2026 Formula 1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia
F1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia: Follow FP2 at Sepang with live timing
Keep in touch with F1's second practice session of the weekend as Malaysia hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix
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The stranded Audi precipitated a virtual safety car - not that this had any effect on laptimes because most drivers have long since completed their qualifying simulations.
A topsy-turvy session, then, as a result of teams shifting their run programmes about to guard against the possibility of rain which never came.
Charles Leclerc went fastest for Ferrari with a 1m37.528s, 0.099s faster than Isack Hadjar and 0.137s quicker than Lando Norris. So a decent-ish showing for McLaren on the face of it – Oscar Piastri was 0.371s off Leclerc – but we have to factor in the fact that Max Verstappen (P4) didn't use the soft tyres at all.
Also, neither Mercedes set a representative lap since both Antonelli and Russell did just one 'push' – and both of them made mistakes.
Bortoleto's Audi has stopped out on track, preceded by a loud bang from the transmission.
Russell and Antonelli are back in the garage. Interesting split in terms of approach at Mercedes. Russell did a 17-lap stint on softs, Antonelli covered a total of 12 laps on mediums, a seven-lap stint preceded by two and three, split by 12 laps on softs.
Leclerc is back out on the mediums he was running earlier in the session, embarking on a long run by the look of it.
Max Verstappen now 14 laps into a race-simulation run on scrubbed mediums that he'd already put five laps on earlier.
Pierre Gasly also long-running, 10 laps in on mediums that have already done a pair of three-lap stints.
Turn 3 is quite hazardous if you deploy the electrical motor to overtake a car around the outside there: the car just washes wide and over the kerb, where it scrubs off loads of speed as the plank grinds over the kerb surface. We saw Ocon have a moment there in FP1.
Straightline speed isn't the Audi's strong suit, a combination of aero and the power unit not being quite as punchy as the Red Bull/Ford in that VCARB.
Bit of a race simulation going on with Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto at the moment. Gabi managed to get by but then ran wide, and the Racing Bulls is such a rocketship on the straight - as it was in Baku - that the Audi can't get close.
So, a trio of drivers running on new softs has set a new trio of top times. Leclerc fastest of all on 1m37.528s, Isack Hadjar just 0.099s off, then Norris 0.137s behind the new Ferrari benchmark.
Hamilton's best on this run was 1m37.833s which puts him P5 for now. The other soft runners are now on tyres that have already done at least one push lap so we expect the timing order to remain static for now.
Hamilton reporting that he can't see out of his right-hand mirror. The incident has been 'noted' and will be investigated after the session.
Bortoleto has to swerve as Hamilton meanders into his path. Not for the first time Sir Lewis has been caught napping this year; inattention or lack of heads-up from the Ferrari pitwall?
Bortoleto was on a relatively quick outlap before a push lap, so no damage done.
Russell's first push lap is looking tastier than Antonelli's - until sector two, where Kimi goes purple. But Antonelli then runs wide at the entry to the back straight and that compromises his lap.
Russell also blows his lap, understeering at the final corner to the extent that he passes the bollard at the pit entry - so he has to go into the pitlane.
Lawson's previous best was 1m38.748s. On softs he does 1m38.496s.
Russell and Antonelli now getting ready for quali sims unusually early in the session. Both out on soft tyres, presumably to get this done before the rain arrives (if indeed it does).
And with that, we're back to a screen full of yellow bars on our segmented data view. But it looks like Lawson is on an out lap on new softs so action is imminent.
Lindblad's previous best was 1m38.880s. He's green in the first two sectors but loses some impetus in the final sector. It's still quicker - 1m38.678s - but not quite as quick as it could have been.
There's been lots of talk about the soft tyres losing performance over the course of a push lap but the damage was done here by him running wide at Turn 11.
Pretty much everyone literally crawling around the track. Thankfully Arvid Lindblad has swapped onto the softs and has gone out on a push lap.
Max Verstappen sets the fastest of the first push laps, a 1m37.785s on the mediums.
McLaren had a particularly wretched FP1 by its recent standards so it'll be interesting to see how Norris and Piastri fare on those softs. When the rain arrives it will likely restore the track to 'green' condition and negate any gains wrought by rubber going down.
Again we note the teams reserving their C2 hard-compound tyres for later in the weekend. Most drivers out on the C4 mediums, apart from Gasly, Piastri, Norris, Bottas and Perez on softs.
In case you'd missed it, Mercedes has 'flipped' the colour scheme on its freshly upgraded W17 in deference to Malaysian fuel and lubes partner Petronas.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Srinivasa Krishnan
Esteban Ocon is at the head of the queue and leads the field out onto the circuit.
F1 TV obligingly cuts to a shot of the weather radar, where there's a massive cloud that looks uglier than a kebab shop fist fight.
We've been upgraded! Screens now saying 90% chance of rain.
Let us take you back to 2009, when someone had the bright idea of pushing back the race start – previously 1pm local – to 3pm for the convenience of European TV viewers.
For 10 laps it rained - but not enough for those who had made a quick swap to wet-weather tyres to gain any advantage. Then the heavens really opened and the race had to be stopped. When the rain didn't let up and the light began to fade, a putative restart was abandoned and half points awarded. Quite lucky for race winner Jenson Button - water had got into his steering wheel and the car wouldn't fire up.
It was a spectacular thunderstorm that rumbled on even after the rain had abated.
Photo by: Getty Images
Photo by: Getty Images
Although it's hot, humid and sunny at the moment, the info screens prognosticate a 70% chance of rain for FP2. Well, it's nearly 4pm, so that makes it about time for the daily deluge.
By: Stuart Codling
