Max Verstappen claimed Red Bull's first pole position of the season as he beat Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Verstappen and Hamilton will share the front row in Sunday's race at 8am (build-up from 6.30am), live on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event, for the first time since Hungary 2023 after the Red Bull driver delivered a dominant qualifying performance.
The Dutchman topped each segment of qualifying and set two laps good enough for pole, ending up 0.298s faster than Hamilton who will target a second Ferrari win of the season.
"Verstappen versus Hamilton. Imagine that! What could possibly go wrong..." reacted Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle.
Red Bull's Isack Hadjar equalled his best career qualifying result with third but will start eighth due to a five-grid place penalty for a new internal combustion engine.
Mercedes were surprisingly unable to challenge Verstappen for pole despite bringing their first major upgrade package since May's Canadian Grand Prix to this weekend's race in Malaysia.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli will start third after a costly mistake in Q2 forced him to use an extra set of tyres prior to Q3, leaving him with just one run in the final part of qualifying.
Antonelli is 66 points ahead of his Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the Drivers' Championship and, crucially, Russell will start seventh as he lacked pace throughout Saturday.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will be fourth, ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who were never in contention for pole.
Alpine's Pierre Gasly was the fastest driver outside of F1's top four teams in ninth from Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto in 10th.
Aston Martin enjoyed their best qualifying since the summer break as Fernando Alonso claimed 12th and Lance Stroll 14th.
Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad gave team-mate Liam Lawson a slipstream in Q2, as the British driver will start at the back of the grid for changing his power unit, but Lawson just missed out and will start 11th.
Dominant Verstappen as Mercedes left confused
Red Bull impressed on Friday's two practice sessions but Mercedes looked to have made big gains overnight as Antonelli topped final practice by nearly three tenths from Verstappen.
But, come qualifying, Verstappen looked untouchable as qualifying progressed with a few tenths of an advantage over the field which was proven in Q3.
Verstappen won the last F1 race in Malaysia in 2017 and was in a league of his own as he took provisional pole from team-mate Hadjar after the first runs by three tenths with the Ferraris and McLarens in behind.
Hamilton produced ...
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing