McLaren’s Lando Norris kicked things off in the only practice session of the weekend, posting a 1:39.704. Bottas was the first driver into the 1:38s, before Ocon, Sainz and Hamilton beat that. The seven-time World Champion did a 1:38.050.
Points leader Max Verstappen logged a 1:37.593 to go fastest moments later, 0.109s ahead of George Russell. Hamilton, Sainz and Ocon completed the top 5 after most drivers put a time in.
Everyone was on hards apart from Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. They were on mediums and softs respectively.
The first driver to go into the 1:36s was Charles Leclerc as he pumped in a 1:36.724, putting him 0.869s clear of Verstappen. A big jump came from Carlos Sainz as a 1:36.140 put him 0.584s clear of the pack.
Things swapped again as a 1:35.860 from George Russell put him P1. Verstappen responded again, logging a 1:35.538 to go 0.3s clear.
After Pierre Gasly had a small spin in turn 1, Lewis Hamilton lost it over a bump through the high speed turn 4 as he went past Nico Hülkenberg, and the Brit had a monster spin, damaging his tyres.
Ferrari continued to look good. Carlos Sainz put in a 1:35.231 to usurp Max Verstappen by 0.307s, with Charles Leclerc 0.013s behind the Dutchman. Lando Norris was down in P8 at this stage.
George Russell was not having fun in the other Mercedes. He spun at turn 1 as he got high and deep on corner entry. The Brit had a moment in turn 4 as well before that but did not spin.
Charles Leclerc was the first driver to break the 1:35 barrier as he pumped in a 1:34.966 to go fastest by 0.265s from teammate Sainz. Russell, Verstappen, Norris, Bottas, Lawson, Pérez, Tsunoda and Piastri completed the top 10 halfway through.
Lewis Hamilton was down in 16th as he continued to struggle, running wide in turn 19 once he returned to the track.
World Champion Max Verstappen was the first car out on softs. He logged three purple sectors as a 1:33.855 put him 1.111s clear of Leclerc. Sainz popped into P2 on used hards, 0.862s away. Sergio Pérez did the exact same time, but he was on the softs. The second Red Bull improved on a second try by 0.079s, moving into 2nd.
On his qualifying simulation, Alex Albon had a moment at turn 12, forcing him to abandon his lap as he went off track. He also touched the grass at turn 6, a corner where plenty of drivers exceeded track limits last year.
Ferrari continued to look strong on the softs. A 1:33.602 from Carlos Sainz saw him beat Verstappen by 0.253s, going purple in sectors 2 and 3.
Zhou Guanyu’s session ended early as he limped back to the pits with a technical problem.
A VSC was briefly thrown as Oscar Piastri missed the pit entry. The Australian carried too much speed trying to turn into it and had to go around again.
On a second flying lap, Charles Leclerc went within 0.021s of teammate Carlos Sainz as Ferrari topped the times. Both McLaren drivers went over track limits on their laps, going P4 and P5 behind Verstappen in the end.
Hamilton, Russell, Magnussen, Alonso and Tsunoda completed the top 10, 0.711s covered the top 10.
Hülkenberg, Gasly, Lawson, Albon, Stroll, Pérez, Ocon, Bottas, Colapinto and Zhou completed the times.
