After Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso paced two of the three practice sessions, Red Bull fought back in qualifying as reigning world champion Verstappen led a 1-2 ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez.
Alonso dropped to fifth in Q3 of qualifying, falling behind both Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, while the Monegasque driver opted against a final run to preserve a set of soft tyres for the race.
