The two-time champion improved on his last lap to run to a 1m23.824s effort, pipping Perez by 0.22s. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc is set to lead a Ferrari second row on Sunday over the Mercedes contenders.
Purportedly, Q1 pacesetter Verstappen's RB18 suffered a start-up problem to delay his entry into the final session. Perez did query this partner's initial absence - a faulty steering wheel switch was said to be the cause.
