Max Verstappen Storms To First Pole Of 2026

Max Verstappen claimed his first pole position of the season for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. The Dutchman was the fastest driver today with a time of 1:35.130. Lewis Hamilton finished second in 1:35.428, ahead of Isack Hadjar, who will not start from third on the grid due to a penalty. His grid slot will be taken by Kimi Antonelli, who set the fourth-fastest time in qualifying.

Hamilton began the session on the Medium compound before switching to the Soft. The same approach was adopted by Charles Leclerc, Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. The rest of the field used only the C4. The polesitter used four new sets of Soft tyres and posted the fastest lap of the day on his final flying run, improving his personal benchmark in the final sector.

The highest temperatures of the day were recorded during the third free practice session, with track temperatures reaching 54°C before dropping as cloud cover moved in. All three compounds were used in FP3, although the majority of drivers focused their work on the C4.

Charles Leclerc was the only driver to run the Hard compound before switching to a new set of Softs. Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar used the Medium, with the reigning World Champion setting his best time on the C3.

The top three drivers all recorded their fastest laps on the red-marked tyre. Kimi Antonelli was quickest with a time of 1:36.302, Verstappen finished second in 1:36.580, while his teammate Hadjar ended the session third in 1:36.860.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented by Alvin Chong, a popular Malaysian actor and singer. He is well known in both the Malaysian and Chinese entertainment industries.

Max Verstappen – Pole

“It was an incredible result for us and it was a very proud moment. This weekend was positive from FP1 and we have just been trying to improve the car further and keep tweaking it. The Team have been working really hard and made some big steps forward and I think this particular track layout suited our car even more. Tomorrow will be all about tyres, tyres, tyres and how we manage the degradation.

It’s been quite a long road to this point since we started the year. Everyone has been working so hard to get the car where it was today, so to really be able to put all this hard work into Pole is fantastic. This really means a lot to the Team and I hope everyone is very proud. We have been quite clear that we want to win a race this year, so we’ll try to do that tomorrow.”

Dario Marrafuschi – Pirelli Motorsport Director

“Track conditions improved progressively throughout the day, allowing the Soft compound to deliver a very competitive level of performance in qualifying. Despite this, lap times remained significantly slower than those predicted by the simulations, indicating that the track evolution was not sufficient to close the gap.

In the attempt to extract the maximum potential from the C4 immediately, the degradation generated on the compound meant that no genuinely competitive laps could be completed after the first flying lap today. At the same time, in yesterday’s running it demonstrated that it can maintain an acceptable level of consistency over race distances when it is brought gradually into its correct operating window over the opening laps. This characteristic could prove particularly important tomorrow, given the number of Soft sets retained by several teams.

Tomorrow’s Grand Prix looks especially interesting from a strategic perspective. Most drivers have two sets of Hard tyres available, which should provide a solid option for the longer stints thanks to their greater thermal resistance and lower degradation compared to the softer compounds. On paper, the Medium-Hard-Hard and Soft-Hard-Hard combinations appear to be among the most competitive.

There are, however, some particular situations, such as those of Verstappen and Leclerc, who each have only one set of C2 tyres available and may therefore consider different approaches, making greater use of the Soft and Medium compounds or even evaluating three-stop strategies. In this scenario, the range of possibilities becomes much broader, with shorter stints and increased flexibility.

By contrast, we are unlikely to see one-stop strategies, which on paper offer no advantage in terms of total race time at a circuit where overtaking remains possible at several points around the track. Finally, there remains an element of uncertainty related to the weather, with a chance of rain that could influence the teams’ strategic choices.”

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