Max Verstappen topped FP1 at round 16 of the 2026 F1 season in Malaysia, with Charles Leclerc going fastest in FP2. Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Waché and Verstappen spoke to the media after the day’s running.
Waché on Red Bull’s first day at 2026 F1 Malaysia round
Waché described the conditions as among the most extreme the team has faced with the 2026 car. Track temperatures hit 60 degrees Celsius, a level Red Bull had not encountered with this generation of machinery before. The dusty surface added another layer of difficulty, with grip evolving significantly across both sessions.
“Personally it was very warm, very difficult, for the car also difficult, tyre difficult, I think we have, and also the track was, there’s not so many running on this before our session, then the track was quite dusty and the grip evolved a lot, and very high temperature, you know the track achieved a 60 degree that we never achieved with this type of car yet. Yeah, it was difficult, the balance of the car also is tricky, but yeah, it’s a learning process for the weekend, yeah,” Waché stated.
Waché on Red Bull’s run plan and brake issues
Verstappen did not run on soft tyres in FP2 at round 16 of the 2026 F1 season in Malaysia. The threat of rain mid-session pushed the team to prioritise long-run data on the medium tyre. They had not completed a representative stint in FP1. Time ran out before a soft tyre run was possible.
“Yeah, the main priority was to do a long run on medium that we didn’t do this morning, then we did, with the risk of rain, middle of P2 we didn’t want to take the risk to not run the long run and we switched to long run very quickly, and after we didn’t have time to do the soft run.”
Verstappen also reported brake oscillations during practice at 2026 F1 Malaysia. Waché pointed to the demands of energy management and braking on the circuit. He said the team hoped to resolve it ahead of qualifying.
“Yeah, I think it’s a difficult time, you know, with energy management and how you use a brake on this track, but yeah, I hope we will sort out this problem, yeah,” Waché concluded.
Verstappen on his first impressions at 2026 F1 Malaysia round
Verstappen was measured in his assessment of the day. He won at Sepang in 2017 but was returning to the circuit for the first time in nine years. He pointed to the high degradation and heat as the dominant factors. Red Bull had tried a few things but could not yet draw firm conclusions.
“Pretty decent, I think we started off well, it’s just very high deg and hot and a lot of things to look at with the tyres, but it’s been alright,” Verstappen stated.
During the second session, the Dutchman talked about his issues with the seat in his RB22.
“No, it’s just sometimes the position feels a little bit off, so then we double check it.”
Asked whether Red Bull had made progress through the day, Verstappen was honest about the difficulty of comparing two very different sessions.
“Hard to say, we tried a few things, but then also the track is hotter, different tyres. Because in FP1 you’re on softs and in FP2 you’re on mediums, so a bit hard to say if we actually went forward, but we’ll look over it during the night.”
Verstappen kept expectations measured on returning to Malaysia with Red Bull after nine years away and the fact he is the most recent F1 race winner at the venue.
“It’s a long time ago, so there are no guarantees, but at least we had a positive start to the weekend,” he concluded.
