Sebastian Vettel has tipped Max Verstappen to beat Lando Norris to the Formula 1 title this year, despite his car not being the fastest.

Verstappen is facing tremendous pressure to hold on to his world championship advantage, with Red Bull having been out developed over the 2024 season by main rivals McLaren and Ferrari.

Although the Dutchman holds a 47-points advantage in the drivers’ standings ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint, he knows that Norris has been chipping away at him since the summer break – and he could lose a lot of ground at Interlagos if McLaren is as quick as it has looked so far.

But despite the relative pace of the Red Bull and the McLaren, former Red Bull driver Vettel thinks that Verstappen is the one that still holds the advantage right now.

He thinks a combination of Verstappen’s driving confidence, plus Norris facing a renewed challenge from Ferrari, could be enough to prove decisive in how the drivers’ battle unfolds.

Speaking to Sky Germany, he said: “As much as I’d like us all to have a really exciting race right to the end, I think Max is now so hardened, so confident in his driving … we rarely see any mistakes from him, from his side.

“Even if his car is perhaps no longer quite as strong as it was at the start of the year, I still see him as the favourite. I think he’s still strong enough to always score enough points. And Lando is no longer in a position where he can win every race so easily.

“So, I would say that the role of favourite is clear – and lies with Max. But of course, as an independent spectator, I also hope that it will be even closer.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

The Norris/Verstappen battle has become more intense in recent races, with the pair having controversial clashes at both the United States and Mexico Grands Prix.

And while Verstappen’s willingness to take things to the edge in his battle with Norris have left some suggesting the British drivers needs to get his elbows out more, McLaren says it does not want its driver to change his approach.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, said: “I think Lando is coping with this situation of being in the fight for the championship in a way that we are enjoying, first of all, I would say. He’s now a very mature driver.

“The race craft keeps improving all the time. The attitude, the learning from every situation, which we can appreciate almost on a race-by-race timescale. I think Lando is definitely now a mature driver to succeed in this kind of fight, which is a fight against one of the best drivers, I think, in the history of Formula 1.

“We just keep telling Lando all the time: keep doing what we are doing, let’s keep improving all the time, let’s become the best version of ourselves, race after race.”

Francesco Bagnaia has admitted he will need help from other riders to have any chance of winning the MotoGP world championship following his sprint crash on Saturday.

Falling out of the race on lap three while his title rival Jorge Martin went on to win meant Bagnaia’s points deficit grew from 17 to 29 points ahead of Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

This in turn puts Pramac Ducati rider Martin in a mathematical position to wrap up the title on Sunday, with one round still remaining.

The deficit is now such that Bagnaia concedes winning tomorrow’s race will not be enough if Martin simply follows him home second.

Although he would still theoretically be alive in the championship heading to the finale in that scenario, the factory Ducati rider knows he now needs other riders to take points off the Spaniard to have a realistic chance at the last round.

“Giving my maximum and winning the race will not be enough,” said Bagnaia. “So we will need something more.”

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

While a zero-score for Martin would be the ideal scenario for the Italian, the next-best thing would be for the likes of Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Enea Bastianini (factory Ducati) – who followed Martin home in the sprint – to take some points off the Spaniard on Sunday.

“Tomorrow I really hope Marc and Enea will find something to be close to us. [But the worst] case for Jorge [if nothing changes] is that he finishes second because we don’t have any rivals.

“But I will go like always tomorrow, I will try to win.”

After the sprint, Bagnaia also explained that he had not taken any additional risks heading into the tricky Turn 9 on the lap he fell.

The left-hander has caught out a number of riders so far on the Sepang weekend.

“As soon as I saw that Jorge started better, I waited and then I saw that the pace wasn’t that fast. So I thought, ‘okay, I will overtake, I will have a chance in the next laps’.

“On the first lap I was a bit too aggressive in that corner. I had a lot of movement from the front – and I didn’t crash.

“[Then] I said ‘okay, I will enter more calmly’. I was sure that the risk I was taking wasn’t over the limit. I was quite confident.

“I entered the corner a bit slower but I touched the bump at the apex and I lost the front.

“I don’t know how many laps I’ve done this weekend and in the past, and I’ve touched the bump many, many times without crashing. There is always a first time. It wasn’t the [ideal] moment but honestly, it’s something that can happen.

“It’s not the first time it has happened this season that I’ve told myself I will brake a bit [earlier] not to take any risk and I’ve crashed.”

McLaren insists no final decision has been made about Gabriel Bortoleto‘s Formula 1 future, amid growing indications that the Brazilian could be poised to secure a deal with Sauber.

Bortoleto, who is part of McLaren’s young driver programme, has impressed in F2 this season — and currently leads the championship with only the Qatar and Abu Dhabi rounds remaining.

His strong form, off the back of winning the 2023 F3 championship, has thrust him into contention for a seat at Sauber, which has been pondering whether to go with a youngster for the long-term or stick with an experienced driver like incumbent Valtteri Bottas.

Sources have indicated that Bortoleto is closing in on a deal, although it is unclear if this is for next season or for 2026 when the Sauber team will officially become Audi.

For Bortoleto to be free to race for Sauber, he would need to be released from his McLaren young driver contract.

Speaking at the Brazilian Grand Prix, team principal Andrea Stella reiterated that his squad would have no hesitation in doing so.

It is understood, however, that such a release is dependent on Bortoleto having a firm race contract on the table, rather than it being for a reserve or test role.

Stella said: “Having the possibility to talk about Gabriel, I would like to take this opportunity to say once again how good a work he’s been doing in junior categories, winning F3, leading F2 at the first season.

