Charles Leclerc was fastest in second practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia; the Ferrari driver set a 37.528 going a tenth faster than Isack Hadjar. Leclerc improved throughout the session to go fastest as the qualifying simulations came to an end, which suggested that tomorrow’s qualifying could be close.
Hadjar put himself almost four hundredths faster than Lando Norris; the world champion split the Red Bulls after going over a tenth faster than Max Verstappen. The last race winner at Sepang didn’t really show the expected pace, as he appeared to focus on understanding the car at this high-speed, abrasive circuit.
The return to Sepang after nine years presented a sense of real competitiveness that was made even more difficult than usual because of the varying strategies teams deployed through practice. However, neither Red Bull nor Mercedes managed a true attempt on the soft, but Verstappen looked fractionally fastest when the soft-medium tyre offset is considered.
Sepang has stepped in to host this weekend on behalf of Bahrain, who have paid for the race to be held following the US-Israel war with Iran, which caused the race to be postponed in March. This weekend is officially called the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Verstappen was half a tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton; the seven-time Bahrain winner looked equally competitive on his race simulation. However, various factors at Sepang make practice often very difficult to gauge, especially for the midfield given how tight it has been all season.
Hamilton was three tenths off his teammate’s fastest time as he went six and a half tenths faster than Oscar Piastri. But the Ferrari driver is under investigation for allegedly blocking Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto when he veered across onto the racing line on a slow lap down to Turn Nine.
George Russell put his Mercedes seventh ahead of teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli by four hundredths. The favourites were around half a second off the pace set by Leclerc, though that deficit in pace is likely down to multiple factors, including the fact they have a major upgrade this weekend which they would have been evaluating.
It was thought Mercedes would dominate this weekend with their upgrades, which include a new floor, rear suspension and rear corner, but Red Bull appear to be the team to beat. Both drivers had moments; Antonelli ran wide at the penultimate corner while Russell went deep at the final corner and was forced to take to the pit lane.
Liam Lawson was almost a tenth faster than Pierre Gasly to complete the top ten. The Racing Bulls were involved in a brief lap-long duel with Bortoleto during the race simulations, demonstrating why Sepang is such a loved circuit. While the Alpine managed to split the Racing Bulls, after going three tenths faster than Arvid Lindblad.
The English-Swede will start the Grand Prix from the back because of a complete power unit change after exceeding his allocation.
Bortoletto was six hundredths faster than Audi teammate Nico Hulkenberg; however, the Brazilian’s session came to an end with a gearbox issue causing him to stop at the side of the track. The two Audi’s going a quarter of a second faster than Esteban Ocon, with Fernando Alonso splitting the Haas duo, going a quarter of a second faster than Ollie Bearman.
Carlos Sainz put his Williams also a quarter of a second ahead of Lance Stroll, with Valtteri Bottas ahead of Alex Albon by three and a half hundredths. The Williams driver split the Cadillacs as he went seven tenths faster than Sergio Perez.
Franco Colapinto, who has a fifteen-place grid penalty, five places for triggering the collision at the restart last weekend and ten places for a power unit change, completed the field as he was two and a half seconds behind the Mexican.
