Verstappen left with one fresh hard-tyre set after Red Bull return

RacingNews365 Nederland reports that Pirelli confirmed Red Bull handed back an unused hard-tyre set allocated to Max Verstappen after the second practice session at Sepang. Teams must return two tyre sets after each practice session, the outlet says. Verstappen did not use the hard compound in practice and has one fresh set available for the race.

Charles Leclerc also has one fresh hard-tyre set, having used the compound in final practice. Verstappen reached the same position without running on it; why Red Bull chose to return an unused set remains unclear.