How Verstappen turned Hamilton’s two-sector lead into pole at Sepang

After two sectors at Sepang, Lewis Hamilton was 0.166 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. By the end of the lap, Verstappen had turned that deficit into a 0.298-second pole margin. RacingNews365’s comparison of their fastest qualifying laps identifies the final sector as the turning point: Verstappen was 0.464 seconds quicker there.

Verstappen’s 1:35.130 was his first pole since Abu Dhabi in 2025. He had set the fastest time in Q1 (1:36.477) and Q2 (1:35.696), then improved from an opening Q3 benchmark of 1:35.250 on his final attempt.

The decisive pace came on the straights. On the run out of turn 11, Verstappen reached about 270 km/h into turn 12 against Hamilton’s roughly 260; on the way to turn 15 the Red Bull reached 308 km/h, while Hamilton’s Ferrari topped out at around 300. Verstappen’s sector-three time of 39.016 seconds beat Hamilton’s 39.480. Hamilton clawed back a little at the final corner, where Verstappen’s speed at the apex was lower, but it did not erase the Red Bull’s advantage.

Hamilton had built his lead through the middle sector. Verstappen had taken sector one by 0.138 seconds, 24.609 to 24.747, after Hamilton got on the throttle earlier out of turns 1 and 2; Red Bull’s speed towards turn 4 gave Verstappen the edge. Hamilton answered by braking later at turn 4, carrying more speed through turns 5 and 6, and getting on the throttle earlier at turn 9. His sector-two time of 31.201 was 0.304 seconds quicker than Verstappen’s 31.505.

The lap comparison points to contrasting strengths, not a Red Bull advantage everywhere: Ferrari looked stronger in acceleration and the technical sections, while Verstappen’s straight-line speed decided pole.