{"id":2100,"date":"2026-10-02T05:58:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T05:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/?p=2100"},"modified":"2026-10-02T05:58:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T05:58:52","slug":"f1-bahrain-gp-in-malaysia-2026-max-verstappen-sets-the-pace-in-fp1-at-sepang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/f1-bahrain-gp-in-malaysia-2026-max-verstappen-sets-the-pace-in-fp1-at-sepang\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia 2026: Max Verstappen sets the pace in FP1 at Sepang"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Max Verstappen made the perfect start to the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend in Malaysia by setting the fastest time in the opening Formula 1 practice session at Sepang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Bull driver immediately established himself at the top of the timesheets, finishing FP1 ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell<\/a> and teammate Isack Hadjar as the teams began adapting their cars to the demanding Malaysian circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verstappen used the soft tyres throughout the session, while several of his rivals spent part of FP1 running on the medium compound. The different programmes mean the opening classification does not necessarily provide a definitive picture of the competitive order, but Red Bull nevertheless made an encouraging start with both cars inside the top three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell second as Hadjar completes the top three<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

George Russell emerged as Verstappen’s closest challenger, with the Mercedes driver finishing 0.383 seconds<\/strong> behind the Red Bull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mercedes also used the opening session to begin evaluating its latest updates, collecting important data in the hot and demanding conditions at Sepang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hadjar also enjoyed a strong start to the weekend. The Frenchman briefly moved to the top of the standings during the session before eventually dropping to third as the lap times improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He finished just 0.400s behind Verstappen<\/strong>, giving Red Bull two cars inside the top three at the end of FP1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leclerc fourth for Ferrari, Antonelli fifth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Charles Leclerc led Ferrari’s challenge by setting the fourth-fastest time. The Monegasque remained within a second of Verstappen, finishing 0.847s<\/strong> away from the benchmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kimi Antonelli completed the top five with Mercedes as he continued to build his experience around the Sepang International Circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, finished sixth in the second Ferrari, ahead of Pierre Gasly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early results therefore provided Ferrari and Mercedes with encouraging positions inside the top six, although the true competitive picture is expected to become clearer as the weekend progresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLaren outside the top 10<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad placed their Racing Bulls eighth and ninth respectively, while Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10 for Audi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLaren endured a more difficult opening session, with both of its cars finishing outside the leading ten positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar Piastri ended FP1 in 11th place<\/strong>, immediately ahead of teammate Lando Norris in 12th<\/strong>, with both drivers more than 1.7 seconds away from Verstappen’s fastest lap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, tyre choices, fuel loads and different run plans mean McLaren’s position in the opening session should not necessarily be considered representative of its ultimate pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alonso 14th as Cadillac finishes at the back<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fernando Alonso completed FP1 in 14th position for Aston Martin, ending the session 2.163 seconds<\/strong> behind Verstappen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman followed further down the order for Haas, finishing 15th and 16th respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cadillac occupied the bottom positions on the timesheets, with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez both ending the session more than three seconds away from the leading Red Bull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening practice session therefore gives Verstappen and Red Bull the first benchmark of the weekend at Sepang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, with track conditions continuing to evolve and teams running different programmes during FP1, the competitive order could change considerably during the remaining practice sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Malaysian heat will also play a significant role throughout the weekend, making tyre management and race preparation particularly important as teams turn their attention towards qualifying and the Grand Prix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen made the perfect start to the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend in Malaysia by setting the fastest time in the opening Formula 1 practice session at Sepang. The Red Bull driver immediately established himself at the top of the timesheets, finishing FP1 ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and teammate Isack Hadjar as the teams […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[136,97,131,133,91,94,98,132,129,84,135,76,134,137,130],"class_list":["post-2100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-bahrain-grand-prix-2026","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-f1-bahrain-gp-malaysia-2026","tag-ferrari-f1","tag-george-russell","tag-isack-hadjar","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-malaysia-formula-1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mclaren-f1","tag-mercedes-f1","tag-red-bull-f1","tag-sepang-formula-1","tag-sepang-fp1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2102,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100\/revisions\/2102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}