Verstappen tops FP1 at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia
While officially named the Bahrain Grand Prix, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East means that round 16 of the world championship has been relocated to the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. A total of 561 marshals and officials from Bahrain are at Sepang, in what is the first Formula One race held here since 2017.
After nine years off the calendar, it means that just 10 of the current drivers have raced an F1 car at this circuit. It was a busy session of running and learning for the drivers and teams alike, navigating a track temperature of 54 degrees, extreme humidity and a tyre-eating track surface.
Max Verstappen is the most recent winner in Malaysia, and he topped FP1 this time around with a time of 1:37.520. The four-time champion will be looking to build on from his momentum in Baku, but it wasn’t all plain sailing, with the back of his Red Bull being swarmed by mechanics in the garage for much of the session.
George Russell finished the session in second. The winner from Baku was 0.383 seconds behind Verstappen, in what is a heavily upgraded Mercedes for this weekend. Isack Hadjar finished third in the other Red Bull, cementing the team’s early showing of pace this weekend.
Charles Leclerc finished the session in fourth, saying “the tyre degradation is insane” on the radio. He finished ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli who finished fifth, and the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton finished in P6.
Pierre Gasly made his F1 debut at the last race in Sepang; he finished the session in seventh for Alpine, ahead of the two Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, while Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 for Audi.
McLaren are looking to bounce back from their point-less result in Baku, but had a difficult FP1 with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris only finishing eleventh and twelfth respectively.
Looking ahead
After a challenging first session of running and learning, there’s lots to look out for during FP2. The heat will be relentless, but conditions will be the most representative of Sunday’s race, so it will be fascinating to see how harshly the tyres degrade. The track evolution is also going to be enormous after nearly a decade away, so expect the lap times to tumble as the track rubbers in and the drivers get to grips with the circuit.
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