Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen has claimed his first pole position of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Verstappen's first lap in Q1 took him to the top of the timing charts, jumping ahead of the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, with a 1:36.477.
Teammate Isack Hadjar briefly took P2, sitting 0.421 seconds back from the Dutchman, before both Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton (+0.118) and Charles Leclerc (+0.253) jumped ahead of him. McLaren's Oscar Piastri (+0.375) then eclipsed Hadjar's time.
One run was enough for both Red Bulls to get through, with Verstappen and Hadjar remaining P1 and P5 and advancing to Q2.
Verstappen continued to show significant improvement in Q2, setting a 1:35.696 lap. This was nearly a full half a second faster than teammate Hadjar, who slotted in P6 with Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, and McLaren's Lando Norris all sitting inside the Red Bull sandwich. Antonelli's time was deleted for track limits moments later, bumping Hadjar up to P5.
Progressing into Q3 and potentially being able to give Verstappen a tow was the main aim for Hadjar, who will take a five-place grid drop for taking a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) this weekend, his seventh of the season.
Again, the Red Bulls only ran one timed lap to avoid wasting tyres due to the heavy degradation being experienced at the Sepang Circuit. Antonelli's second lap saw him jump to P2, bumping Hadjar back down to P6, but it was good enough for both Red Bulls to cruise into the final phase of qualifying.
The Red Bulls were strong again in Q3. Verstappen went to the top once again with a 1:35.250 on his first run, with Hadjar 0.308 seconds behind him in P2. Verstappen's final lap improved his time to 1:35.130, and no one could catch him, securing the four-time World Champion's first pole position of the season.
With his grid drop, Hadjar, who qualified P3, will start from P8 on the grid in tomorrow's race.
