F1 Qualifying Results: 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix positions and times from Sepang

Red Bull star Max Verstappen is on F1 pole for the first time this season after an impressive showing in Saturday’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia qualifying session.

The four-time world champion showed his speed from the off, topping the timesheets in Q1 and Q2 before securing pole with a 1:35:130 second lap time. It is the four-time world champion’s first pole position since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December 2025, which he earned 302 days ago.

Verstappen’s lap time was comfortably the quickest in Sepang, but Lewis Hamilton put his Ferrari in second, 0.298 seconds adrift of the Dutchman after an impressive late lap.

Elsewhere, Isack Hadjar qualified in third, but he has a five-place grid penalty coming, so he will not start on row two. Meanwhile, it was a disappointing day for Mercedes, with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell only good enough for P4 and P8 despite the team bringing upgrades this weekend.

In between the Mercedes duo were Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, in that order, while Pierre Gasly and Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the top 10.

Earlier in qualifying, it was a great day for Aston Martin, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both making it through to Q2 and qualifying P12 and P14, respectively.

With all that said, let’s take a look at the full results from qualifying below.

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F1 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying results

Here are the full results and gaps from Sepang.

* Isack Hadjar has a five-place grid penalty due to taking a new internal combustion engine (ICE).

**Franco Colapinto has a 15-place grid penalty, ten due to taking a new internal combustion engine (ICE) and five for causing a collision at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last time out

***Arvid Lindblad has a 30-place grid penalty due to multiple changes to his power unit.

How does F1 Qualifying work in 2026?

There are a couple of changes to the way qualifying works this year, not quite as sweeping as the new technical regulations most drivers and fans hate so much.

Firstly we now have 22 cars on the grid, so instead of five cars exiting after Q1 and Q2, we will have six being eliminated. That still leaves 10 for the pole shootout in Q3.

The other notable change lies in the timings - Q3 now gets an extra minute and lasts for 13 rather than 12.

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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