Kimi Antonelli was fastest from Max Verstappen in final practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia to set up a Mercedes versus Red Bull fight for pole position.

Antonelli, who leads the Drivers’ Championship by 66 points from his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, struggled on Friday but was 0.278s quicker than Verstappen.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar took third ahead of Russell fourth but both drivers were more than half a second behind Antonelli, who appears to have found a nice rhythm in time for qualifying later on Saturday at 9am, live on Sky Sports F1, at the Sepang International Circuit.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped second practice but was seven tenths back in fifth while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton was sixth, despite providing positive feedback following his final practice lap.

McLaren appeared to be out of contention for pole as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were seventh and eighth, although the fact Norris’ best lap was done on the mediums suggested they retain room for improvement.

Tyres are a major talking point this weekend due to the extremely rough track surface coupled with the high temperatures and humidity as F1 races in Malaysia for the first time since 2017, with the country having stepped in

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, who has a combined 15-grid place penalty for causing a collision last weekend in Baku and taking a new engine in Sepang, was ninth in final practice and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad was 10th.

There was a brief red flag after a piece of debris got stuck on Oliver Bearman’s Haas after falling onto the circuit at Turn 10, seeing the session momentarily stopped to allow for a marshal to collect it.

More to follow…

Sky Sports F1’s live schedule Bahrain GP in Malaysia

Saturday October 3
8am: Bahrain GP Qualifying build-up*
9am: BAHRAIN GP QUALIFYING*

Sunday October 4
6.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Bahrain GP build-up*
8am: THE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX*
10am: Chequered Flag: Bahrain GP reaction*

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 is in Malaysia for the first time since 2017 as it hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit – watch Sunday’s race at 8am (build-up from 6.30am), live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

By that time Mikel Arteta, who had been Wilshere’s Arsenal team-mate for five years, was first-team manager.

Arteta guided the Gunners to the Premier League title in 2025-26, their first time as English champions in 22 years, and Wilshere felt the Spaniard had played a vital role in developing him as a coach.

“I got to see Mikel and how he coached and the influence he was having,” said Wilshere. “I would ask him questions, why he’s doing certain things, and I started to fall in love with it and how he started to prepare training sessions.

“I’d get an opportunity to practice that with the 18s in the afternoon and it was something I wasn’t that good at, and I felt uncomfortable at times.

“I was influenced by Mikel, but then I had to learn how to teach. I had to learn how to get that across, how to plan a session and how to get the outcomes that you wanted.

“I played under some good coaches and was quite good at understanding what a coach wants, but I never dived into ‘why is he asking me to do that?’ Mikel really made that clear and I was lucky enough to have a relationship where I could say, ‘well, why do you want that?’ And he was open enough to share it with me.”

Not only did his former club Arsenal become English champions, but Wilshere gained extra satisfaction as he had coached defender Myles Lewis-Skelly, winger Ethan Nwaneri and midfielder Max Dowman during his time at the club’s academy.

Wilshere was only 16 when he made his Arsenal debut, and Dowman was 15 when he first played for the Gunners senior team, with Wilshere spotting his talent early on.

“Max played for my 18s team when he was 13,” added Wilshere. “I remember calling my dad because I played for the 18s when I was 14. I was like, ‘was 13 too young?’

“In the first game we could clearly see that he was ready for it. And I remember calling my dad and saying, ‘you need to come watch this kid’. My dad did, and my dad’s very biased, as you could imagine. But even he said, ‘he’s better than you’.”