
Red Bull’s Verstappen set a quickest lap of 1m18.790s to end the session ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who jumped up the order late on after initially struggling with the handling of his W14. Hamilton had been adrift of his team-mate George Russell during the early exploratory laps on the harder tyres.
Sergio Perez took third in the second Red Bull ahead of Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso, although the former’s best time was set on the mediums, as he went off track on his soft-tyred run.