What the teams said – Friday in Malaysia

Red Bull

Max Verstappen topped the opening session for Red Bull by a comfortable margin, and with Isack Hadjar in P3, the car looked strong out of the box. There were some question marks about overheating, but the same could be said for most of the field. In the second session, Hadjar impressed again with p2, while Verstappen was fourth, but crucially was the only driver not to run the soft tyre, thus setting his lap time on the mediums.

The bad news for Hadjar is it has been confirmed he will take a five-place grid drop for Sunday’s race for fitting a new ICE.

Max Verstappen - FP1: 1:37.520, P1; FP2: 1:37.785, P4

“I think we had a pretty decent start today. We began well; the track was quite tricky as it was very hot with a lot of degradation, so there are a few things, particularly with the tyres, that we will need to analyse tonight. It was warmer in FP2 and a different programme that we were running, so it is quite difficult to compare the progress between the two sessions. There are still a few things we need to understand better ahead of tomorrow, but we have had two positive sessions, which is good.”

Isack Hadjar - FP1: 1:38.303, P3; FP2: 1:37.627, P2

“A very good start to the weekend in terms of competitiveness. The track is very challenging and the conditions are tough, so I feel there's still a lot of lap time to find. I'm not completely happy with the balance of the car yet, but I'm super happy with our overall competitiveness. Tomorrow, I think Qualifying is going to be very short and sharp, with only a few laps available on the tyres, but I'm looking forward to it. I think we have a good car this weekend and that we can fight at the front.”

Pierre Wache, Technical Director

“It’s been a challenging day here at Sepang, but also a very interesting one. It has been quite demanding for the drivers and the car because of the heat, but I think we have made a good start to the weekend.

"The track surface was extremely dusty, and the grip evolved a lot throughout the day, but we made a good start in the opening session, evaluating the package we brought to Baku and focusing on different types of corners, particularly in the low speed. Overall, it seems to be working better than what we brought last weekend.

"In the second session, we had expected rain but, when that didn’t appear, we prioritised the long run on the Medium tyre, as gaining data on tyre behaviour and degradation will be the most important thing for the rest of the weekend. In the end, that meant we ran out of time for Max to run the Soft, but Isack had the opportunity, and that was valuable. Isack had a few issues in the session with balance, but we will do our best to iron those out overnight. After that, in terms of relative performance, it is very difficult to judge, but so far, we are happy with where we are.”

Ferrari

It was a steady start for Ferrari, who had both cars in the top six in the opening session. Roll on the second session, and Charles Leclerc wound up on top of the timing sheets with an impressive flying lap on the softs. Lewis Hamilton could not quite match his team mate and wound up fifth, three tenths back as the field started to close up. Hamilton did find himself in hot water for blocking Gabriel Bortoleto at one point, the stewards opting to give him a warning for that moment.

Charles Leclerc - FP1: 1:38.367, P4; FP2: 1:37.528, P1

"We had a good day and learned a lot about this track, but there’s still plenty of work ahead of us until Sunday. Our performance was good, however, we mustn’t underestimate our competitors as I think they have more to show tomorrow. The field is tight, the track was quite dirty and slippery today, and I expect to see quite a significant evolution between today and qualifying. Degradation is going to be the main talking point of the weekend. Even a small difference in how you take some of the corners can make a huge difference in terms of degradation, so it should make for an interesting race."

Lewis Hamilton - FP1: 1:38.590, P6; FP2: 1:37.833, P5

"It was a challenging day overall, with very little grip available on track. Finding the right balance wasn’t easy but that appeared to be a common theme across the field. Throughout the sessions we explored a couple of different set up directions, and now the focus is on understanding the data and identifying the right compromise. We don’t seem too far off the pace but we know there’s still work to do to put the car in a better place for tomorrow."

Mercedes

George Russell started his weekend in Malaysia well, looking strong in the opening session. He finished second behind Verstappen, but while his one-lap pace was quick, Russell was concerned about tyre wear in his Mercedes. As for Kimi Antonelli, he was a little bit off the pace as his weekend began in slightly more circumspect fashion. Both made a mistake through the final corner on their one flying lap on the softs in FP2, and thus did not set fully representative lap times. But if they can nail that tricky final corner, they look right in the mix here.

Kimi Antonelli - FP1: 1:38.580, P5; FP2: 1:38.060, P8

"We have had a decent first day on track here in Malaysia. The PETRONAS Sepang International Circuit is incredible to drive! It is fast and flowing so it’s super cool. We were able to complete lots of running across both sessions and worked through a full programme too. We gathered plenty of data, both useful for understanding the new update we’ve brought here and for helping us make improvements over the rest of the weekend here in Malaysia.

