Friday practice at Sepang produced three clear conclusions and one major unknown. The leading teams are extremely closely matched, tyre degradation is very high, and the two compounds that were used – Soft and Medium – behaved surprisingly similarly. The unanswered question is the Hard tyre, which nobody ran throughout either session.
Charles Leclerc ended FP2 fastest with a 1:37.528, although the quickest time of Friday remains Max Verstappen’s 1:37.520 from FP1. Just 0.257 seconds separated first from fourth in the second session, leaving the competitive order remarkably compressed ahead of the rest of the Sepang race weekend.
The most significant number, however, comes from Pirelli. With degradation estimated at between two and three tenths of a second per lap, Sunday’s race could require “two or more stops”. That assessment still comes with an important caveat: the Hard remains completely unknown and no long run exceeded 20 laps.
Hot, dusty and low-grip conditions at Sepang
FP1 began at 12:30 local time, while FP2 started at 16:00, one hour later than the scheduled race start time. Both sessions remained dry, with track temperatures ranging from 51°C to 59.5°C according to the timing data. Pirelli reported around 54°C, while McLaren measured peaks approaching 60°C.
Air temperature remained above 32°C and measured humidity ranged between 46% and 61%, considerably below the figure of more than 80% that Williams had anticipated.
The 90% chance of rain forecast for FP2 never materialised, despite the radar showing showers approaching at the start of the session. Dust proved more influential. Combined with Sepang’s very rough asphalt, which requires substantial running before the surface begins to offer its best grip, it contributed heavily to the slippery conditions. Charles Leclerc described the circuit as very slippery, while the FIA declared a Heat Hazard for the race because the forecast temperature exceeds 31°C.
The lap times reflected those conditions. Friday’s benchmark barely changed between FP1 and FP2 and, according to Pirelli, remained more than four seconds slower than the qualifying simulation. With the asphalt resurfaced in two different phases and polished at the beginning of September, and 12 of the 22 drivers experiencing Sepang for the first time in Formula 1 machinery, Friday was largely about learning.
How the teams divided their Friday programmes
In FP1, almost every team divided its programme between the Soft and Medium compounds. Only Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto ran exclusively on the Soft. Max Verstappen set Friday’s overall fastest time after completing 23 laps across two sets of Soft tyres.
The programmes diverged more clearly in FP2. Max Verstappen did not use the Soft at all and completed the session entirely on Medium tyres, including a long run of more than ten laps. Red Bull explained that it had prioritised race simulation work and ultimately ran out of time for a Soft-tyre qualifying attempt.
McLaren ran exclusively on Soft tyres, using two sets for each driver. Mercedes, meanwhile, introduced a seven-part update package and completed its FP2 push laps only on Medium tyres.
During the second half of FP2, the entire field concentrated on race pace, yet nobody used the Hard compound. The teams preserved both available sets, with McLaren explaining in its practice report that there was reluctance to use a tyre that could prove important in a multi-stop race.
Charles Leclerc leads an extremely tight FP2 classification
Charles Leclerc’s 1:37.528 put Ferrari on top in FP2, with Isack Hadjar only 0.099 seconds behind. Lando Norris followed at 0.137 seconds, Max Verstappen at 0.257, Lewis Hamilton at 0.305 and Oscar Piastri at 0.371. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, both setting their quickest laps on Medium tyres, were 0.492 and 0.532 seconds from the benchmark respectively.
The comparison is not completely representative because the drivers did not all use the same compound. Max Verstappen, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli recorded their best laps on Mediums, while the other leading runners used Softs. Applying a 0.35-second Soft-to-Medium difference derived from FP2 leaves all four leading teams within roughly a quarter of a second. However, the estimate itself has a spread of around half a second, making any firm ranking premature.
