Verstappen takes first non-Mercedes powered pole of 2026

Max Verstappen secured his first pole position of the Formula One season at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday. Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton joined him on the front row, while teammate Isaac Hadjar finished third but will start eighth due to a grid penalty. Championship leader Kimi Antolinli and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari rounded out the top five on the grid.

Verstappen, who last won a Grand Prix in Malaysia in 2017, clocked a time of 1 minute 35.130 seconds in qualifying. "It's fantastic, we've been trying for many Grands Prix to get more, sometimes a bit closer to the others. But to finally get it from where we started the season, pretty incredible," Verstappen remarked. Hamilton, who has also secured a victory in Sepang, battled with tyre degradation in practice sessions but managed to claim second place from Hadjar in the final stages of the qualifying session.

"It's so hot here, I keep saying it. But that's made it a massive challenge for the tyres, for the car, for the mechanics in the garage. We made so many changes through all these practice sessions because the cars are sliding, these tyres are overheating. It was really, really hard to find a good balance. We made one last change going into qualifying and I think we hit the sweet spot," Hamilton explained.

Hadjar had exceeded his seasonal engine allowance, leading to a five-place grid penalty. "It's a bit unfortunate we take the penalty on a track that fast," Hadjar stated. "But you know, from P8, I'm confident we can go through the field and come back for a good result."