Max Verstappen set the pace in opening practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, clocking a 1:37.520 at Sepang International Circuit to head George Russell and Isack Hadjar, before deliberately skipping the soft tyre in FP2 to protect long-run data on the medium compound.

Russell finished FP1 three-tenths adrift of Verstappen, with Hadjar’s Red Bull completing the top three. Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari, ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in fifth. Lewis Hamilton placed sixth, with Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were 11th and 12th.

The session marked the first Formula 1 action at Sepang since 2017, when Verstappen also won. Many drivers on the current grid had no prior experience of the circuit, making Friday’s running particularly significant for setup and tyre understanding.

Verstappen ended FP2 in fourth after opting against a soft-tyre run, a decision he explained was driven by the threat of rain. “I wanted to do a long run in case there was some rain coming in,” the 29-year-old said after the session. He acknowledged the day had been challenging, citing high track temperatures and significant tyre degradation. “The track is really hot, a lot of degradation, so a lot of things to figure out but it’s been positive,” he said.

Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache elaborated on the tyre strategy, saying the team prioritised gathering medium-compound data they lacked heading into the weekend. “The forecast said the rain will come, then we didn’t want to compromise the long run,” Wache said. “We favoured that, and after it was too late to run the soft.”

Wache also offered a candid assessment of the team’s broader expectations, noting Red Bull had not entered the weekend with high confidence. “We were not very optimistic, to be honest, starting the weekend,” he said, adding that the upgraded package introduced in Baku appeared to be performing well across different corner types. “It looks working better than the previous package. Relative performance is difficult to judge here, but we were surprisingly happy with where we were today.”

On the competitive picture, Wache noted that Mercedes and McLaren also showed strong long-run pace. Rain remains a factor throughout the weekend, and Wache acknowledged the team has limited wet-weather data with the current car. “The first time we ran in the rain was in Barcelona,” he said. “The car evolved a lot. We don’t know how the car will behave around this condition.”

Lindblad faces a grid penalty after Racing Bulls confirmed he will take on a fifth power unit this weekend. Mercedes ran an upgraded package and a special livery in tribute to title partner PETRONAS.