Max Verstappen topped Free Practice 1 for the 2026 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, but Friday’s first session also brought complaints of high tyre degradation in the hot conditions at Sepang. The comments signal a tyre-management concern, not a measured degradation rate or a settled prediction of race strategy.
Who was fastest in FP1 at Sepang?
Verstappen set the quickest lap with a 1:37.520, 0.383 seconds ahead of George Russell. Isack Hadjar was third, 0.783 seconds behind Verstappen, according to the FIA’s 2 October 2026 report and classification.
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The session was held at the 5.5 km Sepang International Circuit in hot, humid conditions. The times are FP1 classification results; they do not, by themselves, establish comparative long-run pace.
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Verstappen said the track was “quite tricky” because it was very hot and there was “a lot of degradation.” He added that Red Bull had things to analyse, particularly about the tyres, after the session.
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Russell likewise described degradation during practice as high, citing the warm conditions, the “aggressive tarmac” and the circuit’s characteristics. The Formula 1 Friday team roundup also quoted Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin saying the team had been managing a tricky balance and “a fair amount of tyre overheating” while running an update package on both cars.
Separately, Verstappen’s official site reported that Charles Leclerc said over team radio that tyre degradation was “enormous.” That is a brief report of a radio comment, not a published measurement across the field.
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Why were tyres struggling at Sepang?
The comments point to a combination of heat, track surface and circuit demands. High temperatures can make tyre management more challenging, while the surface and the work demanded of the tyres add to the conditions drivers and teams must contend with. The reports do not isolate the contribution of each factor or provide a common degradation-rate statistic.
Tyre compounds and session plans also differed. Verstappen, Hadjar, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto began on softs, while most of the field started on mediums. Oscar Piastri reported limited grip early. Later, most drivers fitted softs for qualifying simulations; Verstappen then began a race simulation on softs. Those changes make direct comparisons between drivers’ lap times difficult.
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Does FP1 point to a two-stop race?
Not conclusively. McLaren’s Randy Singh said after Friday practice that degradation was consistently high and expected to be a major race factor. He said McLaren’s numbers pointed toward a two-stop strategy, with a three-stop approach difficult unless circumstances such as a Safety Car intervened. That was the team’s assessment at that stage of the weekend, not an official strategy decision.
The FIA’s account also describes Russell and Mercedes race engineer Marcus Dudley discussing whether Mercedes might be an outlier on degradation. Teams were still analysing the picture. Without comparable stints on the same compound and tyre age, under similar track conditions and traffic, FP1 cannot settle which team had the best race pace or what strategy will prove quickest.
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