The combined ideal lap from FP1 and FP2 tells much the same story. It would place Max Verstappen at the front, with Charles Leclerc 0.113 seconds behind and George Russell 0.313 seconds back. Given such small margins, and the fact that George Russell did not complete an FP2 push lap on Soft tyres, it is still too early to establish a definitive hierarchy.
Tyre degradation emerges as the biggest Sepang concern
Pirelli chief engineer Simone Berra identified high thermal degradation as one of Friday’s most important findings. Sliding, combined with the characteristics of the asphalt, is generating significant tyre temperatures, with the effects particularly noticeable during the long runs. Pirelli’s post-FP2 statement indicated that Soft and Medium tyres produced very similar performance in both pace and degradation.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Simone Berra recalled only one other recent weekend with comparable degradation: Barcelona. He also outlined the cycle behind the problem. Sliding raises the tyre surface temperature, the higher temperature reduces grip, and that loss of grip then creates further sliding.
The performance difference between the two compounds is around half a second, broadly in line with expectations. At times, however, the Soft proved more consistent than the Medium because its additional grip reduced sliding and therefore limited heat generation. The data points in the same direction: comparing the same driver, the Medium lost an average of 0.13 seconds per lap more than the Soft in eight out of ten cases.
Across the FP1 and FP2 long runs, estimated degradation was approximately 0.34 seconds per lap of tyre age on the Medium and 0.22 seconds on the Soft. Those figures are consistent with Pirelli’s estimate of two to three tenths per lap. The full compound behaviour can also be explored through the F1 Tyre & Stint Analysis.
The degradation curve is not linear, however. In runs lasting at least nine laps, the rate of performance loss during the second half was approximately half that seen in the first half, suggesting that the curve could eventually flatten. The problem is that nobody completed more than 20 consecutive laps, so there is not yet enough evidence to know whether that trend continues.
Why the 2017 Sepang race is no longer enough as a reference
In our pre-weekend strategy analysis, the 2017 race was used as a reference, with the stint lengths achieved that year considered a difficult upper limit to reproduce. Friday’s data demonstrated just how demanding that target could be. In 2017, every driver in the top ten made only one pit stop.
The explanation lies partly in the cars themselves. Today’s Formula 1 cars weigh 768kg compared with 728kg at the time, produce approximately 30% less downforce than the 2022-2025 generation and use narrower tyres measuring 280mm at the front and 375mm at the rear. A car with those characteristics slides more, and sliding is the key driver of thermal degradation.
Even one traditional rule of thumb was reversed on Friday. We had previously noted that a harder tyre would normally be expected to cope better with heat. At Sepang, the opposite occurred between the Soft and Medium because the greater grip offered by the Soft reduced sliding. There is still no data for the Hard, so any assumption about its thermal behaviour remains just that: an assumption. This also adds an important new dimension to the pre-weekend expectations surrounding Pirelli’s Sepang compounds.
The Soft has nevertheless confirmed itself as the preferred qualifying compound. It delivers its best performance on the second lap of its life, whereas the Medium reaches its peak between laps four and eight.
What Friday’s data changes about the race strategy
Before practice, our primary strategy scenario was based around one stop, with tyre degradation identified as the key condition that could invalidate it. The threshold had been set at 0.09 seconds per lap: above that figure, a Medium-Hard one-stop strategy would need to be abandoned. Friday produced degradation of between two and three tenths per lap, meaning that condition has clearly been triggered.
The same applied to the alternatives. Starting on the Soft depended on the C4 being able to resist overheating. The Soft survived runs of up to 20 laps and at times performed better than the Medium. The remaining uncertainty is Sunday’s temperature. Forecasts suggest the track could be around 46°C, while Pirelli expects conditions closer to those experienced on Friday.
The undercut picture remains much as expected. With degradation this high, a fresh set of tyres carries substantial value. The additional question is which compound a driver fits. Williams anticipated straightforward tyre activation in qualifying, and that appears true for the Soft. The Medium, by contrast, requires between three and seven laps to reach peak performance, potentially costing time immediately after a pit stop.
