Charles Leclerc topped the Bahrain Grand Prix practice with a 1:37.528 on the Sepang circuit, holding a 0.099‑second advantage over Isack Hadjar and leaving Lando Norris three places behind.
Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT images via Getty Images
FP2 set the weekend’s trajectory
The second practice at the Malaysian venue, a first return since 2017, saw Leclerc break the lap record for Ferrari’s SF‑26, while Max Verstappen maintained his pace on a medium tyre with a 1:37.785. George Russell stayed close in second, and Sebastian Vettel’s pushes on softer rubber lifted Pierre‑Gilles Gasly to sixth, 0.892 seconds slower than Verstappen.
Hadjar cut a fresh 1:37.627, aligning behind Leclerc and Norris, who responded with a 1:37.665 after tweaking his McLaren to mirror Oscar Piastri’s handling. While Smith’s Verstappen tapered on medium tyres, his teammate Hadjar switched to a softer compound to finish third after a superior 1:37.528 lap.
Rain forecast misled the field
Initial meteorology predicted a 70% probability for showers, climbing to 90% despite the early dry run. This uncertainty prompted 22 drivers to vacate the track early, leading teams to seize the chance for representative soft‑tyre trials at a stage where they usually wait for the session’s final laps.
With the track’s humidity rising, teams staked aggressive soft‑tire runs within the first 20 minutes, forcing Leclerc and the front‑row trio to claw out gaps. Meanwhile, Mercedes’ George Russell and Max Verstappen struggled to maintain the pace during their final sector laps, marking a rare slip for the Red Bull duo.
Session highlights and unforeseen stops
Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto traded wheel‑to‑wheel battles through all three sectors, culminating in an Audi overtake near Turn 1. Lawson edged ahead on the following lap, eclipsed only by Bortoleto’s unexpected virtual safety‑car after his R‑26 stalled at Turn 6, shutting down any late‑session improvement hopes.
During the closing moments, Yamaha’s lengthened pit stops and the tyre‑depleted simulations froze the lap‑time calendar, leaving top‑three standings unchanged. The race‑simulation pace also left fourth to Verstappen’s 1:37.857, followed by Lewis Hamilton’s 1:37.833, solidifying the top five finishers.
Piastri rebounded from an off‑grid tenth-place finish in FP1, jumping to sixth in FP2 with a 0.371‑second margin behind Leclerc. Both Russell and Kimi Antonelli slipped respectively to seventh and eighth after their soft‑tire attempts, ruling out early-season Friday upgrades.
Lawson settled for a solid ninth place, closing a 1:38.496 lap comfortably, while Gasly’s challenges extended to the tenth spot at 1:38.588, giving the session a balanced spread across the various teams.
"