Jacques Villeneuve knows what made Lewis Hamilton ‘more happy’ than joint-best qualifying of 2026

Lewis Hamilton qualified in second place for Ferrari at the Bahrain Grand Prix held at Sepang, Malaysia, matching his best qualifying result of 2026. Max Verstappen took pole position with a time of 1:35.130, edging out Hamilton's 1:35.428 lap. The result places Hamilton on the front row alongside Verstappen for the first time since the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve stated that beating Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who qualified fifth, was ultimately what made Hamilton happier than simply securing P2. The session leveled the intra-team qualifying head-to-head between Hamilton and Leclerc at 8-8 for the season.