Kimi Antonelli was quickest from Max Verstappen in the final practice session before the Malaysian Bahrain GP to give us a battle between Mercedes and Red Bull for pole position.
Antonelli, the Drivers’ Championship leader, who holds an advantage of 66 points over his Mercedes teammate George Russell, was off the pace on Friday but was quicker than Verstappen by 0.278s.
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar was third, followed by Russell in fourth but both the drivers were almost half a second behind Antonelli, who seems to have found a good groove for the upcoming qualifying session scheduled for 9 am local time on Saturday.
They’ve upgraded their cars for the Malaysian Grand Prix more than ever since the Canadian Grand Prix in May, but Red Bull are sure to be another threat, just like the last race in Baku.
“Red Bull would have hoped to be closer to the Mercedes, but they are there or thereabouts once again,” said Sky Sports F1’s Anthony Davidson.
“They’re quickly becoming the team that’s the biggest threat to Mercedes on any given weekend.”
Leclerc of Ferrari was fastest during the second practice but lagged behind by seven-tenths in fifth position while his team mate, Lewis Hamilton was in sixth despite giving positive feedback after his last lap during the practice.
It looked like McLaren would miss out on the pole position since Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were seventh and eighth respectively, although the fact that Norris achieved the best lap in medium tires meant that they still had some room for improvement.
The tires have been one of the main topics of discussion at this weekend’s racing session considering the very rough track surface combined with the high temperatures and humidity as F1 races in Malaysia for the first time since 2017, the country taking up the mantle from Bahrain following the cancellation of the previous race due to insecurity in the Persian Gulf.
Alpine driver Franco Colapinto, whose aggregate grid penalty totals 15 grids from causing an accident in the weekend’s race in Baku and fitting a new engine in Sepang, was ninth in the last practice session while Racing Bulls’ driver Arvid Lindblad came in 10th.
The brief red flag period came when some debris became caught in the car of Oliver Bearman during the Haas race and fell in front of Turn 10 on the track.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso kept up his excellent performance at the weekend in 12th while 11th was held by Audi’s driver Gabriel Bortoleto, meaning that there are at least four different teams in the fight for the final points positions.
