Bahrain GP FP1: Verstappen Leads Russell in Malaysia Return

Nine years after F1 last bothered to show up, Sepang got its race back, and Max Verstappen made sure the nostalgia came with a familiar scoreline: his name at the top of the timesheet. Free Practice 1 for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, moved to Sepang because of the situation in the Middle East, ended with a 1:37.520 from the Red Bull driver, comfortably clear of George Russell's Mercedes.

A Homecoming of Sorts

Max Verstappen won the last Malaysian Grand Prix held at this circuit, back in 2017, and he scored his first-ever F1 points here too. So there is a neat symmetry to him topping the opening session of F1's return, even if an FP1 time sheet has never won anyone a trophy. Right at the start of the session he complained that the track had no grip and that his tyres felt like stone, which did not stop him banging in a 1:38.883 inside the opening 30 minutes, good enough to lead at that point before Russell, Isack Hadjar, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton all had a go at catching him. All four went quicker, until Verstappen responded with a 1:37.520.

Turning a lap that quick while grumbling about the surface is either theatre or genuine talent, and with Verstappen it is usually both. On the evidence of Sepang and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which he lost to Russell by just 0.196 seconds, Red Bull is not short of pace heading into the final stretch of the season. Whether that translates into the win he is still chasing in 2026 is an entirely different question, and FP1 on a Friday morning is not where anyone answers it.

Mercedes Brings the Spanners Out

The bigger story sits one place down the order. Mercedes arrived in Malaysia with what the team itself confirmed was a significant package of upgrades, seven changes to the car by the team's own account, with particular attention paid to the engine. Team principal Toto Wolff had flagged the update earlier in the week, and Russell wasted no time putting it to work, finishing second fastest and just 0.383 seconds off Verstappen.

His teammate had a rather messier morning of it. Kimi Antonelli, the championship leader by a distance, was running the same upgraded package but ended the session in fifth, over a second down on Verstappen and sandwiched between the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton. The suggestion is that Antonelli was working through longer runs rather than chasing a qualifying simulation. Given Antonelli's recent form, having won two of the last three races, nobody is going to read too much into a sleepy FP1, but new parts on a leading car are always worth watching through the rest of the weekend.

Red Bull's Other Half Joins the Party

It was not just Verstappen flying the Red Bull flag. Isack Hadjar slotted into third, just 0.783 seconds off the pace, continuing a run of form that has included a podium finish retained after a stewards' investigation at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Hadjar sits eighth in the drivers' standings and remains outside any serious conversation about the title, 216 points behind Antonelli with eight races still to run, but a Friday like this is exactly the kind of signal that keeps a team believing in a driver long before the numbers justify it.

Further back, Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto reportedly got through more laps than anyone in the opening 20 minutes, a bit of homework that will matter more over a long race weekend than it does on a single-lap time sheet. He ended up 13th, just ahead of Fernando Alonso, whose Friday was blessedly free of the grid penalties that turned his last race weekend into a farce.

The Rest of the Field

McLaren had a quiet morning by its own standards, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris 11th and 12th respectively, over a second and a half off Verstappen's benchmark. Franco Colapinto, still absorbing the fallout from his five-place grid penalty for this race after the Baku pile-up, was 19th, and Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the field for Cadillac, a team still searching for its first point of the year.

Bahrain's actual race weekend, oddly enough, is unfolding 5,700 kilometres from Bahrain, after the FIA moved the event to Sepang in response to instability in the Middle East. It is a strange bit of scheduling, but it does mean that "Bahrain Grand Prix" is now officially the name of a race run entirely in Malaysia, which is either a quirk of modern F1 logistics or a small joke at the sport's own expense.

What Comes Next

Free Practice 2 follows later today at 08:00 UTC, with rain reportedly possible over the session, and qualifying is scheduled for Saturday 3 October at 08:00 UTC, with the race itself on Sunday 4 October at 07:00 UTC, check the calendar for your local time. On the strength of FP1 alone, Verstappen has the early momentum and Mercedes has a fresh set of engine parts it needs to understand quickly. Neither of those things decides anything by Sunday, but both are worth watching as the weekend unfolds.

Full FP1 Classification