Charles Leclerc posted the fastest time in second practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang, while Red Bull showed strong performance during Friday’s sessions.
Leclerc edged Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar by 0.099 seconds, with McLaren’s Lando Norris just 0.137 seconds behind in a tightly contested session. The gap indicates that at least four teams could be in contention for pole position when qualifying takes place on Saturday at 9 a.m., broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event.
Max Verstappen finished fourth, merely 0.257 seconds slower on the medium tyres, and notably opted not to run a qualifying simulation on the soft compounds.
Having led the first practice session and typically being faster than Hadjar, Verstappen likely possessed the pace to top the second session as well. However, he prioritised long‑run pace to mitigate the significant tyre degradation observed around the hot, high‑speed Sepang International Circuit.
Red Bull’s race‑simulation runs were robust on Friday, suggesting Verstappen could be in strong contention for his first pole position of the 2026 campaign – and perhaps his first win of the season.
Lewis Hamilton placed around three‑tenths of a second behind his teammate in fifth, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Hamilton is currently under investigation for allegedly obstructing Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto as the latter veered onto the racing line on a slow lap approaching Turn Nine.
Mercedes, meanwhile, experienced one of their most challenging Fridays of the season.
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli recorded their quickest laps on the medium tyres after disappointing efforts on the soft compounds. However, both struggled to produce fast sector times and made errors in the final sector.
<img class="sdc-article-image__item" loading="lazy" intrinsicsize="768x432" src="https://e0.365dm.com/26/10/768x432/skysports-f1-max-verstappen_7366353.jpg?20261002094328" srcset="https://e0.365dm.com/26/10/384x216/skysports-f1-max-verstappen_7366353.jpg?20261002094328 380w, https://e0.365dm.com/26/10/768x432/skysports-f1-max-verstappen_7366353.jpg?20261002094328 760w, https://e0.365dm.com/26/10/1600x900/skysports-f1-max-verstappen_7366353.jpg?20261002094328 1024w, https://e0.365dm.com/26/10/2048x1152/skysports-f1-max-verstappen_7366353.jpg?20261002094328 2048w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 1024px, 100vw" alt="Max Verstappen did not top second practice but had an impressive day (Red Bull Content Pool)" data-testid="article-image-image"/>
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<span class="u-hide-visually">Image:</span>
<span class="ui-media-caption__caption-text" data-testid="article-image-caption-text">Max Verstappen did not top second practice but had an impressive day (Red Bull Content Pool)
</span>
</figcaption>Sky Sports F1’s live schedule Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Saturday October 3
5.15am: Bahrain GP Practice Three (session starts at 5.30am)*
8am: Bahrain GP Qualifying build-up*
9am: BAHRAIN GP QUALIFYING*
Sunday October 4
6.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Bahrain GP build-up*
8am: THE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX*
10am: Chequered Flag: Bahrain GP reaction*
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
