Ferrari’s Leclerc sets pace at practice session in Sepang

Charles Leclerc topped the times for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar to hand a timely boost to team boss Fred Vasseur in Friday’s second free practice of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The 28-year-old Monegasque driver, who had spoken out in support of Vasseur on Thursday, clocked a best lap of one minute and 37.528 seconds to outpace Hadjar by 0.099 seconds in an uneventful session run in sweltering conditions.

World champion Lando Norris of McLaren recovered from a disappointing 12th place in the opening run to take third ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari, and Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren.

The two heavily upgraded Mercedes of George Russell — who won in Baku last Sunday — and championship leader Kimi Antonelli were seventh and eighth, ahead of Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly of Alpine. Vasseur has been at the centre of speculation since former Red Bull boss Christian Horner described Ferrari as a “dream job” in a recent interview.

The session ended under a Virtual Safety Car deployment after Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi stopped on the track with a transmission failure, the only incident as the drivers intensified their efforts on a dusty, low-grip surface in F1’s first visit to Malaysia since 2017.

It was clear by the frequent slithering and sliding that tyre degradation was a factor and will be in Sunday’s race, when Verstappen will seek to repeat his victory of nine years ago which came just 24 hours after his 20th birthday.

After a busy interval during which team bosses Flavio Briatore and Vasseur were involved in a news conference, the second session began with Esteban Ocon, due to leave Haas at the end of the year, leading out from the pit lane.

It was a rapid departure as the teams sought maximum track action before what seemed to be an impending rainstorm. The track temperature was 60 degrees Celsius.

As he did in the opening run, Verstappen was soon topping the times with 1:37.785 on mediums ahead of Russell and Leclerc, whose Ferrari boss had called for team unity in the face of speculation about his future.

“Honestly, the big issue we have today is the stability and serenity in the team,” said Vasseur.

“It is a focus that we need to have -- and not this kind of question all day.”

In reaction to comments by Hamilton on Thursday urging Ferrari to review their structure, Vasseur added: “It would be a huge mistake to start (and) to not be unified...

“We had a good beginning of the season, for sure. It’s not enough. We want to get more; we want to win more. We want to win the championship.”

As if on cue, Leclerc went top on softs ahead of Hadjar and a revived Norris mid-session, while Franco Colapinto -- fresh from his crash in Baku -- was nearly six seconds adrift in 22nd for Alpine.

His team chief Briatore had told reporters that the storm last Sunday was now history.

“Sure, I was disappointed when it happened, but it’s another race and everyone forgets, you know?” he said.

Agence France-Presse