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09:00 BST 3 October
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Harry Benjamin, British racing driver Sam Bird and F1 correspondent Andrew Benson are in position for this Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia qualifying session.
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Verstappen and Antonelli strong contenders for polepublished at 08:57 BST 3 October
08:57 BST 3 October
Image source, Getty Images
There was a Kimi in the qualifying top three in 2017, but back then it was 'the Iceman' himself, Kimi Raikkonen, who had a few more years on 20-year-old Antonelli when he put his Ferrari second on the grid behind Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes nine years ago.
In 2026, Saturday's pole fight could be a Verstappen-Antonelli affair in the hot and humid conditions in Malaysia. The Dutchman has the experience to hand of how this rough track behaves in a one-lap shootout, but Italian Antonelli has put his car on pole six times this season, converting the majority of them into a grand prix victory.
If Q3 does comes down to Verstappen and Antonelli, who is your pick for pole?
Click the left thumb for Max or hit the right thumb for Kimi.
Three drivers have grid penalties for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Isack Hadjar will drop five places from his qualifying position for exceeding the permitted number of engine parts.
And Arvid Lindblad of Racing Bulls and Alpine's Franco Colapinto will be at the back, the Briton for engine penalties, and the Argentine because of a 10-place engine penalty on top of the five-place penalty he was given for causing a crash at a restart in last weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Antonelli tops final practicepublished at 08:49 BST 3 October
08:49 BST 3 October
Image source, Getty Images
Kimi Antonelli lost 15 points to Mercedes team-mate George Russell after his "driving like my grandma" performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend. The Italian still has a healthy points advantage of 66 points over Russell, but he will be looking to get his title charge back on track at the second race of this triple-header (Singapore, a sprint weekend, is next week).
Antonelli beat Max Verstappen in third practice by 0.278 seconds, with the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, who returned to action in Baku after his wrist injury, third on the timesheets.
McLaren were down the pecking in the final hour with world champion Lando Norris in seventh and team-mate Oscar Piastri in eighth. Ferrari, who have scored seven wins at Sepang, were fifth and sixth, with Charles Leclerc finishing above seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Bahrain (in Malaysia): Qualifyingpublished at 08:45 BST 3 October
08:45 BST 3 October
Lorraine McKenna BBC Sport Journalist
Image source, Getty Images
Hello, folks. The Bahrain Grand Prix is being hosted in Malaysia this weekend, so the Sepang International Circuit is dusting itself for a first qualifying session in nine years.
A good portion of today's grid took part in 2017 - Lewis Hamilton was on pole position for Mercedes - but there are lots of newbies taking on the challenge for the first time this morning, including championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who topped third practice earlier on.
Mercedes are upgraded in Malaysia and look strong contenders already. But Max Verstappen, the last man to win here when he was still a young pup and title free, could stake a claim for his maiden pole this season after putting his Red Bull top in first practice and second to Antonelli in FP3.
Kimi Antonelli’s attempt to bounce back from a difficult race in Azerbaijan is off to a good start at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
The Italian topped final practice by 0.278 seconds from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Antonelli’s team-mate George Russell was only fourth fastest, 0.610secs off the pace and behind the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were fifth and sixth, ahead of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, all four apparently struggling to compete at the very front.
The Sepang circuit is proving quite a test on its return to the calendar for the first time since 2017, with high tyre wear in the tropical temperatures on an abrasive track surface keeping running to a minimum.
Up and down the field, one surprise so far as has been the relative competitiveness of Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.
After difficult races in, particularly Italy and Azerbaijan, the Aston Martin appears to be more at home on this track where a lower power sensitivity is less exposing of the Honda engine.
Alonso was 12th fastest, behind Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
Back for qualifying at 08:45 BSTpublished at 06:50 BST 3 October
06:50 BST 3 October
Right time for a break, go get some breakfast or a quick nap before qualifying.
We will be back at 08:45 BST for qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
There have been three different fastest drivers in the practice sessions - Max Verstappen in first practice, Charles Leclerc in second practice and Kimi Antonelli in the final session.
Sam Bird Former Formula E driver on 5 Sports Extra
If you were to ask me right now, who is in the pole position fight, I would have to say Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen are the two who would be fighting for pole.
'Expected more from McLaren'published at 06:34 BST 3 October
06:34 BST 3 October
Sam Bird Former Formula E driver on 5 Sports Extra
Image source, Getty Images
I expected a little bit more from McLaren. I went into this weekend thinking they would be strong, so to see them down in seventh and eighth - Lando Norris not being able to get the maximum out of the soft tyre - I have a little bit of a concern for them heading into qualifying, that they're not going to be able to extract the performance that we thought they'd bring to the table this weekend.
Sam Bird
Image source, Getty Images
