Max Verstappen claimed Red Bull’s first pole position of the season as he beat Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Verstappen and Hamilton will share the front row in Sunday’s race at 8am (build-up from 6.30am), live on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event, for the first time since Hungary 2023 after the Red Bull driver delivered a dominant qualifying performance.
The Dutchman topped each segment of qualifying and set two laps good enough for pole, ending up 0.298s faster than Hamilton who will target a second Ferrari win of the season.
“Verstappen versus Hamilton. Imagine that! What could possibly go wrong…” reacted Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle.
Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar equalled his best career qualifying result with third but will start eighth due to a five-grid place penalty for a new internal combustion engine.
Mercedes were surprisingly unable to challenge Verstappen for pole despite bringing their first major upgrade package since May’s Canadian Grand Prix to this weekend’s race in Malaysia.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli will start third after a costly mistake in Q2 forced him to use an extra set of tyres prior to Q3, leaving him with just one run in the final part of qualifying.
Antonelli is 66 points ahead of his Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the Drivers’ Championship and, crucially, Russell will start seventh as he lacked pace throughout Saturday.
Toto Wolff explains Mercedes issues after big upgrade package at the Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will be fourth, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who were never in contention for pole.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the fastest driver outside of F1’s top four teams in ninth from Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto in 10th.
Aston Martin enjoyed their best qualifying since the summer break as Fernando Alonso claimed 12th and Lance Stroll 14th.
Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad gave team-mate Liam Lawson a slipstream in Q2, as the British driver will start at the back of the grid for changing his power unit, but Lawson just missed out and will start 11th.
Dominant Verstappen as Mercedes left confused
Red Bull impressed on Friday’s two practice sessions but Mercedes looked to have made big gains overnight as Antonelli topped final practice by nearly three tenths from Verstappen.
But, come qualifying, Verstappen looked untouchable as qualifying progressed with a few tenths of an advantage over the field which was proven in Q3.
Verstappen won the last F1 race in Malaysia in 2017 and was in a league of his own as he took provisional pole from team-mate Hadjar after the first runs by three tenths with the Ferraris and McLarens in behind.
Hamilton produced a great lap to get onto the front row but he was unable to knock Verstappen off top spot and the four-time world champion made sure of pole by improving even more on his final Q3 run.
Watch the thrilling end to qualifying at the Bahrain GP in Malaysia!
“It’s fantastic. We have 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, pretty incredible,” said Verstappen.
“I’m happy with today and, for sure, I’m going to try and win tomorrow. When you start first, that’s the target.”
Having won the last three races, and with big upgrades on their car, Mercedes came into Malaysia as big favourites to even dominate the race weekend.
But the extremely abrasive track surface and high track temperatures have thrown a spanner in the works and Mercedes appear to be hurt most by those factors.
“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 F1.
“For whatever reason, it seems to be affecting us far more than others.”
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli react to Mercedes’ qualifying at Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Antonelli may have been closer to pole if not for a track limits excursion in Q2 which saw his lap deleted, and Mercedes elected to put another new set of softs on his car to ensure he reached Q3.
However, that left Antonelli with only one new set of softs and, with the tyres only holding up well for one lap, the Italian was not right on the limit but still qualified fourth behind the penalised Hadjar and half a second behind pole-sitter Verstappen.
Russell won last time out in Baku and said his “confidence is back” but Malaysia was always going to be the big final test due to its track characteristics of wide, medium-speed corners where Antonelli has generally been quicker this year.
The British driver was unable to unlock the same pace as Antonelli in final practice and qualifying, so faces an uphill battle on Sunday to gain some serious title momentum over his team-mate.
Sky Sports F1’s live schedule Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Relive the last time a Grand Prix was held in Malaysia back in 2017
Sunday October 4
6.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Bahrain GP build-up*
8am: THE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX*
10am: Chequered Flag: Bahrain GP reaction*
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is in Malaysia for the first time since 2017 as it hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit – watch Sunday’s race at 8am (build-up from 6.30am), live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
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