SEPANG, Oct 3 — Championship leader Kimi Antonelli finally clicked into gear at Sepang today, topping final practice for the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia after struggling to make an impression yesterday.
The 20-year-old Mercedes driver, only eighth fastest in second practice, produced a late lap of 1 minute 36.302 seconds on soft tyres to head Max Verstappen and lay down a marker before qualifying.
Four-time world champion Verstappen — the last man to win an F1 race at Sepang when Malaysia last hosted a Grand Prix in 2017 — finished second, with Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar third, just over half a second behind Antonelli.
Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell was fourth, more than six-tenths off the pace.
Russell trails Antonelli by 66 points in the championship standings, adding another layer of intrigue to Mercedes’ battle as Formula One makes its return to Sepang.
Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were fifth and sixth respectively, with Hamilton sounding encouraged despite his tyres fading.
“It felt like a pretty decent lap considering the tyres were not great,” Hamilton said over team radio, according to Reuters.
Reigning world champion Lando Norris was seventh for McLaren and the only driver inside the top 10 running on medium tyres, with teammate Oscar Piastri eighth.
Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top 10.
The session was briefly stopped midway through after debris became tangled around the front-right tyre of Haas driver Oliver Bearman, prompting a red flag while marshals cleared the circuit.
Bearman could be heard asking his team over the radio if they knew what the object was.
Antonelli’s pace marked a sharp turnaround from Friday, when Ferrari’s Leclerc topped second practice while the Mercedes youngster struggled for rhythm on the dusty 5.543km circuit.
Malaysia is staging the Bahrain Grand Prix after the race was relocated because of the conflict in the Middle East.
