Verstappen calls Bahrain GP first day at Sepang ‘positive’ as he explains not running soft tyres in FP2

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Max Verstappen described Red Bull’s opening track action at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia as “positive” after he topped the timesheets in FP1 at Sepang. Speaking after FP2, the 29-year-old said the session environment remained tricky, with the track “really hot” and showing “a lot of degradation,” adding that Red Bull still had “things to figure out.”

Verstappen acknowledged that while the team had been working through the day, it was difficult to judge progress between sessions because conditions and preparation differed. “Progress is difficult. It was warmer again in FP2, different programmes, so hard to say progress,” he said, emphasizing that there were still “a lot of things to look at to try and understand better.”

After finishing fourth in FP2, Verstappen confirmed he had not run a long stint on the soft tyre during the second session. He explained the choice by saying, “I wanted to do a long run in case there was some rain coming in.” In other words, Red Bull focused on completing a longer work plan rather than using the soft compound in FP2.

Red Bull’s Technical Director Pierre Wache provided additional context for why the soft tyre was not used. He said the team expected rain could come and that they wanted to protect the long-run programme as it was “the most important thing for this weekend, in terms of degradation and to see how the tyre behaves.” Wache added that the bigger priority was the medium tyre: “especially the medium because we didn’t have data on the medium.”

Wache said the team effectively favoured that medium-focused approach and then missed the window to run the soft. “We favoured that, and after it was too late to run the soft,” he said, framing the decision as a timing and data-collection outcome rather than a purely performance-related choice.

Looking at the weekend’s wider context, Wache said Red Bull were not overly optimistic going into the Bahrain GP, describing the main objective as evaluating the package they introduced in Baku. He said the development was intended for “different types of corner than low speed,” and he suggested it appeared to be working better than the earlier configuration. “Relative performance is difficult to judge here,” Wache said, while adding the team was “surprisingly happy with where we were today.”

On how Red Bull compared with key rivals, Wache cautioned that it was “difficult to say,” but he pointed to Mercedes and McLaren as also appearing quick over long runs. He indicated that the longer-session work had revealed that at least some of the competitive picture could be shared across teams, even if final conclusions would require more evidence as the weekend develops.

With the possibility of rain discussed as a factor, Wache said the team believed it could introduce additional strategic variables. “There’s a chance of rain every day, every session,” he said, noting Red Bull had not run in the rain properly yet. He referenced that their first full rain running was in Barcelona during a shakedown, and he described the upcoming conditions as a “surprise,” saying he hoped it would give Red Bull “a little bit some gamble in terms of strategy and how to play with.”