Max Verstappen posted a 1:35.130 lap to secure pole at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, edging Lewis Hamilton’s 1:35.428 effort by 0.298 seconds. Hamilton led the sector two split by 0.304 seconds and was ahead by 0.166 seconds with one sector remaining, but Verstappen’s final sector gain of 0.464 seconds swung the overall time in his favour.
Lap breakdown
Hamilton’s early pace saw him dominate sector two, creating a temporary advantage that suggested an undercut on the final sector could be decisive. Verstappen’s aggressive final sector, however, allowed him to overcut Hamilton’s time, demonstrating how tyre temperature and clean air can be leveraged in the closing part of a lap.
Technical data
Both laps were recorded using OpenF1 telemetry, providing sector times, speed, throttle, brake, gear and RPM data. The track model was reconstructed from OpenStreetMap data, while the car visualisations used a 2026 concept polygon model by Qvist_designs, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Verstappen’s final sector was the decisive factor for pole.