“This is to lead into the fact that I think it’s very, very normal and natural that Formula 1 teams are interested in having Gabriel as a driver.

“In terms of McLaren, McLaren will not stop the possibility for Gabriel to drive Formula 1. So conversations are ongoing and we will see what the scenario will be for the future.”

Gabriel Bortoleto, Invicta Racing

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

Bortoleto has earned some fans within the F1 paddock with his driving this year and three-time world champion Max Verstappen said earlier this weekend that if he was Sauber he would commit to him straightaway.

“If I was Sauber, I would have signed him already,” said Verstappen. “I mean, especially if that’s anyway for the future and ‘26, with the big rule change.

“It’s always good to get used to a team already for a year, make your mistakes here and there, get integrated well, and understand the car a bit. You always feel much more prepared and comfortable when you then start in ‘26.”

Porsche has insisted that it is not going into Saturday’s World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain with a conservative approach as it looks to seal the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles. 

The German marque will start the Bahrain 8 Hours “looking to maximise its finishing position” with both its 963 LMDhs, according to Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid.

That comment comes despite the fact that Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer in the #6 PPM entry only need to finish ninth to secure the title. 

“Our feedback to everyone is: ‘don’t do anything differently to what we have been doing’,” said Diuguid on the eve of the 2024 WEC series finale.

“We haven’t gone points racing at a single event this year and we are not going to go points racing on Saturday either. That’s what’s got us into this position.

“We are going to do what we have been doing the whole season: let’s go out there and try to beat them [the opposition].”

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Urs Kuratle, head of the LMDh programme at Porsche Motorsport, added that the strategy is “not so different from our normal approach”. 

But he explained that Porsche and PPM could modify its plans over the course of the eight hours.

“We have to be flexible and have to react to whatever the race presents,” said Kuratle. 

Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach suggested that it would be possible to over-think its strategy going into the race in Bahrain. 

“If we tried to predict everything, we would have to go through every scenario, and it would be too much of a puzzle for the team,” he said. 

Porsche will be taking an approach that it described as “situational”. 

“If you are leading the race and your strongest competitor is out, obviously you are not going to take any risks,” explained Laudenbach. 

“And if someone is coming up on you with nothing to lose, you might handle it differently than if you are racing your direct competition for the championship, because they will be making sure they don’t damage their car as well.”

Porsche’s task in the manufacturers’ standings is more difficult than in the drivers’ championship. 

It is only 10 points ahead whereas Vanthoor, Estre and Lotterer have a 35-point advantage with only 38 up for grabs.

A victory for second-placed Toyota would give it the manufacturers’ title even if Porsche finishes second.

Toyota took the point for pole position courtesy of Brendon Hartley in the Japanese manufacturers’ #8 entry, but that will have no bearing on the destination of the title if one of the GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars wins the race. 

But it could prove crucial in other scenarios, however. 

If the best Toyota takes second and the best PPM entry fourth, for example, the two manufacturers would be tied on 179 points. 

The Japanese manufacturer would then take the title on countback by virtue of more second places.

The drivers of the #6 963 have 150 points going into the race in Bahrain to the 115 of second-placed Ferrari crew of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina. 

Toyota drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries have 113 points and are also mathematically in with a chance of the title. 

Porsche has 161 points in the manufacturers’ standings to Toyota’s 151, while Ferrari on 134 points is nominally in title contention. 

The Bahrain 8 Hours kicks off at 2pm local time and 11am GMT.

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Francesco Bagnaia made an early statement in his bid to beat world championship leader Jorge Martin by setting the fastest lap time in Friday’s Free Practice 1 for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

In contrast to Pramac Ducati’s Martin, factory Ducati rider Bagnaia chose to run a soft front at the end of the session, a move that powered him to a time fully 1.647s better than Martin’s.

Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) joined Bagnaia with late runs on soft rubber, and duly set laps good enough for second and third on the timesheets respectively. Vinales was however 0.743s in arrears of Bagnaia, with Bezzecchi over a second adrift.

Jack Miller (KTM) in fourth was quickest of the riders to take the more conventional approach to the session by simply running a medium front tyre throughout.

Tech 3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta was fifth behind the Australian and the only rider to drop his bike during the session, with a very late crash at Turn 9.

Martin was third-quickest of the riders to stick with the mediums and thus sixth overall. The Spaniard, who leads the championship by 17 points over Bagnaia with one round to go after Malaysia, made one small mistake during the session as he outbraked himself and ran wide at the final corner.

Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) was seventh-fastest, followed by Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.

Quartararo led much of the session before the likes of Bagnaia pitted for soft rubber. The Frenchman’s bike broke down with a few minutes remaining in the session, although he was able to coast it back to the garage.

MotoGP returnee Andrea Iannone broke into the top 10 for VR46 Ducati, where he is replacing the injured Fabio di Giannantonio. This ninth-fastest time was also courtesy of a late lap on a soft front, however.

Only five riders in total pulled the soft-rubber move, with Trackhouse Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori the fifth and slowest of these in 18th.

Acosta’s team-mate Augusto Fernandez completed the top 10, almost two seconds down on the pace-setting Bagnaia.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez was 12th and Bagnaia’s factory Ducati team-mate Enea Bastianini ended FP1 14th. The pair are battling for third in the world championship.

Track action at Sepang started in slightly damp conditions after rain earlier in the morning, which led to an FP1 that was largely cautious and uneventful. It can also be regarded as inconclusive given the varying tyre strategies at play.

Photos from Malaysian GP Practice