Now, that is how you turn a machine around. Max Verstappen has claimed his first pole position of the 2026 season during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, setting a blistering lap time of 1m 35.130s to leave everyone else scrambling.
It puts the Red Bull driver nearly three tenths clear of his closest challenger, Lewis Hamilton. That kind of margin in a competitive field is a statement, especially given where the Milton Keynes-based outfit started the campaign.
Let us not forget how tough the opening rounds were. Red Bull found themselves languishing in fourth place of the Teams' Championship with a significant deficit to the top three, struggling while their rivals at the front pulled away. But momentum has well and truly shifted. Verstappen only narrowly missed out on a win at last weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix by less than two tenths, and that terrifying pace has clearly followed them straight to Sepang.
After bossing both Q1 and Q2, the four-time World Champion made no mistakes in Q3. "It’s fantastic," Verstappen said after the session. "We’ve been trying many Grands Prix to get pole, sometimes a bit closer than others, but to finally get it from where we started the season, it’s pretty incredible."
Even with a strong showing across Friday and Saturday, the driver admitted it was tough to predict how qualifying would shake out not knowing what rivals were up to. But once Q1 got underway, the car came alive. Verstappen pointed to the hard work put into understanding the behaviour of the machine and bolting on crucial improvements as the turning point for the squad.
Now, the target is simple. When you start from the very front of the grid, there is only one place you want to finish. Verstappen is fully focused on converting this pole into his maiden victory of 2026 when the lights go out tomorrow.
