While Leclerc’s best lap of 1m 37.528s, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was arguably the driver who impressed the most. After topping FP1, Verstappen was only 0.257s back in FP2, despite only running the medium tyre, compared to Leclerc’s best time coming on the faster softs.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar finished 0.099s back from Leclerc as the next-best in FP2, before the day was brought to a premature end when Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto stopped on track.

Previously scheduled to take place in April, the original Bahrain Grand Prix has been moved to Malaysia due to the conflict in the Middle East, which has also seen the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix cancelled, and doubts over the Qatar and Abu Dhabi grands prix to come.

Regardless, with Sepang being one of the widest tracks in the world, multiple drivers made their excitement at returning to Malaysia clear, given the prospect of more overtaking over the course of the race weekend.

Both of Friday’s practice sessions were raced in the dry, despite the threat of rain on the day, and a 90% chance for Sunday’s grand prix.

Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia begins at 9pm on Saturday.

Earlier, Lawson logged the eighth-fastest time in FP1, putting in a best lap of 1m 39.106s to sit 1.586s off the pace set by Verstappen, but 0.091s clear of Lindblad in ninth.

Track temperatures of more than 50C saw drivers’ sessions disrupted by excessive tyre wear, as well as repeated trips to the pit stop to cool their cars.

Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.