Verstappen and teams prioritise long runs at Sepang

Friday practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia took an unusual turn: lap times were four and a half seconds slower than expected because of the poor track surface. Mercedes did not impress as much as anticipated, and the teams’ programmes departed from their usual patterns. Max Verstappen was a particularly clear example of this different approach.

Normally, drivers complete their qualifying simulations midway through the second practice session, then use the remainder for long runs. Verstappen instead chose to prioritise an extended run. “I wanted to do a long run in case there was some rain coming in,” he explained.

At Red Bull, the aim was also to gather data on tyre wear, regarded as a major factor over the weekend at Sepang. The team’s technical director, Pierre Wache, said Red Bull did not want to compromise its long-run work. The team had no data on the medium tyre, so it made that compound its priority, leaving no time to run the soft.

The track surface makes that task more difficult. Low grip encourages sliding, which raises tyre surface temperatures and can intensify thermal degradation. Pirelli chief engineer Simone Berra described the wear as significant and highlighted the difficulty of controlling temperatures, particularly at the rear. Teams must also avoid overloading the front tyres through high-speed corners.

That focus on race pace sets the teams’ approach in Malaysia apart from a normal weekend. As a precaution, every team has saved two sets of hard tyres; neither the teams nor Pirelli therefore has data on the C2 compound, the hardest available this weekend. Berra also expects significant degradation from that tyre, whose grip level could be lower.

All three compounds remain options for the race. Berra considers a two-stop strategy the most likely scenario, while not ruling out three visits to the pits. The range of options could encourage different strategies, but teams go into qualifying with more uncertainty than usual, even if the session takes place in dry conditions.