Verstappen had started the race level on points with Hamilton but 9-8 ahead on wins, and there were fears a collision could settle the outcome.
The Briton expressed his disappointment that the Brazilian had decided to leave Ferrari for BAR at the end of the season.
Team mate Kimi Raikkonen was the second fastest race driver with a time of one minute 28.453 seconds.
Federico Montoya will drive for the Berlin-based Muecke team in the German Formula BMW series next year.
Jaguar team boss Tony Purnell feels the Australian driver is a world champion in the making.
Michael Schumacher can become the first driver to win the same Grand Prix eight times, if he wins Sunday's French GP.
Ross Brawn said the memory of Nigel Mansell's failure to win the 1986 title from a similar position still lingers.
The Italian clocked the fastest qualifying lap in first qualifying for Sunday's U.S. Grand Prix.\n\n
The defending F1 champion expects the title to be decided by a last-race duel between himself and the Colombian.
Was Tendulkar right in asking for an exemption? Should the government have acceded to his request?
"He's got the old matador spirit, that's for sure."
Jordan's Indian ace posted his third finish in four races in the Formula One championship.
Ferrari kept Brazilian Rubens Barrichello off the track for Saturday's opening practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix after having to rebuild his new car's gearbox.
Ferrari, winners of 15 of last year's 18 races, have now gone three Grands Prix without a win
It was the second win of Montoya's 41 race career and the first of the season for BMW-powered Williams
Narain Karthikeyan said he was happy with his performance in the F1 debut race even though he had a "very bad" start.
The Scot is looking to get his act together in the next F1 race at Monaco and make up lost ground.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Jordan's Indian ace's best lap time at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya was only 2.5 seconds off the pace of world champion Michael Schumacher.
World champions Ferrari will unveil their 2005 Formula One car at their Maranello factory on February 25, the team said on Friday.
The F1 ace said the electronic aids allows the driver the possibility to exploit the potential of the car.
The German did a blistering lap in the first qualifying session for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.
The six times world champion took the chequered flag at Imola 5.783 seconds ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas, who started on pole position.
Lewis Hamilton seized pole position in the dying seconds of qualifying for the first Portuguese Grand Prix in 24 years on Saturday to deny and dismay Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas once again.
Narain's immediate aim is get into the F-1 even if it is with low profile teams.
The Ferrari ace is looking to win the U.S Grand Prix for the third time on Sunday.\n\n
Ferrari's six-times world champion Michael Schumacher starts Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix on the third row in sixth place.
Ferrari can hope to equal McLaren's 1988 achievement of winning all but one of the races.
Juan Pablo Montoya accused Rubens Barrichello of illegally blocking him in order to help Ferrari team mate Michael Schumacher.
Chief Williams engineer Sam Michael said it was clear the team had some catching up to do but it was not all doom and gloom.
