Hadjar backs Red Bull to fight at the front despite balance concerns

Charles Leclerc set the fastest lap in second free practice on 2 October, clocking 1:37.528 for Ferrari. Isack Hadjar was second for Red Bull in 1:37.627, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in 1:37.665. RacingNews365 calls the event the Bahrain Grand Prix but places the session at Sepang in Malaysia.

The top three set their listed times on soft tyres. Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull in 1:37.785 on medium tyres; RacingNews365 says he did not complete a qualifying run. Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were seventh and eighth, also on mediums.

The tyre difference makes Verstappen’s fourth-place time difficult to compare directly with the leading three. The order is a practice result, not a qualifying result.

Update

Max Verstappen says Red Bull still has work to do after he set the fastest time in the first practice session on 2 October and finished fourth in the second. The change in position did not give him a clear measure of the team’s pace: he used soft tyres in the opening session and only mediums later in the day.

Speaking to F1TV in remarks relayed by RacingNews365, Verstappen described the start as positive but said the hot track and tyre wear left questions to answer. He said the second session was hotter and that teams ran different programmes, making their progress difficult to compare.

Verstappen said he chose not to use soft tyres in the second session because he wanted to complete a long run in case rain arrived. His assessment remained positive, though he said the team had more to investigate.

Update

Hadjar finished second in the second practice session. In comments from a Red Bull press release quoted by RacingNews365 Nederland, he said he thought the team had a good car and could fight at the front this weekend. He was pleased with its overall speed, but said he was not yet fully satisfied with its balance.

Hadjar’s engineer, Richard Wood, said changes before the first run of second practice had taken the car in the wrong direction, but the team recovered for the second run. RacingNews365 described Verstappen as more cautious about judging Red Bull’s pace.