Verstappen takes first pole of 2026 at Sepang as Hadjar penalty reshuffles the grid

Verstappen commands qualifying for his first pole of 2026

Max Verstappen claimed his first pole position of the 2026 season in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, setting a lap of 1:35.130 at the Sepang International Circuit to finish 0.298 seconds clear of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton. According to Formula1.com, the Red Bull driver topped all three segments of qualifying, and the FIA confirmed the lap as the 49th pole of his career, his first since the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. On his run-up to the session, the FIA reported that Verstappen had topped all three practice sessions, while Formula1.com's session account says each hour of practice produced a different pacesetter: Verstappen fastest in FP1 for Red Bull, Charles Leclerc in FP2 for Ferrari and Kimi Antonelli in FP3 for Mercedes. ¹²

Verstappen said after the session, in comments reported by Formula1.com: "It's fantastic. 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." He added that starting first made winning the race the target. In a separate Formula1.com video, he called it "an amazing moment for everyone" after Red Bull's tough start to the year. ¹⁷

The Times of India noted a broader significance: it was the first qualifying session of 2026 in which a car not powered by Mercedes took pole, with Mercedes, McLaren and Alpine cars having topped every previous session of the season. The FIA's classification lists the Alpine entry as Mercedes-powered. ⁴²

Grandprix.com's qualifying report detailed where the Dutchman made the difference, recording that Verstappen was fastest in the first and third sectors with the session's best final-sector time of 39.016 seconds, while Hamilton was quickest through the middle sector. His opening Q3 lap of 1:35.250 was already good enough for pole before he improved on his final attempt. ⁶

Hadjar penalty moves Antonelli up to third on the starting grid

Red Bull's Isack Hadjar qualified third fastest on 1:35.558 but will drop to eighth on the grid after receiving a five-place penalty. The FIA attributed the penalty to an internal combustion engine change, while Fox Sports reported it was for taking his seventh engine of the campaign. That promotion lifts championship leader Kimi Antonelli, fourth fastest for Mercedes on 1:35.631, onto the second row alongside Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. ²⁵¹

Antonelli's session was complicated by a deleted lap in Q2 for exceeding track limits at Turn 6, which the FIA reported forced him to burn an extra set of soft tyres to progress. Grandprix.com reported that he started qualifying with four fresh sets of softs, one fewer than usual, leaving him a single fresh set and one flying attempt in Q3 while his rivals had two. ESPN described him as edged out by Hadjar on the timesheets but promoted to third by the penalty. ²⁶³

Fox Sports quoted Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord saying Antonelli was left "a bit compromised" by the extra Q2 running, with team principal Toto Wolff adding: "Not good, because Q2 you know you're going to get through. You lose a set in a qualifying that's so tight, where we are on the back foot. That's not good." ⁵

Ferrari on the front row as Mercedes and McLaren split over pace

Hamilton delivered his best lap of the weekend late in Q3, a 1:35.428 that put Ferrari on the front row and denied Red Bull a sweep of the top two positions, according to Formula1.com. Grandprix.com reported Hamilton had struggled with sliding tyres and an awkward balance through practice, quoting him: "We made one change and we finally hit the sweet spot." The Times of India reported Ferrari made several changes across practice amid overheating tyres before a final setup change before qualifying. ¹⁶⁴

Leclerc completed the top five for Ferrari on 1:35.666, ahead of the McLarens of Lando Norris (1:35.757) and Oscar Piastri (1:35.762), separated by just 0.005 seconds per the FIA classification. George Russell could only manage eighth for Mercedes, 0.741s off pole, despite the team arriving in Malaysia with a major upgrade, as ESPN reported. ¹²³

Wolff told Sky Sports it was "very difficult to understand" Russell's deficit, saying the team had been caught out by car behaviour in the heat and unusual tarmac, and grandprix.com reported him saying the car was losing time on the straights and suffering understeer at Turn 2. "We still believe that the upgrade works. We just need to understand why not here," he said. Fox Sports noted Russell was coming off a win at Baku, and ESPN reported he trails Antonelli by 66 points in the championship heading into the weekend. ⁵⁶³

Pierre Gasly took ninth for Alpine on 1:37.210 with Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto completing the top 10 on 1:37.673, with grandprix.com reporting both ran used soft tyres in Q3. ²⁶

Midfield stories: Aston Martin progress, Haas friction and grid penalties

Formula1.com reported Racing Bulls missed Q3 despite Arvid Lindblad giving Liam Lawson a tow instead of setting a representative time, with Lawson 11th and Bortoleto's late improvement eliminating him by 0.209 seconds. Lindblad is set to start from the back of the grid after switching to a new power unit, and Franco Colapinto, who did not set a Q2 time, carries a combined 15-place penalty for his Baku collision and an engine change, per the FIA. ¹²

Fox Sports highlighted that both Aston Martin cars of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll reached Q2 for the first time this season, a rare bright spot in a difficult 2026 campaign. Grandprix.com noted stewards summoned Stroll over allegedly driving unnecessarily slowly in Q1 and Q2. ⁵⁶

Audi's Nico Hulkenberg was the notable Q1 casualty, missing Q2 by 0.087 seconds in 17th, while the Haas pair of Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon qualified 18th and 19th. Grandprix.com reported Ocon saying Haas had sent him out too early, before the track was at its quickest, and Formula1.com reported him claiming the team's strategy hampered his chances; Formula1.com's session account noted Bearman suffered a lock-up at Turn 1 that impacted his second lap, and grandprix.com reported Bearman saying a clean weekend would have seen him through to Q2. Alex Albon was 20th for Williams and, according to grandprix.com, said the team might change his car overnight and start from the pit lane, with the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez filling the last two spots, though they stand to gain positions from the incoming grid drops. ¹⁶⁵

Hadjar's penalty also lifts Australian Oscar Piastri from seventh in qualifying to sixth on the starting grid, just behind McLaren teammate Lando Norris, as Fox Sports reported. The race starts at 1500 local time on Sunday (8am BST), according to ESPN and Formula1.com, with grandprix.com flagging Sepang's tyre wear over 56 laps as Verstappen's obstacle in converting pole into his first win of the season. ⁵³¹⁶

Context: a returning venue and Verstappen's Sepang history

Malaysia is hosting this round of the 2026 championship under the Bahrain Grand Prix banner after the race was cancelled in April due to the conflict in the Middle East, ESPN reported. Formula1.com noted that Malaysia had not hosted a qualifying session since 2017. ³¹

The Times of India observed that Verstappen was the last driver to win a Formula 1 race at Sepang, taking victory there in 2017, and reported that a victory on Sunday would help him avoid his first winless Formula 1 season since his rookie year in 2015. It also noted Hamilton had struggled with tyre degradation in practice before his front-row start, with the seven-time world champion describing the hot conditions as difficult for tyres, car and mechanics. ⁴