"We’ve still got a lot of work to do though. The Red Bulls look the fastest on both the single lap and the long run, with McLaren and Ferrari also competitive on higher fuel in particular. The track was quite low grip today and it is likely that it will improve into Saturday and Sunday. We will work hard tonight to find improvements overnight and do our best come qualifying tomorrow afternoon."

George Russell - FP1: 1:37.903, P2; FP2: 1:38.020, P7

"It was a really cool experience to get out on track for the first time here at the PETRONAS Sepang International Circuit. I’ve never driven here before and it’s great to do so given how iconic this place is. The support we’ve had here as a team is also amazing so thanks for all the fans for coming out today and over the weekend.

"With these warm conditions, combined with the aggressive tarmac and the characteristics of the circuit, the tyre degradation throughout practice was high. That was as we expected coming into the weekend but with the amount of overheating on the tyres, it slightly neutralises the performance of any extra downforce we’ve added with our update. The cars are operating in quite a different window to what we usually do, and I don’t think we quite got ours into the place that we needed today. We will look to get on top of that overnight and hopefully, if we do so, we can be in the fight at the front for the rest of the weekend."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"We were running the latest update package on both cars today but rather than seeing the step in lap time that we had hoped for, we have been chasing a tricky balance and a fair amount of tyre overheating. We had a few test items on the cars in FP1 that might have clouded the situation but for FP2, we had both cars in a representative configuration, and it looked like we were still trailing, especially to the Red Bull.

"We've got some good ideas for setup changes to investigate during the overnight simulator work and will continue to analyse today's data to understand why we seem to lack a bit of a pace. we're optimistic that with such a new package, these analyses will bear some fruit. The headline times are not especially representative, and we should be able to make some relatively easy progress on the single lap pace. Our concern is more the long run where we seemed unusually offset on pace and that is going to be the more challenging problem to solve."

McLaren

McLaren did not look to be chasing outright pace in FP1, instead using the session to test out different rear wing configurations on each car. Whatever they discovered, their drivers were evenly matched with just 0.017s between them. They did run a more conventional programme in FP2, with Lando Norris impressing on his flying lap to grab third, just over a tenth off the pace. Oscar Piastri was a few places further back, but it certainly looks like McLaren have the speed to compete for pole tomorrow, especially if they can dial in their set-up that tiny bit more.

Lando Norris - FP1: 1:39.293, P12; FP2: 1:37.665, P3

"An interesting first day here at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Nice to get our first laps in around this circuit, it's a fun track and an interesting challenge in terms of layout and track surface. We're struggling more than we'd like to, but we made some progress going into FP2. We've still got quite a bit more to solve if we want to be competitive, but we'll look at the data this evening and see what we can do going into FP3 and Qualifying tomorrow."

Oscar Piastri - FP1: 1:39.276, P11; FP2: 1:37.899, P6

“That’s Friday at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia done. It was a reasonable day for us. From FP1 into FP2, we made a solid amount of progress, which meant we finished the day well. Our Quali sims and longer runs felt pretty good. But we still have a lot to find overnight and a lot more to understand about racing here. The true long-run performance across the grid, including for us, is still a bit of an unknown for everyone, but it feels like we could be in the mix.

“The circuit is a cool one to drive, but we’re finding the grip and high tyre degradation are really challenging. We need to understand both better overnight to put us in a better position ahead of Qualifying. Our goal is to build on today’s positive momentum and extract as much performance as possible to ensure we’re competitive.”

Randy Singh, Senior Director, Racing

“We found the track conditions quite surprising today. It was a lot rougher and had more grip than our initial forecasts suggested. This presented a challenge in FP1, where we struggled to get the car into an optimal window. However, the team did a fantastic job, both here at the circuit and back at the factory, to analyse the data and dial the car in much better for the second session. We felt far more comfortable in FP2 and made a solid step forward.

“Tyre degradation was the main talking point, and it was consistently high all day, which will definitely be a major factor in the race. The hot, abrasive surface is really tough on the tyres. From a strategy perspective, the high degradation naturally pushes things towards a two-stop, as the numbers make a three-stop very difficult without other factors like a Safety Car. We still have plenty of work ahead of us to fine-tune everything for Qualifying, but we are focused on exploiting the full potential of our package.”

