Fresh from inking his contract extension at Red Bull and his victory in Monaco last time out, the most successful-ever Mexican driver set the pace with a 1m45.476s - a little over 4s slower than Leclerc’s pole time from the 2021 edition of the race.
Leclerc ran a tenth adrift, while defending champion and points leader Max Verstappen ran to third ahead of Carlos Sainz and the bouncing Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.
