What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Bahrain GP in Malaysia

"It's funny they've called it the Bahrain Grand Prix," Arvid Lindblad smirked after the second free practice session at Sepang, "because the way you have to drive is very similar."

Here, Lindblad was referring to the level of tyre degradation around the Malaysian venue, F1's first visit since 2017, and its status as a proxy for the Bahraini organisers to keep their race on the calendar. Bahrain, of course, is known for its rough asphalt; the original 2004 track surface remains in place and has become increasingly abrasive over the years - to the point where it's known to be tough on tyres.

A cursory look at Sepang's surface rather demonstrates a similar, if not greater, level of roughness ("high macro", in tech-speak) owing to its well-aged nature. That, allied to the sheer humidity, low-grip surface, and 60C-plus track temperatures experienced in FP2, have put the tyres through the wringer.

"It's just quite a lot of management, there is quite a lot of deg," Lindblad continued, reflecting on his first-ever day of running around the Sepang circuit. "But it's nothing stupid. It's a lot of deg, but in a decent way. It's not weird deg, I think it's quite a normal level."

We can take that to mean something along the lines of 'yes, it's hurting the tyres, but it should be quite predictable'. That's something the engineers can work with and, with the benefit of sifting through today's data and that accrued tomorrow in FP3, the tyre strategy should click into place for the best-laid race-day plans. It shouldn't be a case of surprise "cliffs" defining Sunday's race, but rather a clear drop-off that the drivers can mould their inputs around and that should lend itself to strategic variance. 

This would be welcome, given the recent run of low-degradation races that have effectively sealed races into a pattern of one-stop strategies and track position becoming the defining factor. This time, the strategists can earn their money through outfoxing their opposite numbers, rather than ringing the proverbial 'box now' bell during a virtual safety car period. 

A rough Sepang circuit produced significant tyre degradation over FP1 and FP2

Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images

In terms of overall pace, it's hard to read at this stage - and lap times were 4.5s away from Pirelli's pole simulations before the weekend. There's still time to overcome that, but it's also true that the threat of rain (upgraded from a 70% chance to a 90% one) loomed large on the weather radars truncated the soft-tyre runs. It soon became apparent that the clouds were breaking up, however, and left the area south of Kuala Lumpur relatively untouched bar a few spits and spots.

Max Verstappen led the way in FP1, but only stuck with the medium tyre in FP2 as Red Bull prioritised a race run to get some data in the bank on a harder compound. Unsurprisingly, the teams didn't want to use up their stock of hard tyres and potentially leave themselves short of options on Sunday; the C2 should be expected to feature pretty heavily over the course of the race.

Charles Leclerc duly took top spot in the second session over Isack Hadjar by a tenth, while Lando Norris took third as McLaren overcame an incredibly muted FP1. Not that the timesheets bothered Fred Vasseur, who recognised the task at hand rather than choosing to get lost in the lap times: "I prefer to be in good shape than not, but what is true is that it will be a lot about track evolution, that we try to anticipate how will be the track tomorrow, and it's a challenge for us, but for everybody, I think. 

"Compared to the previous events, Madrid, Monza, Baku, where we were on the low deg side, this one is a huge deg side, and that race pace will be mainly based on the degradation. We have to be focused on this."

So, how is that race pace looking so far? Helpfully, the rain held off - so we've got a bit of data to delve into as we explore the teams' long-run simulations in the second half of FP2.

Average FP2 long runs

Leclerc found pace in FP2, although qualifying simulations were in short supply as rain threatened to hit

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Perhaps the surprise here is that Mercedes, at this stage, is a touch down on its "Big Four" rivals - even with its new update package. George Russell's long stint was performed on the soft tyre, similar in length to Verstappen's long run on the medium, but this isn't entirely down to the tyre wear; instead, the Mercedes started the stint a touch slower compared to the Red Bull.

Per deputy team principal Bradley Lord, the updates were delivering more downforce in the high-speed range of corners, but there were still moments of understeer and front-end instability to dial out. Furthermore, he added, the range of corners may push the competitive order into "a Hungary sort of picture" - one where Mercedes perhaps didn't show its best versus McLaren and Red Bull.

McLaren didn't entirely have an easy day of it, however, as FP1 performance looked well behind its more immediate rivals - but recalibrating the brace of MCL40s after finding the circuit was much rougher than expected seemed to bring the team back into step. It was a touch behind Red Bull, which looked assured across both Verstappen's and Hadjar's medium runs over the afternoon. As degradation will define proceedings on Sunday, the Milton Keynes outfit has to be the most quietly satisfied.

Of the midfielders, Audi appeared to have the legs over Alpine out of the box, but it had both drivers on different programmes and thus it's a bit more difficult to pick through the Renault-owned team's data; Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto did similar medium-to-soft progressions over the course of FP2.

Aston Martin's placing is somewhat surprising, but Fernando Alonso's stint was also shorter than his main rivals and thus did not become ensconced within the degradation levels present through the day. Extrapolating slightly, you'd expect him to drop more regularly into the 1m47s and fall behind the Racing Bulls - and potentially the Haas - in terms of race pace.

Then you've got Williams, which expected to struggle with the long, combined turns common around Sepang, and the Cadillacs at the back. Helpfully for Valtteri Bottas, who endured a miserable Baku weekend, he seems to be back on the pace and logged a quicker soft-tyre stint compared to Sergio Perez.

Lindblad and Bortoleto enjoyed a battle on-track in FP2 - the Audi looked faster across the race runs

Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images

The teams will have to open their "How to Care for Your Race Tyres" manuals overnight, especially at the rear axle as the circuit is 'rear-limited' in nature. The long corners place a lot of lateral load on the rear tyres and, if a driver starts sliding, this can really impact the surface of the tyre. This, plus the thermal decay and hysteresis of the tyre (when it experiences repeated load cycles and thus generates an excess of heat) will make it incredibly tough on the teams.

At the moment, many of the teams believe they're sitting on the cusp of a three-stopper, although McLaren strategist Randy Singh reckons that the levels of degradation would have to be really high to consider dealing with the pitstop time loss given the length of the pitstraight. 

It's all very finely poised as it stands. Perhaps a few teams will unlock the secrets of managing tyre degradation overnight, and find the requisite balance at the rear end without compromising the front-end stability too much - so expect a bit of simulator work back at the factories, with updated numbers for surface roughness and temperatures.

Two stops, or three? Pitstops might be a frequent fixture on Sunday...

Photo by: Srinivasa Krishnan