How tyre degradation in Sepang is forcing teams into a single strategy

McLaren's Senior Director of Racing, Randy Singh, explained that his team struggled more in FP1 due to the surprising track conditions, but managed to do better during the second session. In FP2, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished third and sixth, respectively.

Singh began: "We found the track conditions quite surprising today. It was a lot rougher and had more grip than our initial forecasts suggested. This presented a challenge in FP1, where we struggled to get the car into an optimal window.

According to Singh, a two-stop strategy could prove to be the best one in Malaysia, as drivers would lose too much time with a three-stop.

He continued: "Tyre degradation was the main talking point, and it was consistently high all day, which will definitely be a major factor in the race. The hot, abrasive surface is really tough on the tyres. From a strategy perspective, the high degradation naturally pushes things towards a two-stop, as the numbers make a three-stop very difficult without other factors like a Safety Car.

"We still have plenty of work ahead of us to fine-tune everything for Qualifying, but we are focused on exploiting the full potential of our package," Singh concluded.

Together with Max Verstappen, George Russell named the McLarens as pace-setters in Malaysia. The Mercedes driver commented: "I think at the moment, Verstappen's looking the quickest in single lap, and McLaren are looking the quickest in the long runs."