SEPANG — Charles Leclerc topped the times for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar to hand a timely boost to team boss Fred Vasseur in Friday’s second free practice of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The 28-year-old Monegasque driver, who had spoken out in support of Vasseur on Thursday, clocked a best lap of one minute and 37.528 seconds to outpace Hadjar by 0.099 seconds in an uneventful session run in sweltering conditions.

World champion Lando Norris of McLaren recovered from a disappointing 12th place in the opening run to take third ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari, and Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren.

The two heavily upgraded Mercedes of George Russell — who won in Baku last Sunday — and championship leader Kimi Antonelli were seventh and eighth, ahead of Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly of Alpine.

Vasseur has been at the centre of speculation since former Red Bull boss Christian Horner described Ferrari as a “dream job” in a recent interview.

The session ended under a Virtual Safety Car deployment after Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi stopped on the track with a transmission failure, the only incident as the drivers intensified their efforts on a dusty, low-grip surface in F1’s first visit to Malaysia since 2017.