SAKHIR, Bahrain – Max Verstappen will start the Formula One season at the front of the pack after earning the pole for the Bahrain Grand Prix Saturday at the Bahrain Int’l Circuit.

Verstappen, who led every practice leading up to Saturday’s qualifying session, continued to control the speed charts by earning the fourth pole of his career. His best time of 1:28.997 was enough to give him the top spot by .388 seconds over reigning Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton.

“It’s a great feeling to be on pole and I haven’t experienced a season start like this,” said Verstappen. “After the victory in Abu Dhabi (last year) the whole team has been pushing really hard and even more motivated. There is still no guarantee for the rest of the year but everyone here and back at the factory have done a great job to give me a car like this and they should be very proud. Honda have also been working very hard this winter, just like every year. They are flat out all of the time and like us they just want to win.

“It is really enjoyable working with them and they are very passionate which I like, so a big credit to Honda for the result today as they have had a great winter. After testing it is always difficult to know where you are and we really didn’t know how it would be in qualifying but when you have a lap like that in Q3 and such a good feeling in the car you can be happy. We have to finish it off tomorrow but if I can have a good start I’m confident we can do a good job.”

Valtteri Bottas will start third to lead the second row ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fourth. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was impressive throughout qualifying, securing the fifth starting position alongside McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Lando Norris qualified seventh in the second McLaren, followed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. in eighth. Fernando Alonso, making his return to Formula One competition, qualified ninth for the rebranded Alpine squad. Lance Stroll completed the top-10 for the Aston Martin program.

The biggest surprise of qualifying was Sebastian Vettel’s slow start. Vettel was unable to advance out of Q1 after losing time due to a poorly timed yellow flag. He’ll start 18th, ahead of only the rookie Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.