Verstappen leads Red Bull one-two-three to top Bahrain GP practice at Sepang

Max Verstappen topped the opening practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang on Friday, posting a 1m37.520s to go 0.383 seconds clear of George Russell’s Mercedes. Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar completed an all-Red Bull top three with a 1m38.303s in an uninterrupted one-hour session.

The result came on Formula 1’s first visit to the Malaysian circuit in nine years — Verstappen himself won the last race held there in 2017. Sepang is hosting the Bahrain Grand Prix this season on behalf of the Sakhir circuit, which is unavailable due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

With virtually no recent data on the track, teams wasted little time heading out in the opening minutes. The medium compound was the predominant early choice, with Russell leading that group by setting a 1m38.932s in the first 30 minutes — 0.522 seconds ahead of Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Both Red Bulls, however, opted for the soft tyre from the outset, allowing Verstappen to immediately set the early benchmark.

Hadjar had a more difficult opening half, sitting seven tenths off Verstappen at times after being caught out by the circuit’s low grip levels, including an understeer moment at the final hairpin. The heat added another layer of difficulty, with track temperatures reaching 32°C in the humid Southeast Asian conditions.

“This is the craziest I’ve ever been in my life with temperatures,” said Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who was 2.631 seconds off the pace in the opening half of the session. “Even more than Bahrain in FP1.”

The session’s second half brought sharper lap times as more teams switched to the soft compound. Hadjar lowered Verstappen’s benchmark to a 1m38.303s before Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton slotted in 0.064s and 0.287s behind respectively. Russell then moved to the top with a 1m37.903s, only for Verstappen to respond with his session-best 1m37.520s with 25 minutes remaining.

The closing stages saw most drivers revert to harder compounds to work through longer-run programmes, leaving the top three unchanged. Leclerc finished fourth at +0.847s, while championship leader Antonelli rounded out the top five in fifth with a 1m38.580s, having endured a scrappier session than his title standings might suggest.

Red Bull’s strong showing builds on last weekend’s first double podium of the 2026 season, while the upgraded Mercedes W17 — brought to Sepang with a significant package of improvements — demonstrated genuine pace through Russell’s second-place effort.