An unwell Kevin Magnussen has been forced to sit out FP1 and the Sprint part of the weekend due to sickness, with Oliver Bearman taking his place once again.
A 1:14.301 from Esteban Ocon kicked things off in the only practice session of the weekend.
On his first lap, Lando Norris smashed in a 1:12.641 to go 0.559s clear of Oscar Piastri inside the opening 10 minutes. Gasly, Pérez, Russell, Ocon, Sainz, Leclerc, Verstappen and Alonso completed the top 10.
Russell initially took over at the top, but it was Sergio Pérez leading the way after 10 minutes on a 1:12.099, 0.177s quicker than the Mercedes. Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc and Verstappen completed the top 6.
Everyone was on mediums bar Tsunoda and Lawson, with the RBs in P8 and P12.
Franco Colapinto was pushing on hard, having a couple of big slides getting on power out of turns 9 and 11.
Russell returned to the top as he logged a 1:11.806. That would be beaten by Max Verstappen, however. The Dutchman posted a 1:11.712 to go 0.094s faster.
Pérez, Sainz, Lawson, Leclerc, Alonso, Albon, Hülkenberg and Hamilton completed the top 10 a third of the way through.
Confirmation came through during the session that Max Verstappen will be hit with a 5-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race as he takes a sixth ICE of 2024.
Although he was not particularly pleased with the ride height quality, Lewis Hamilton slotted into second halfway through, 0.042s slower than Max Verstappen. Fellow World Champion Fernando Alonso slotted into 4th, ahead of Sergio Pérez.
In the Ferrari and McLaren fight for the Constructors’ Championship, Sainz and Leclerc ran in P6 and P8. Piastri and Norris were down in P10 and P13.
The first big runner out on the softs was George Russell. He smashed in a 1:10.791 to go quickest by 0.921s from the three-time defending World Champion.
Inside the last 10 minutes, more drivers appeared on softs. Oliver Bearman did a superb lap to go within 0.014s of Russell. Albon, Sainz and Lawson (mediums) moved into the top 5 initially.
Championship contender Lando Norris vaulted up to P3, and he was only 0.040s from Russell on top. Alonso and Leclerc slotted in behind Sainz, going P6 and P7.
On a lap that was set to be very close to George Russell’s, Max Verstappen aborted his lap in the final sector as he was only four hundreths away from the Mercedes driver.
As the chequered flag was thrown, Lando Norris pumped in a 1:10.610, going fastest. The McLaren driver went purple in sector 1. Russell, Bearman, Piastri and Albon completed the top 5.
A very late lap from Charles Leclerc moved him up to P6, with teammate Carlos Sainz right behind as Ferrari looks to be a little bit on the back foot. Hülkenberg, Alonso and Gasly completed the top 10.
Lawson, Tsunoda, Colapinto, Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton, Stroll, Ocon, Pérez and Zhou completed the rest of the order. The seven-time World Champion did not run on softs at the end of the session.
