Federico Albano described the Sepang qualifying as a test on a circuit suitable for motorsport. According to him, Max Verstappen had secured a significant pole position and Isack Hadjar finished third. He attributed the speed of the Red Bull on the straights to the low levels of aerodynamic drag and the updates, which made the car more predictable for the drivers, even though it was not optimized for every corner. Albano emphasized that low drag would remain crucial for F1 26. Regarding Ferrari, Albano wrote that the car was the most competitive in corners, but lost a lot on the straights due to poor power. He rated Lewis Hamilton's lap as exceptional, especially in the middle sector: in those fast corners, he noted, the Brit gained 0.4 seconds on Charles Leclerc. He called Hamilton's car balance perfect and the lap, in his opinion, the best the driver had done since arriving in Maranello. Leclerc, on the other hand, overloaded the front end and suffered from tire overheating midway through the lap. Albano said it remained to be seen if during the race the thermal load would shift towards the front, helping the Monegasque. Albano pointed out Mercedes as the main technical case of the day. The updates would have increased downforce and improved the W17's behavior in fast corners, but would have weakened the front end too much, penalizing the car in slow corners or making it oversteer with more extreme setups. He also argued that the increase in aerodynamic drag had complicated energy management, causing a change in deployment strategy midway through Q2. In the race, he predicted that Kimi would be in the fight, but felt that for now the updates had shifted the balance more than produced a step forward. As for McLaren, Albano considered it not very competitive on a dry lap, lacking particular effectiveness in any type of corner and with marked time losses in braking. Looking ahead to the race, Albano indicated Verstappen as the favorite, predicting very high degradation, two pit stops, and different tire compounds available to the leading drivers. He also expected Hamilton to be aggressive from the start. He concluded by saying he was eager to follow a race he believed would be interesting from a technical standpoint. #F1 #Motorsport #Qualifica (translated)