Most likely strategy: two stops with a Soft start
Sunday’s race could require two or more pit stops, the type of scenario Pirelli hoped to encourage through its compound selection. Pirelli nevertheless says further analysis is required before reaching a more precise conclusion.
Our model adds another layer to that assessment. It uses the measured Soft and Medium data together with three assumptions for the untested Hard: that it will be between 0.3 and 1.0 seconds per lap slower than the Medium, suffer approximately half its degradation and require more time to warm up.
The Soft is capped at 20 laps in the model because that is the longest observed stint. Under those conditions, a Soft-Hard one-stop strategy – approximately 20 laps on the Soft followed by 36 on the Hard – works only if degradation genuinely levels off after around lap 14.
A late-stint performance loss of just 0.05 seconds per lap is enough for a two-stop strategy to beat a one-stop by around five seconds. At one tenth per lap, the advantage grows to ten seconds. A Medium-Hard one-stop remains approximately 12 to 15 seconds slower than the best one-stop alternative if the Soft retains the 0.35-second advantage observed in FP2.
The most likely scenario based on Friday’s information is therefore a two-stop race beginning on the Soft. That conclusion remains dependent on the stated assumptions surrounding the Hard. A Soft-Hard one-stop remains possible if tyre degradation flattens in the same way seen during the latter stages of the longer Friday runs.
Ferrari fast through the corners but losing on the straights
Ferrari placed both cars inside the top six in both practice sessions, with Charles Leclerc fastest in FP2. The profile of the SF-26 was relatively clear: both Ferrari cars were particularly strong through the faster sections, with Charles Leclerc quickest through the sequence from Turns 10 to 14, but they lost time on the straights.
On the back straight, Charles Leclerc reached 304km/h and Lewis Hamilton 303km/h. Esteban Ocon, Oliver Bearman, Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, all using the same power unit, reached between 319 and 333km/h. On the main straight, Charles Leclerc lost 0.46 seconds to the fastest car in that section, while Lewis Hamilton lost 0.83 seconds.
Something also changed between the two sessions. Ferrari’s peak speed on the back straight fell from around 320km/h in FP1 to approximately 303km/h in FP2. The telemetry alone cannot establish whether that difference came from aerodynamic load, energy management or slipstream effects. The recorded straight-line figures can be compared through the F1 Top Speed Comparison.
Ferrari declared only one update to the FIA: a change to the diffuser winglet cascade, described as generating greater load across the operating envelope. Further analysis of changes to the SF-26 can be found in our Ferrari technical analysis coverage.
The price for Ferrari’s pace could be seen in tyre degradation. On the Soft, the two SF-26 cars lost between 0.25 and 0.33 seconds per lap in raw degradation across all three measured runs, compared with effectively zero for McLaren.
Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes: who showed their real pace?
Red Bull revealed plenty on Friday, but not everything. Isack Hadjar finished third in FP1 and second in FP2. Max Verstappen recorded the strongest normalised Medium long-run pace of the day and the quickest combined ideal lap at 1:37.340. Isack Hadjar will start five places lower on the grid because of a penalty for taking a seventh engine.
McLaren transformed its position over the course of the day. After finishing 11th and 12th in FP1, 1.76 seconds from the front, the team improved to third and sixth in FP2. Using two sets of Soft tyres per driver, McLaren produced degradation close to zero across all three measured runs, although that could partly reflect pace management. Its Medium pace remains largely hidden, with Oscar Piastri the only McLaren driver to use that compound, and only in FP1.
Mercedes appears to have concealed the most potential. The team debuted seven updates across the floor, rear suspension and bodywork, then completed its FP2 push laps exclusively on Medium tyres. George Russell finished seventh and Kimi Antonelli eighth. Once adjusted for compound, George Russell’s Soft-equivalent pace was only 0.01 seconds from the best, while his combined ideal lap was 0.313 seconds slower than Max Verstappen’s.
