen was quickest again in Q2, the first driver under 1:36 with a 1:35.696. Antonelli had a lap deleted for running beyond the track limits and used another new set of one-lap tyres to get through, which left him a single run in Q3 (formula1.com; Sky Sports).

In the shootout Verstappen took provisional pole by about three tenths over Hadjar, then lowered his time to 1:35.130. Hamilton’s best lap of the weekend took the other front-row seat. On the clock Hadjar was third and Antonelli fourth. Formula1.com said that third-place time becomes eighth once the five-place penalty is imposed. Antonelli therefore starts third. Leclerc (1:35.666), fifth on time, lines up fourth. Norris (1:35.757) starts fifth, Piastri (1:35.762) sixth and Russell (1:35.871) seventh (formula1.com; Sky Sports). Pierre Gasly (1:37.210) and Gabriel Bortoleto (1:37.673) were ninth and tenth on time.

“It’s fantastic,” Verstappen said. “We’ve been trying many Grands Prix to get pole, sometimes a bit closer than others, but to finally get it from where we started the season, it’s pretty incredible” (formula1.com). He said he will try to win from the front on Sunday (Sky Sports). He and Hamilton share a front row for the first time since the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2023. Verstappen won the last Formula 1 race in Malaysia, in 2017 (Sky Sports).

Mercedes brought a first major upgrade since the Canadian Grand Prix in May. The rough, hot surface at Sepang did not reward it. “It’s a very demanding circuit on the tyres, the tarmac is all broke up, it’s extremely rough, it’s so hot out there and the tyres are going through hell,” Russell told Sky Sports. “For whatever reason, it seems to be affecting us far more than others.” Antonelli leads Russell by 66 points. The drivers’ order into the weekend, unchanged by qualifying, is Antonelli 302, Russell 236, Hamilton 199, Norris 186, Leclerc 179 and Verstappen 163 (formula1.com; Sky Sports).

Hadjar’s third on the clock matched his best qualifying classification, after a podium last time out in Baku on his return from injury (Sky Sports; formula1.com). He still starts eighth. Sunday’s race has not been run. Lights out is 15:00 local Malaysia time, 3:00 a.m. ET.