Q2: The nerves are beginning to show for Antonelli, whose first sector isn’t the best. He takes extra care on turn 6 this time. He responds well and comes in at P2, 0.263s behind Verstappen, no doubt breathing a sigh of relief.
Q2: Toto Wolff wears a stern look in the pit lane. Look closely and you’ll see a couple of beads of sweat running down his forehead – but that could just be the humidity. Antonelli is the only one out on track with four minutes to go.
Q2: Antonelli comes into a frantic Mercedes garage for some new soft tyres. Verstappen still sits top of the standings by 0.274s ahead of Leclerc. None of the other big guns look in trouble.
Q2: Antonelli’s time is wiped for exceeding track limits on turn 6, so the pressure is on. He might have to use another set of softs to make the top 10 now. “Wait, what?!” Antonelli responds on the radio.
Q2: Verstappen improves on his Q1 time by almost a second with a scorching 1:35.696, with Antonelli almost four-tenths back. Leclerc and Hamilton again slot in behind the Red Bull, this time on soft tyres.
Q2: Verstappen has been shown a black and white flag for driving too slowly – I got a major for that in my driving test, so I sympathise. Unlike me, he’s deliberately trying to keep his tyres cool on the 58C track.
Q2 is under way: Antonelli and Russell follow Hadjar out.
Q1 standings
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:36.477
2. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
5. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
6. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
7. Lando Norris (McLaren)
8. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
9. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
10. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
—
Out: Nico Hulkenberg (Audi), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Alex Albon (Williams), Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac), Sergio Perez (Cadillac)
Both Aston Martins through to Q2
It’s been a good week for Fernando Alonso, who signed a one-year contract extension at the start of it and today reaches Q2 for the second time this season. His teammate Lance Stroll progresses as well. Gabriel Bortoleto saved his skin with a fine lap to move into the top 10.
Q1: Stroll and Bearman lift themselves out of the elimination places after their final laps. The two Audis have work to do.
Q1: Bortoleto, Sainz and Hulkenberg are in the danger zone as the cars head back out for the final few minutes of the session. The Audis are the only ones on medium tyres.
Q1: Bearman locks up and looks in trouble in a bottom six that includes Ocon, Albon annd Stroll plus the two Cadillacs. Alonso is up in 12th.
Q1: Hamilton and Leclerc slot in behind Verstappen after their first hot laps on medium tyres. Piastri and Norris make it comfortably into the top 10 as Antonelli and Russell returns to the pits.
Q1: Verstappen lays down an early marker by going half a second faster than Antonelli on 1:36.477. Hadjar goes faster than the two Mercedes too.
Q1: Mercedes and Red Bull send their drivers out before a long, old queue resembling a McDonald’s drive-thru forms in the pit lane.
Q1: Just Haas out there at the moment. Bearman follows Ocon round on their first hot laps.
Qualifying starts
Q1 is under way. It’s hot (33C air, 58C track), it’s humid, the risk of rain is 10%. Esteban Ocon is out first.
Q1 is not far away – here’s a reminder of how the top of the overall standings looks with eight races to go.
1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 302pts
2. George Russell (Mercedes) 236
3. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 199
4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 186
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 179
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 163
Lewis Hamilton has come out in support of Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur in Malaysia this week after speculation that Christian Horner could replace him as team principal.
“People can continue with the negative narrative but inside, everyone is working really hard,” Hamilton said on Thursday. “Fred is the guy to lead us, he’s doing a fantastic job.
“If you look at the history, how many people they’ve swapped out in that role and I feel like it’s in a better place than it’s been before, but ultimately, it’s not a one man situation. It’s lots and lots of people coming together and if you want to point fingers, point them somewhere else.”
Ferrari have been forced to issue a statement saying they have “full confidence” in Vasseur, who then spoke to the media in Malaysia.
“When you see the noise and all the rumours in the press all the week, I think as a team we need to work in serenity. And it was absolutely not the case,” Vasseur said.
“And I think the statement, it was mandatory to do something, or it could have been the same this weekend. But honestly, the big issue that we have today is to put stability, put serenity into the team, the focus that we need to have – and not to have this kind of question all day.”
After Russell’s win in Azerbaijan, Giles Richards looks at the prospect of a reignited title race with Mercedes teammate Antonelli in his preview of this weekend …
Kimi Antontelli was fastest in third practice, posting a time of 1:36.302. That was followed by the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen (+0.278) and Isack Hadjar (+0.558). George Russell was six-tenths back and was followed by the Ferrari and McLaren pairs.
It is a marked improvement from Mercedes after yesterday’s second session, when Russell and Antonelli were 7th and 8th. This is the first time both have driven at Sepang.
“It’s probably been one of our toughest Fridays of the season so far,” said the Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord. “The competitive picture looks a lot more like it did, say, in somewhere like Hungary than maybe last weekend in Baku.”
It is warm at Sepang – around 32C this afternoon with high humidity, with track temperatures heading north of 50C and up towards 60C. Unlike next weekend’s Singapore GP, qualifying and the race in Malaysia will take place during the day. Track temperatures will have more of an impact on tyres tomorrow.
I’d be scrambling for the shade of a palm tree on those trackside banks of grass.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The race was postponed from its original date in April because of war in the Middle East. The fact that conflict is still ongoing means F1 returns to Malaysia this weekend for the first time since 2017. Temperatures at the Sepang circuit near Kuala Lumpur are high – the meeting has been declared a heat-hazard race – and the stakes are high too. Will Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli extend his 66-point lead at the top of the standings or can his teammate George Russell follow up on his victory in Baku last weekend?
Isack Hadjar, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto will have grid-place penalties for tomorrow’s race after bringing in more ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) than is allowed over the course of the season. In Colapinto’s case, he already had a five-place penalty after his crash into Pierre Gasly and a very miffed Lando Norris at the Azerbaijan GP. Norris called for a one-race ban for Colapinto and said some drivers “shouldn’t be there” in F1 but has since apologised for his comments.
Q1 in Malaysia gets under way at 9am BST, 4pm local time, 6pm AEST. Let’s roll.