With Ferrari’s recent position in the competitive order already under scrutiny, the tightly packed Friday numbers reinforce how quickly the balance between the leading teams can change. That broader question was already evident when Ferrari’s pace relative to its Formula 1 rivals came under examination after Baku.
The midfield and heat-specific upgrades
Alpine produced one of the more interesting Fridays. Pierre Gasly finished seventh in FP1, setting the fastest first sector of the entire day, before taking tenth in FP2. Franco Colapinto ended FP2 last only because he did not complete a push lap, while his representative pace was comparable to Pierre Gasly’s.
At Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson finished ninth in FP2, while Arvid Lindblad completed more laps than anybody else, with 27 in FP1 and 33 in FP2. For Audi, Nico Hülkenberg produced the third-best normalised Medium pace of Friday despite his single-lap time leaving him 1.6 seconds from the front. Gabriel Bortoleto stopped his car with only a few minutes remaining, triggering a Virtual Safety Car.
The heat also influenced the development packages. McLaren brought a high-cooling engine cover specifically for the Malaysian conditions, while Alpine modified the front brake-drum outlet to improve brake cooling. Both are useful adaptations in the temperatures being experienced at Sepang.
Williams, Aston Martin and Cadillac struggle
Williams, Aston Martin and Cadillac occupied the bottom three positions in the team order. Williams introduced no upgrades. Carlos Sainz finished 17th in FP2 and Alexander Albon 20th, 2.4 and 2.7 seconds from the front respectively. Carlos Sainz’s Medium tyre also degraded by 0.44 seconds per lap.
Aston Martin had Fernando Alonso in 15th and Lance Stroll in 18th, while the two cars recorded the lowest peak speeds on the main straight at 300 and 301km/h.
Cadillac placed Valtteri Bottas 19th and Sergio Pérez 21st, although Valtteri Bottas reached 333km/h on the back straight, the highest speed recorded all Friday. Sergio Pérez had also finished last in FP1. The usual caution remains necessary: FP2 is not qualifying, and the different team programmes significantly influenced the classification.
Lewis Hamilton warning, engine penalties and track limits
Lewis Hamilton received a warning for impeding Gabriel Bortoleto between Turns 8 and 9 while on a slow lap. Ferrari was fined €10,000 because the team knew that the right-hand mirror on Lewis Hamilton’s car was damaged but failed to warn him over the radio that the Audi was approaching. There is no grid penalty.
Three power-unit penalties will affect the starting grid. Arvid Lindblad drops 30 places, while Franco Colapinto has a total 15-place penalty: ten new places combined with the five he had already received following contact in the previous race. Isack Hadjar has a five-place penalty.
The Virtual Safety Car appeared with only a few minutes remaining in FP2 after Gabriel Bortoleto stopped on track, with the Audi driver reporting a gearbox problem.
Track limits could also become significant in qualifying. FIA documents recorded 11 deleted lap times in FP1 and 17 in FP2. Turn 14 was responsible for ten deletions across the two sessions, more than any other corner.
What to watch in FP3 and qualifying at Sepang
FP3 on Saturday morning leaves three major questions. The first is whether anybody will finally use the Hard tyre, even for only a handful of laps, because that is the only way to obtain real information about its warm-up characteristics.
The second concerns the Medium. If a driver completes more than 25 laps on the compound, it should become clearer whether its degradation curve genuinely flattens or eventually reaches a more severe drop-off. The third variable is the heat, and particularly how high the track temperature remains between the approximately 54°C forecast for Saturday and 46°C expected on Sunday.
In qualifying, the Soft’s performance on its second lap of tyre life could be crucial, as could respecting the track limits at Turn 14. Beyond that, Friday practice at Sepang has already established one central fact: the tyres are losing a considerable amount of performance, while the Hard remains the one strategic dice that nobody has yet rolled.
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