What happened in FP2 at F1 2026's Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari topped the second practice session at Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia with the upgraded Mercedes almost half a second adrift.
Despite a 90% chance of rain pre-session, FP2 at Sepang stayed dry and produced a wide-open session with the top four teams covered by less than half a second.
Leclerc led the way on a 1m37.528s, over six seconds slower than the FP2-topping time the last time F1 raced in Malaysia in 2017 and eight hundredths slower than Max Verstappen went in FP1.
He was 0.099s quicker than Isack Hadjar, who continued his strong return to F1, having missed three race weekends with a wrist injury.
That was despite Hadjar and team-mate Verstappen voicing multiple complaints about the balance of the Red Bull.
Hadjar said his RB22 was “bouncing like crazy” with oscillations on the brakes that made it difficult for him to commit to the entry of corners, while Verstappen said the rear end of his car was “jumping like crazy”.
Verstappen was fourth but he set his fastest time on the medium tyres, having used two sets of softs in FP1, while the top three in FP2 set their best lap times on the softs.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were third and sixth with Lewis Hamilton fifth, just over three tenths adrift of team-mate Leclerc.
Hamilton will have to go to the stewards after FP2 for allegedly impeding Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi on the entry to the Turn 9 left-hander.
Bortoleto’s car later ground to a halt on the exit of Turn 8 with three minutes to go with an apparent mechanical failure, causing a late virtual safety car.
Behind the top six, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli ended up seventh and eighth in the upgraded Mercedes.
But neither driver was able to get a clean lap in on the soft tyres as Russell ran wide at the final corner and ended up bailing for the pitlane, while Antonelli compromised his by running wide at the entry to the penultimate corner while overtaking a slower car.
So their fastest times came on the medium tyres, with them both around half a second adrift of Leclerc.
The top 10 was completed by Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Classification
1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m37.528s
2 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.099s
3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.137s
4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.257s
5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.305s
6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.371s
7 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.492s
8 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.532s
9 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.968s
10 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.060s
11 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.352s
12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.523s
13 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.581s
14 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.833s
15 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.950s
16 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.178s
17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.402s
18 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +2.622s
19 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.658s
20 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.693s
21 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.410s
22 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +5.863s
