SEPANG — Formula 1's one-off return to Malaysia after a nine-year hiatus was always going to throw a few curveballs, and Friday practice delivered. The Sepang circuit itself proved tough to tame, with lap times coming in over four seconds slower than Pirelli's F1 simulations due to its extremely rough surface.
Malaysia's daily monsoons missed the track on Friday, leaving the tarmac as the central challenge. Thursday's track walks had already indicated what was ahead, with drivers flagging the abrasive asphalt. Oscar Piastri described the surface as "sandpaper," an early sign of the high tyre wear and limited grip teams would face.
The sizeable gap to Pirelli's simulations shows how much Sepang's character has changed since F1 last raced there. With the abrasive surface chewing through rubber, teams now face a reset on tyre management and setup assumptions heading into the remainder of the one-off weekend.