Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton called the Sepang crowd the biggest he has seen after qualifying second for the Bahrain GP, just 0.298s behind pole-sitter Verstappen.
SEVEN-TIME world champion Lewis Hamilton was blown away by the electric atmosphere at the Formula 1 (F1) Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix (GP) 2026 at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) here today.
The Ferrari driver, who qualified second for tomorrow’s race at 3 pm, called today’s crowd the biggest he has ever seen at the iconic Malaysian circuit.
“Well, I mean, listen to this crowd. I think this is the biggest crowd we’ve ever seen here, at least in my time of driving. I love this energy. Big, big thank you to Malaysia for welcoming us,” he said after the qualifying session.
The 41-year-old stormed onto the front row with a time of 1 minute 35.428 seconds (s), just 0.298s adrift of four-time world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing, who seized pole with 1:35.130s.
Hamilton, who clinched his maiden title for Ferrari at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP 2026 in June, said the scorching conditions made this weekend especially gruelling for drivers and teams alike.
“It’s so hot here, I keep saying it. That’s made it a massive challenge for the tyres, the car and the mechanics in the garage,” he said.
Hamilton said his team toiled extensively on the car throughout the practice sessions before nailing a setup that allowed him to close the gap to Verstappen in qualifying.
The Briton, who tasted victory at SIC in the 2014 Malaysian GP, said the final tweak before qualifying proved decisive in unlocking more performance from the Ferrari.
“I’m really, really thankful to my team. We made so many changes through all these practice sessions. Because the cars are sliding and these tyres are overheating, it was really, really hard to find a good balance.”
“We made one last change going into qualifying, and I think we hit the sweet spot,” he said.
In July, F1 confirmed that Malaysia would play host to the Gulf Air Bahrain GP from Oct 2 to 4, under an agreement struck between F1, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), and the governments of Malaysia and Bahrain.
The deal keeps the Bahrain GP alive on the 2026 F1 calendar after the race was scrapped earlier this season amid geopolitical tensions in West Asia.
Malaysia previously hosted the Malaysian GP at SIC from 1999 to 2017 before the race was dropped from the F1 calendar.
