2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell

6 hours ago

2 min read

For the first time ever, Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix didn’t take place at the Bahrain International Circuit, as the Sepang International Circuit stepped in as Formula 1 returned to Malaysia!

Q1

In Qualifying 1, Nico Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Perez were the six slowest drivers! Nico Hulkenberg made a massive lock-up into Turn 14, completely ruining his lap as he ended up as a shock Q1 elimination, whilst Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon’s exits were less surprising as Haas have been struggling! Alex Albon was nowhere, ending up a second off his teammate and barely ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who managed to outqualify his Cadillac teammate, Sergio Perez! Max Verstappen topped Q1 for Red Bull, a tenth clear of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari!

Q2

In Qualifying 2, Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto, and Arvid Lindblad all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! Liam Lawson wasn’t quite quick enough to get his Racing Bulls back into Q3, whilst Fernando Alonso pulled out his best Qualifying performance of the season! Carlos Sainz will start P13, ahead of Lance Stroll, who finally made it into Q2 in the other Aston Martin, whilst neither Franco Colapinto nor Arvid Lindblad set a competitive lap time in the second part of Qualifying due to impending grid drops (for different reasons)! Verstappen remained the man to beat in Q2, now nearly 3 tenths clear of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes!

Q3

In Qualifying 3, a splendid 1:35.130 was enough for Max Verstappen to take his first Pole Position of the season! Based on everything we’ve seen so far this weekend, this looks to be Max’s best chance at finally winning a Race in 2026 (in Formula 1, that is)! Despite being 3 tenths off, Lewis Hamilton will start alongside Verstappen on the front row of the grid tomorrow, whilst Isack Hadjar did well to qualify third, although he will start 8th due to taking new engine components! That means that current Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli will start from third, ahead of the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, whilst McLaren massively struggled for pace, with Lando Norris pipping Oscar Piastri by just 5 thousandths of a second! After a brilliant Baku, it’s back to doom and gloom for George Russell (who ended up a couple of tenths shy of his teammate), whilst Pierre Gasly beat Gabriel Bortoleto to the best of the rest spot!