Sepang Friday practice: Leclerc tops FP2, Verstappen 0.008s clear on combined times

Friday practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia at Sepang ended with Charles Leclerc fastest in FP2 and Max Verstappen holding the best time of the day on his FP1 lap. The gap between the two was just 0.008s, with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren filling the top of the order while both Mercedes cars were seventh and eighth in FP2. Qualifying starts at 4pm local time today (08:00 UTC), and with the weather in doubt there is no telling whether Friday's order will hold.

Relative to 1:37.520. Sources: grandepremio.com combined results, F1.com FP2 report

FP2: Leclerc 1:37.528

According to Formula1.com and Motorsport.com, Leclerc (Ferrari) was quickest in FP2 with a 1:37.528. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) was 0.099s back in second, Lando Norris (McLaren) third at 0.137s, Verstappen fourth at 0.257s and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) fifth at 0.305s. Oscar Piastri (McLaren), George Russell (Mercedes), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) and Pierre Gasly (Haas) completed the top ten.

On combined times, Verstappen's 1:37.520 from the morning's FP1 is the day's best. Grande Prêmio puts Leclerc second, 0.008s back, and Hadjar third, 0.107s back. The same outlet reports that in FP1 Verstappen was 0.383s ahead of Russell.

Mercedes stumble on the softs

Motorsport.com reported that Russell and Antonelli both botched their soft-tyre runs in the final sector. Formula1.com's report notes that one of Antonelli's laps was deleted for exceeding track limits. Neither source offers a race-pace comparison, so seventh and eighth alone do not settle Mercedes' competitiveness on Sunday.

Tyre choices were shaped by the rain forecast. Both outlets said the chance of rain climbed from 70% to 90% while the session stayed dry throughout. Most drivers began on mediums but moved to softs earlier than usual; per Formula1.com, both McLarens, both Cadillacs and Gasly started on softs. Verstappen stayed on mediums with no soft-tyre run. Motorsport.com wrote that most of the final half hour went on race simulations on older tyres, leaving lap times almost unchanged.

Incidents: Bortoleto stops, VSC

Late in the session Gabriel Bortoleto's Audi stopped on track, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car that stopped final improvements. Bortoleto had earlier had a near miss with Hamilton and confronted him afterwards, and he also fought with Lawson and Arvid Lindblad over several laps. Hamilton radioed that he could not see through his right mirror, Hadjar reported oscillations in his RB22, and Verstappen complained of seating position problems.

Qualifying and Sunday's weather

Qualifying is at 4pm local time (08:00 UTC). Forecasts differ between outlets. PlanetF1 put the chance of rain at 40% for both FP3 and qualifying, with roughly 50% at the start of Sunday's race, easing as it goes on. The ECMWF figures quoted by Grande Prêmio instead show 60% for qualifying, 50% for the race and 20% for FP3. A heat hazard has also been declared: race director Rui Marques issued it on 30 September after the heat index was forecast to exceed 31C, meaning cars must carry the required cooling system and drivers who skip personal cooling equipment must add compensating ballast.

PlanetF1 noted that most drivers have no experience of this year's wet and intermediate Pirelli tyres. A wet qualifying could therefore reshuffle Friday's order, but that is a possibility the sources raise, not a settled fact.