Four Tenths, No Clear Favourite: F1's Return to Sepang Opens With a Too-Close-to-Call Friday

Sparks fly as the top four teams are separated by fractions in Malaysia

Formula 1's return to Sepang for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia got off to a fiercely competitive start on Friday, with the top four teams covered by less than four tenths of a second of each other in the second practice session.

With so little separating the leading group, the question of who is actually showing signs of emerging as the one to beat remained genuinely hard to answer — and the data offered little comfort to anyone hunting for a definitive favourite.

'It's really too close to call'

Asked directly who the favourites are, the honest verdict was that the picture stayed blurred across the opening day. "I'm not trying to dodge the question, honest — but it's really too close to call according to our data," the session debrief noted.

The tight margins in second practice set the stage for a weekend in which small gains — particularly in how tyres are managed over a full stint — could prove the difference between the front of the grid and the chasing pack.

Degradation the dominant talking point

If outright pace left the pecking order unclear, tyre degradation gave teams plenty to think about. According to the day's coverage, degradation dominated both the team radio and the post-session chatter, a sign that the high-speed Sepang layout — with its long straights and demanding middle sector — was already shaping race strategy before a competitive lap had been run in anger.

Hamilton condemns 'negative narrative' around Vasseur

Away from the timing screens, the day's headlines included Lewis Hamilton condemning what was described as a "negative narrative" around Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur, while Isack Hadjar, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto were all hit with penalties in Sepang — early setbacks that could reshape their weekends.

A fond return to a classic venue

Sepang's appearance on the 2026 calendar marks a return for a circuit that hosted the Malaysian Grand Prix on 19 occasions before dropping off the schedule after 2017, as reported in advance of race week. The track's long straights that bookend the lap provide overtaking opportunities, while the high-speed middle sector is a stern test of all-round car performance, and the potential for tropical rain adds another variable to the mix.

The circuit record at Sepang remains a 1:34.080 lap set by Sebastian Vettel in 2017. The venue's long sweep through Turns 5 and 6 and the final hairpin at Turn 15 are among its most distinctive sections, with grandstands near that final hairpin well placed to watch late-braking overtakes before cars accelerate onto the main straight.

With the top four teams barely separable and degradation dominating the conversation, the one thing Friday made clear is that the weekend's margins are likely to stay every bit as tight when the competitive running resumes.