Alpine

Pierre Gasly was quick from the off, topping the midfield with a very strong lap on the soft tyre at a track he has raced at before – unlike his Racing Bulls rivals. As for the Frenchman's Alpine team mate Franco Colapinto, he was down the order but is set for grid penalties here. The first is five-places for causing that collision in Baku, and the other is 10-places after it was confirmed he has taken another ICE.

Gasly finished in the top 10 again in the second session, so it looks like an entertaining fight between the Frenchman and Liam Lawson awaits tomorrow.

Pierre Gasly - FP1: 1:38.715, P7; FP2: 1:38.588, P10

“It's good to be back in Malaysia and it always brings nice memories back for me having made my debut at this track in 2017. Nine years later, we are back, and it is safe to say not much has changed with the track still enjoyable to drive and the conditions still very hot and very humid, which brings its challenges inside the car. I would say it's been a decent Friday for us where we are in the mix inside the top ten on the timesheets. The track was generally low grip, as expected, and it's clear that it's going to be tough on the tyres. Our car is in a good place, and we just built things up throughout the day, trying different ideas on both high and low fuel, as normal for a Friday with a few tweaks and improvements to make. We're well prepared and we're looking forward to taking on the rest of the weekend.”

Franco Colapinto - FP1: 1:40.531, P19; FP2: 1:43.391, P22

“We had a specific plan for the day on my side of the garage, and executed it well, with our focus firmly on high fuel running and optimising race pace. With the grid penalties from Baku, and also changing some power unit components here, we know that we'll have to pass cars and try to make our way through the field on Sunday. So, it makes a lot of sense to get in the best possible shape for the race, as we know that even if we were to make it to Q3, we will be towards the back anyway. We tried a lot of things and different set-ups and the pace looked relatively competitive and comparable to others. It was nice coming to a new track also, which is a lot of fun to drive, even on high fuel. It will be a challenge for everyone with tyre degradation, with the heat and roughness of the asphalt. It's easy to overheat the tyres which should make the race interesting with possible different strategy options. This may also help given we'll be starting lower down the field, so an added variable could be beneficial.”

Steve Nielsen, Managing Director

“Firstly, it's been a great job by a number of people to have this event prepared and ready. Personally, alongside many in the sport, I thoroughly enjoy being in Malaysia and racing at this amazing track. We ran very different programmes with both drivers today and, in the end, we are satisfied with the work we have been able to complete. Franco ran high fuel in both sessions with an eye on preparing for Sunday's race. He has taken new power unit components for this race which brings a 10-place grid penalty and adds to the 5-place penalty he received for last weekend's incident. We knew at some point we would have to take a penalty for power unit components, like some of our rivals, and we felt this track might be optimal for overtaking and allows more of an opportunity for Franco to work his way through the field, like we saw him do in Monza on his way to the points. He has done a good job today to collect data on high fuel and to help understand the tyres, which is important for Sunday. Pierre was on a more conventional Friday Practice programme and he's been, in general, happy with his day and how the car felt. The grip is particularly low here, the asphalt is also quite harsh, so it gives everyone an extra element to consider, not to mention the weather as we all keep an eye on the sky for potential rain at any given moment, such is the nature of racing in Sepang at this time of year.”

Racing Bulls

Arvid Lindblad is set for a back of the grid start this weekend after taking on a raft of new power unit components, so he ran two sets of softs in FP1 with his programme set to look a little different to usual. Liam Lawson went for the more common medium – soft programme, and both were quick, finishing in the top 10. The Kiwi racer was in the top 10 again in FP2, while Lindblad fell back slightly but had an entertaining fight with Bortoleto, those two having a little race to see how easy overtaking is here.

Arvid Lindblad - FP1: 1:39.197, P9; FP2: 1:38.678, P11

"We’ve had a good couple of practice sessions today. This track is quite different to the others we’ve been to recently, although funnily enough, it’s actually quite similar to Bahrain. Looking ahead to tomorrow, the pressure is off a little bit, which means I can go out there and have a bit of fun. So far, I’m really enjoying this track because there are plenty of opportunities around here, and the rain can be very unpredictable. Tyre degradation will also be a big talking point, so we’ll see what happens as there’s likely to be a mixture of strategies as all the teams continue to collect data.”

Liam Lawson - FP1: 1:39.106, P8; FP2: 1:38.496, P9

"It's been a fairly positive day here at the Bahrain GP. The track is fun to drive but very hard on tyres, particularly given the fact it hasn't been resurfaced in a few years. It's also extremely hot here in Malaysia, which is physically tough. However, our training and preparation should put us in a strong position ahead of Qualifying tomorrow, where tyre management will be key."

