Formula One 2026: Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia qualifying – dwell
Key occasions
Q2: Antonelli comes right into a frantic Mercedes storage for some new smooth tyres. Verstappen nonetheless sits prime of the standings by 0.274s forward of Leclerc. None of the opposite massive weapons look in hassle.
Q2: Antonelli’s time is wiped for exceeding observe limits on flip 6, so the stress is on. He may need to make use of one other set of softs to make the highest 10 now. “Wait, what?!” Antonelli responds on the radio.
Q2: Verstappen improves on his Q1 time by nearly a second with a scorching 1:35.696, with Antonelli nearly four-tenths again. Leclerc and Hamilton once more slot in behind the Red Bull, this time on smooth tyres.
Q2: Verstappen has been proven a black and white flag for driving too slowly – I obtained a significant for that in my driving check, so I sympathise. Unlike me, he’s intentionally making an attempt to maintain his tyres cool on the 58C observe.
Q2 is beneath approach: Antonelli and Russell comply with Hadjar out.
Q1 standings
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:36.477
2. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
5. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
6. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
7. Lando Norris (McLaren)
8. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
9. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
10. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
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Out: Nico Hulkenberg (Audi), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Alex Albon (Williams), Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac), Sergio Perez (Cadillac)
Both Aston Martins by way of to Q2
It’s been a superb week for Fernando Alonso, who signed a one-year contract extension in the beginning of it and at the moment reaches Q2 for the second time this season. His teammate Lance Stroll progresses as nicely. Gabriel Bortoleto saved his pores and skin with a superb lap to maneuver into the highest 10.
Q1: Stroll and Bearman elevate themselves out of the elimination locations after their closing laps. The two Audis have work to do.
Q1: Bortoleto, Sainz and Hulkenberg are within the hazard zone because the vehicles head again out for the ultimate jiffy of the session. The Audis are the one ones on medium tyres.
Q1: Bearman locks up and appears in hassle in a backside six that features Ocon, Albon annd Stroll plus the 2 Cadillacs. Alonso is up in twelfth.
Q1: Hamilton and Leclerc slot in behind Verstappen after their first sizzling laps on medium tyres. Piastri and Norris make it comfortably into the highest 10 as Antonelli and Russell returns to the pits.
Q1: Verstappen lays down an early marker by going half a second sooner than Antonelli on 1:36.477. Hadjar goes sooner than the 2 Mercedes too.
Q1: Mercedes and Red Bull ship their drivers out earlier than a protracted, outdated queue resembling a McDonald’s drive-thru varieties within the pit lane.
Q1: Just Haas on the market in the intervening time. Bearman follows Ocon spherical on their first sizzling laps.
Qualifying begins
Q1 is beneath approach. It’s sizzling (33C air, 58C observe), it’s humid, the chance of rain is 10%. Esteban Ocon is out first.
Q1 will not be far-off – right here’s a reminder of how the highest of the general standings appears with eight races to go.
1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 302pts
2. George Russell (Mercedes) 236
3. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 199
4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 186
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 179
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 163
Lewis Hamilton has come out in help of Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur in Malaysia this week after hypothesis that Christian Horner might substitute him as crew principal.
“People can proceed with the detrimental narrative however inside, everyone seems to be working actually onerous,” Hamilton stated on Thursday. “Fred is the man to guide us, he’s doing a implausible job.
“If you take a look at the historical past, how many individuals they’ve swapped out in that function and I really feel prefer it’s in a greater place than it’s been earlier than, however in the end, it’s not a one man state of affairs. It’s heaps and many individuals coming collectively and if you wish to level fingers, level them some other place.”
Ferrari have been compelled to situation an announcement saying they’ve “full confidence” in Vasseur, who then spoke to the media in Malaysia.
“When you see the noise and all of the rumours within the press all of the week, I believe as a crew we have to work in serenity. And it was completely not the case,” Vasseur stated.
“And I believe the assertion, it was obligatory to do one thing, or it might have been the identical this weekend. But actually, the massive situation that we now have at the moment is to place stability, put serenity into the crew, the main target that we have to have – and to not have this sort of query all day.”
After Russell’s win in Azerbaijan, Giles Richards appears on the prospect of a reignited title race with Mercedes teammate Antonelli in his preview of this weekend …
The prospect of a comeback from Russell, making use of stress to his 20-year-old teammate who’s in solely his second season in F1, may put Mercedes too beneath stress in managing them. A strategy of which they’re all too conscious, because the final time F1 was in Malaysia it was the primary yr after the Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg relationship at Mercedes had come aside with rancour. Nonetheless the crew insist they may proceed to permit their present drivers to race each other.
Kimi Antontelli was quickest in third observe, posting a time of 1:36.302. That was adopted by the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen (+0.278) and Isack Hadjar (+0.558). George Russell was six-tenths again and was adopted by the Ferrari and McLaren pairs.
It is a marked enchancment from Mercedes after yesterday’s second session, when Russell and Antonelli had been seventh and eighth. This is the primary time each have pushed at Sepang.
“It’s most likely been one in all our hardest Fridays of the season to date,” stated the Mercedes deputy crew principal Bradley Lord. “The aggressive image appears much more prefer it did, say, in someplace like Hungary than perhaps final weekend in Baku.”
It is heat at Sepang – round 32C this afternoon with excessive humidity, with observe temperatures heading north of 50C and up in the direction of 60C. Unlike subsequent weekend’s Singapore GP, qualifying and the race in Malaysia will happen in the course of the day. Track temperatures may have extra of an impression on tyres tomorrow.
I’d be scrambling for the shade of a palm tree on these trackside banks of grass.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to dwell protection of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The race was postponed from its unique date in April due to struggle within the Middle East. The incontrovertible fact that confrontation remains to be ongoing means F1 returns to Malaysia this weekend for the primary time since 2017. Temperatures on the Sepang circuit close to Kuala Lumpur are excessive – the assembly has been declared a heat-hazard race – and the stakes are excessive too. Will Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli lengthen his 66-point lead on the prime of the standings or can his teammate George Russell comply with up on his victory in Baku final weekend?
Isack Hadjar, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto may have grid-place penalties for tomorrow’s race after bringing in additional ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) than is allowed over the course of the season. In Colapinto’s case, he already had a five-place penalty after his crash into Pierre Gasly and a really miffed Lando Norris on the Azerbaijan GP. Norris referred to as for a one-race ban for Colapinto and stated some drivers “shouldn’t be there” in F1 however has since apologised for his feedback.
Q1 in Malaysia will get beneath approach at 9am BST, 4pm native time, 6pm AEST. Let’s roll.
