​Leclerc has driven for Ferrari since 2019 [Getty Images]Red Bull were tipped by George Russell and Charles Leclerc as the team to beat after the first day at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.Red Bull drivers Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen finished the day second and fourth fastest but those positions appeared to belie their underlying pace.Ferrari’s Leclerc was fastest by 0.099 seconds from Hadjar, while Verstappen was 0.257secs off the pace and behind McLaren’s Lando Norris.Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest and 0.305secs off the pace in the second Ferrari.But Verstappen did not do a qualifying simulation run on the soft tyre, and Leclerc said Hadjar had not optimised his.Leclerc said: “Everybody is very close. It’s been a very difficult day overall.”The track conditions were very tricky. The track was quite dirty and very slippery so things will evolve and change a lot from today until tomorrow and we have to be on the good side of that anticipating that in the best possible way.”I felt quite good with the car but I still feel like the Red Bull is standing out this weekend so far.”Isack did some mistakes in the last part of the lap and Max didn’t do the lap on the soft tyres.”I don’t think we are the most competitive and also the Mercedes is a bit difficult to understand. I’m sure once Mercedes put everything together they will be very strong. Normally when they put something on the car it works.”Bahrain GP in Malaysia Preview: Antonelli’s mindset, Piastri’s struggles & who wins in Sepang?Andrew Benson Q&A: Send us your questionsHow to follow Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on the BBCVerstappen, who chose not to do a soft-tyre run because rain was forecast and he wanted to prioritise race preparation, said his day had been a “decent start” and “positive”.Technical director Pierre Wache added: “We were not very optimistic starting the weekend. The main aspect was to evaluate the package we put in Baku in different type of corners than low speed.”It looks to be working better than the previous package. Relative performance is difficult to judge but we were surprisingly happy with where we were today.”Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were only seventh and eighth fastest in terms of headline times as they evaluated a major upgrade on their car, the team’s first since the Canadian Grand Prix in June.Russell said: “I’m feeling the downforce in some of the corners but with this amount of tyre overheating and degradation that trumps everything. So we just need to get on top of that overnight,. That’s more of a set-up rather than the upgrade itself and go from there.’Asked whether he could compete for pole position on Saturday, Russell said: “Currently, Verstappen looks very fast and the race pace of the McLaren looked very quick but never say never.”The Briton trails Antonelli by 66 points in the championship after his victory in Azerbaijan last weekend.On the race simulation runs, Verstappen also looked like the car to b