
Huge gains in the first and second sector from the opening practice run vaulted Leclerc up the order, as he bolted to a 1m43.224s in his qualifying simulations on Friday evening.
That handed him a 0.25s advantage over FP1 pacesetter Perez, and Verstappen was again the slower of the RB18 drivers while Fernando Alonso ran impressively to net fourth place.