Alan Permane, Team Principal

"First of all, it’s good to be back in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur is a great city and the circuit will produce an exciting weekend, I’m sure. It’s been a positive day for us today, we’re happy with the performance of both cars and feel we made a step up in between the sessions. The track is a lot smoother than we anticipated, so we made some set-up changes ahead of FP2 to make the most of those conditions. Arvid’s engine change was something we knew we would need to do in the next few races, and we felt this was the most strategic place to do it. With the tyre deg being quite high, there's certainly some overtaking possibilities to be had, so we feel like we've made the right decision. It will certainly be a challenge for him to fight his way through the pack and into the points from the back, but it’s not impossible.”

Audi

Both Audi drivers had moments in FP1, straddling the kerbs and getting it all a bit wrong. But as the grip improved, they were able to extract lap time and Nico Hulkenberg even finished the session in the top 10. The German fell back slightly in FP2, while Gabriel Bortoleto had a couple more moments. First much to his frustration, the Brazilian had to abort a flying run after coming up behind Hamilton who was on the racing line. Then he got on the kerbs after trying a move on Lindblad, before following his rival through a number of corners as he eventually lined up an overtake through Turn 3.

But Bortoleto stopped out on track late on with an apparent gearbox issue, not the ideal way for his Friday to end.

Nico Hulkenberg - FP1: 1:39.211, P10; FP2: 1:39.109, P13

"Coming back to Sepang after so many years meant there was plenty to learn again, and the heat definitely added another challenge. We worked through the programme and gathered a lot of information, but there are still a few areas we need to understand a bit better. We'll go through everything overnight and see where we can find a bit more grip and balance."

Gabriel Bortoleto - FP1: 1:39.548, P13; FP2: 1:39.051, P12

“It was an interesting day, and thankfully the issue we had at the end of FP2 didn’t cost us time. We had a few items to test going from FP1 to FP2, and, overall, we can be quite satisfied with our work. There are still some areas where we can improve, so we’ll work through the data tonight and try to make a few steps forward for tomorrow. But overall, it was a good day and a positive start to the weekend.”

Haas

Esteban Ocon pipped his team mate in the opening session but had one hairy moment fighting with Sainz towards the end of the session. The Frenchman attempted to overtake, but ran wide over the kerbs as he got on the dusty part of the track, just managing to avoid the grass. He was again the quicker of the two Haas drivers in FP2, seemingly having the edge on Ollie Bearman here. But Haas need to find a few tenths if they want to battle towards the front of the midfield.

Esteban Ocon – FP1: 1:40.158, P15; FP2: 1:39.361, P14

“It was a positive day. First of all, it’s an amazing track to drive again. I remembered it back then as awesome, but driving it again is pure joy every lap. I had fun today, it’s been positive, and we improved the car from FP1 to FP2. Although we still have work to do tonight, we look healthy on the car-side, and it’s performing as it should, so it’s been positive and we need to keep going like that.”

Oliver Bearman - FP1: 1:40.311, P16; FP2: 1:39.706, P16

“It’s been a tough day for us, to be honest. We looked a bit less competitive than what we were probably expecting on low-fuel. On high-fuel, it looks a bit better, but in general, it’s been a tough day for us. On my side, I’ve been learning the track as well and I feel like I’ve made progress, but in FP2, I felt a bit of a lack in confidence, which adds up to a lot of lap time around here. I’m confident we can do a better job tomorrow.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“It was a bit of a tricky Friday. On Esteban’s side of the garage it was pretty clean, he did a good job. Of course, we’ve got things to improve but it was a clean pair of sessions. The same cannot be said on Ollie’s side of the garage, where I think we’ve still got this issue with parts, where putting a certain part or a different part doesn’t necessarily behave exactly the same. We had very different feedback across the garage in FP1, and Ollie was much happier in FP1 compared to FP2, and that wasn’t down to track conditions. We really have to dive into this one – we have some ideas, but tonight we need to solve it, because we could then get to the limit of this package and fight in Q2. If we don’t do that, we’ll be out in Q1, so it’s critical that we find out what’s going on with Ollie’s car.”

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso is one of three drivers in the field who knows what it takes to win here, having done so three times previously. He started well in the opening session with a P14 finish, and was only one place lower in the second session. That bodes well after a tricky time of it in Baku, but the Spaniard did lock-up at one point, with conditions still testing everyone. In the other Aston Martin, Lance Stroll was a few places further back, so might want to analyse his team mate’s data tonight to see where he can find some time.

