Leclerc tops Bahrain FP2 as Mercedes stumbles at Sepang

Charles Leclerc topped second practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia after both Mercedes drivers failed to string together a lap amid a threat of rain that never materialized.

The risk of rain was listed as 90 percent as the session started, and a queue formed at the end of pit lane as drivers jockeyed to get in some dry running at what is a new circuit for the majority of drivers. The rain rush also brought forward the qualifying simulation runs, with most driver completing their fastest laps on softs within the first 20 minutes in a bid to avoid the forecast deluge.

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were among the first on softs, but neither could complete a representative time. Russell got to the final corner neck and neck with Leclerc’s eventually session-topping time, but he scrubbed wide at the Turn 15 hairpin, where the track is negatively cambered to fall away from the apex, so severely that he had to commit to entering pit lane, ending his lap.

Antonelli looked similarly competitive until he ran wide at Turn 14, leading onto the back straight, ruining his lap. It left Russell and Antonelli seventh and eighth respectively, the slowest of the frontrunning drivers.

With the upgraded Mercedes cars – still expected to be contenders – out of the picture, Leclerc’s best time of 1m37.528s stood as the quickest lap of the day, with the Ferrari driver fastest in the final split.

Isack Hadjar was his closest challenger, though the Frenchman set his best lap considerably later than most of the rest of the field, with Red Bull Racing correctly guessing the rain would stay away. Hadjar, who complained of “crazy” bouncing and oscillations on the brakes early in the session, was 0.099s off the pace and quickest in the twistier middle sector but lost more than 0.3s in the final split.

Lando Norris completed the top three for McLaren, lapping 0.137s off the pace with his biggest time loss coming in the middle split.

Max Verstappen never used the soft tire – he used two sets in FP1 – and instead set his best lap on the only set of mediums he used for the entire session. He was still the quickest driver in the first sector, and he ended only 0.257s off the pace in an optimistic result for Red Bull Racing.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth and 0.305s of the pace, with Oscar Piastri trailing just 0.066s further back. Hamilton will see the stewards after the race for allegedly impeding Gabriel Bortoleto, though he radioed to his team shortly afterwards that he couldn’t see out of his right-hand mirror.

The Mercedes drivers followed, with Russell’s best time, set with mediums in the opening minutes of the hour, putting him 0.492s off the pace, while Antonelli was 0.532s down on Leclerc’s best effort.

Antonelli’s long-run pace was at least competitive on the medium tire, though Russell completed a long run on the soft compound that is unlikely to make an appearance in the grand prix.

Liam Lawson pipped Pierre Gasly in the battle for best of the rest, the Racing Bulls driver 0.968s off the pace but 0.092s ahead of the medium-shod Alpine leader.

Arvid Lindblad, also on mediums, was 11th and almost 0.3s further back, ahead of Audi teammates Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg. Lindblad and Bortoleto engaged in something of a mock duel through the middle of the race, which at one point ended with the Brazilian on the grass at Turn 3. He remained on track after asking the team to check the floor for damage, but he stopped on track with 3m remaining with a technical problem he described as “not a normal one.”

“I’m scared that we broke the gearbox,” he radioed to his team as the virtual safety car was deployed, effectively ending the session.

Esteban Ocon was 14th with only the medium tire ahead of Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll down to 18th.

Valtteri Bottas was 19th for Cadillac ahead of Alex Albon, Sergio Perez and Franco Colapinto at the rear of the field.

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