Max Verstappen set the pace in the opening practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang on Friday, but extreme heat and heavy tyre degradation quickly emerged as major challenges for the Formula 1 field.
The Red Bull driver topped the 5.543km circuit with a time of 1 minute 37.520 seconds, finishing 0.383 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar was third, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the only other driver within one second of Verstappen’s benchmark.
“It’s early to get excited because it’s only FP1 but Max and Isack did a good job in very difficult conditions – they got into a rhythm pretty quickly,” Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies told Sky Sports F1.
“Everyone is fighting with the car because of the extreme heat so it doesn’t feel good for anyone.”
The hot conditions proved particularly difficult for the drivers, with tyre wear becoming a recurring issue towards the end of the session.
Leclerc, who last drove at Sepang in 2017 as a test driver, summed up the challenge bluntly: “The tyre degradation is insane.”
Russell also appeared to adapt quickly to the circuit, which he was driving at for the first time, although he and Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli both ran wide at Turn Four late in the session.
Championship leader Antonelli finished fifth, more than a second off Verstappen’s pace, while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was sixth in the second Ferrari.
Pierre Gasly was seventh for Alpine, followed by Racing Bulls drivers Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, with Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg completing the top 10.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished 11th while reigning champion Lando Norris was 12th.
Verstappen returns to a circuit where he won the last Malaysian Grand Prix in 2017, before the race was removed from the Formula 1 calendar.
The Sepang race is being held this weekend as the Bahrain Grand Prix was relocated from the Middle East due to the conflict in the region.
Friday’s session began under sunny skies, with dust creating hazy conditions along the start-finish straight.
Several drivers also received grid penalties after exceeding their seasonal engine component allowances. Racing Bulls confirmed that Lindblad will start from the back after taking a fifth new power unit, while Colapinto received a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his internal combustion engine allocation.
Colapinto had already received a five-place penalty for causing the first-corner crash in Baku that eliminated team-mate Gasly and McLaren’s Norris.