Fernando Alonso - FP1: 1:39.683, P14; FP2: 1:39.478, P15
Lance Stroll - FP1: 1:40.413, P18; FP2: 1:40.150, P18

Fernando Alonso said:

"We haven't had time to analyse anything in depth as we have just got out of the car.

"We do need to work on finding more grip and optimising the setup of the car for the rest of the weekend. There is a lot of tyre degradation with extreme temperatures and a rough tarmac."

Pedro de la Rosa, Team Ambassador said:

"Coming back to Malaysia after such a long time, there were many unknowns, but we got two decent sessions in today and managed to complete our Friday programme.

"Sepang is obviously a very different track to last weekend and we came here expecting the track characteristics to suit our package a bit more than Baku so hopefully we can show some more competitiveness here.

"Nevertheless, it’s only Friday and we still have work to do, especially with the car balance on Lance’s side.

"Fernando seemed okay with the car balance today. He mainly reported issues with low grip of the tarmac but that’s the same issue for everyone else so we just have to adapt to that. But it will be challenging for the drivers and it also means it’s easy to make mistakes."

Williams

Williams are still assessing their upgrade package that went onto the car in Baku. As such, FP1 was about data gathering, with both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz winding up a little down the order. They remained off the pace in FP2, but it remains to be seen whether they were running a different programme and not chasing pure performance yet. One thing was for sure, Albon was not happy with the set-up of his car, complaining about his deployment and rear stability amongst other things.

Alex Albon - FP1: 1:40.321, P17; FP2: 1:40.221, P20

“This is such a unique track and it's really physical to drive. The car doesn't feel great yet, so we've got a lot of work to do overnight. We made some changes ahead of FP2 to improve our low speed, but we lost a bit of the medium and high speed, which had actually felt better than expected. Hopefully we get some rain or something unpredictable this weekend that we can take advantage of."

Carlos Sainz - FP1: 1:40.605, P20; FP2: 1:39.930, P17

“Very difficult Friday for us. Unfortunately, we see that on this track we are back to performing at the level that we were, towards the end of the grid, unless we find something extraordinary going into the weekend. We did some setup changes that helped in FP2, but we continue to struggle at high speed, long corners which also affects our degradation on such a rough tarmac. We’ll keep working on solutions for tomorrow and Sunday."

Paul Williams - Chief Engineer, Trackside Performance

“Coming into this weekend, we knew it was going to be a challenge and was going to stetch the capabilities of the upgraded package, but we’ve had two clean sessions to gather data and we’re already finding some useful data points for us to dig into further. We knew that Baku was a stronger circuit for us, so it’s important that we can test out the package and the known limitations of the car around a circuit that exposes these weaknesses, ensuring we’re isolating these characteristics and not carrying them into next year.

"The high tyre degradation from the rough track surface and high track temperature will dominate the race. It is also important to achieve a balance front and rear tyre preparation on low fuel. We’ll review the data tonight to prepare heading into FP3 and qualifying tomorrow."

Pirelli

Simone Berra, Pirelli Chief Engineer

"Track conditions played a decisive role in tyre behaviour throughout this opening day at Sepang. From the outset, grip levels were low due to dust on the surface and a particularly abrasive track that requires a significant amount of rubbering-in before it can deliver its full potential.

"This had a clear impact on track evolution and lap times, to the extent that Friday’s fastest lap remained virtually unchanged between FP1 and FP2. The benchmark time was more than four seconds slower than the qualifying simulation reference, a mark that the cars may struggle to approach tomorrow.

"The sessions were also characterised by high thermal degradation, generated by tyre sliding and the nature of the track surface, with a significant impact particularly during the long runs.

"The absence of the forecast rain during FP2 allowed teams to complete a number of race simulations, enabling us to gather substantial data on the C3 and C4 compounds, which displayed very similar levels of performance in terms of both pace and degradation.

"At times, the Soft proved more consistent than the Medium because its higher level of grip helps limit sliding and, consequently, heat generation. The performance delta between the two compounds is around half a second, in line with expectations. The Hard remains an unknown quantity, however, as teams chose not to use it and instead preserve their available sets for the race.

"With degradation levels similar to those seen today, performance drop-off is between two and three tenths of a second per lap. As a result, Sunday’s race could be shaped by two or more pit stops, which was precisely the outcome we hoped to encourage through the compound selection for this event. Before defining a more precise scenario, however, it will be necessary to carry out a further analysis of the data collected throughout the day."