Verstappen leads Russell in Bahrain FP1 in Malaysia

Max Verstappen topped the opening practice session at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia ahead of George Russell.

The first F1 session at the circuit in nine years was a voyage of discovery, with the dusty circuit offering far less grip than anticipated in sweltering hot and humid conditions that saw the track temperature spike at 135 degrees F.

Most drivers set off on medium tires to begin the acclimatization process, but Verstappen broke with that trend, with Red Bull Racing having the Dutchman burn through two sets of soft tires for the session.

The softs are unlikely to see much action in the race at the highly abrasive track, but Verstappen used the softest compound to set the first benchmark of the weekend at 1m37.520s, including with a purple sector in the final split.

Russell briefly rotated into top spot when he switched to softs for a single four-lap run, but Verstappen’s reply with his second set of softs put him ahead by 0.383s

Russell, winner last week in Baku, used his upgraded Mercedes to go purple in the middle sector, comprising most of the track’s fastest corners, though he appeared to suffer unexpectedly severe degradation on his long run with the medium tire.

Isack Hadjar was third, 0.783s off the pace, with most of the damage done in the final sector relative to his session-topping teammate. The Frenchman started the session with a new internal combustion engine, which will cost him five places on the grid.

Charles Leclerc was fourth, but the quickest Ferrari driver was 0.847s off the pace, unsurprisingly losing most of his time in the flat-out parts of the track.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli struggled with understeer in the low-grip conditions on his way to fifth and 1.06s off the pace, splitting Leclerc from Lewis Hamilton, who was a further 0.01s adrift.

Pierre Gasly was the quickest driver in the first split to head the midfield ahead of closely matched Racing Bulls teammates Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad — the rookie will start from the back of the grid with new engine components — while Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10 for Audi 1.691s off the pace.

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris ran with different rear wings — Piastri with its rotating flap, the so-called H-wing — but ended up separated by just 0.017s, the Australian ahead of the Briton, but McLaren was well off the pace, with the teammates both 1.8s off the pace.

Gabriel Bortoleto was 13th ahead of a mighty Fernando Alonso and Haas teammates Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman.

Alex Albon was 17th ahead of Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto, who will add a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change to his five-place grid penalty for causing a collision in Baku last weekend, while Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez propped up the order down to 22nd.

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