Ferrari leans on race pace as Sepang grip keeps changing
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 2, 2026
Ferrari race pace
Charles Leclerc put tire degradation at the center of Ferrari’s weekend at Sepang after a mixed Friday in practice. He said the track was dirty, slippery and low grip, and he expected the surface to keep changing before Sunday’s Grand Prix. Ferrari found speed in single laps, with Leclerc fourth in FP1 before he topped FP2. Lewis Hamilton was steady if unspectacular, finishing sixth in FP1 and fifth in FP2. Fred Vasseur said Ferrari is paying more attention than usual to degradation and has to stay ahead of the changing conditions, which makes setup choices and race pace the key issues. The heat added another layer, with extreme tire degradation and overheating affecting the cars and track temperatures reaching 57 degrees Celsius. Leclerc also said Red Bull stood out and urged caution on Mercedes after its difficult second practice. That left Ferrari with encouraging pace on one lap and a clear warning that the long-run picture will decide the weekend. The cleanest read on the car came when the track was fresh, but Ferrari will need the rubber to hold up if it wants that speed to carry into the Grand Prix.
Mercedes upgrade package
Mercedes brought a major upgrade package to Sepang, with changes to the floor, sidepods, rear diffuser and rear suspension, but the team still spent Friday chasing the right setup. George Russell opened with second in FP1, only 0.383 seconds behind Max Verstappen’s 1:37.520 lap, then slipped to seventh in FP2 after a mistake on his flying lap. Kimi Antonelli was fifth in FP1 and eighth in FP2 after a similar error, so Mercedes never matched its best-looking moments with a clean second session. Russell said the team needs setup changes to unlock more pace and manage the heavy tire degradation, and he said the updated floor edge, sidepods and rear diffuser were getting masked by the tire wear. Bradley Lord called it one of Mercedes’ toughest Fridays of the season, though he added that the team remained in the mix behind Verstappen and could make a step forward with overnight improvements. The upgrade list gave Mercedes fresh data to work with, but the lap times showed how much the team still has to find. In the hot conditions, the new parts could not fully show their value, and the margin for error stayed small all afternoon.
McLaren and Red Bull
McLaren recovered from a poor opening session and ended Friday third and sixth in practice, a result that kept Oscar Piastri upbeat without hiding how close the front group looked. Piastri said McLaren were “maybe a tiny step behind” and believed the top four teams were closely matched after the team improved from first practice. Russell agreed with the broader picture, saying Verstappen looked very fast and McLaren’s race pace was strong. That kept McLaren in the same conversation as Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, even if the order changed from one session to the next. Leclerc also singled out Red Bull as the standard after Verstappen’s pace-setting run and said Mercedes should not be underestimated despite its rough second practice. The overall picture from Friday was tight, with the field bunched together but the long-run pace linked to tire management in the heat. Any team that handles the degradation better will hold the edge when the Grand Prix turns into a race of patience on Sunday. Verstappen’s FP1 lap set the benchmark.
