Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas set the initial pace with a 1m26.993s, but that was rapidly bettered by a series of quicker times from Zhou Guanyu, Fernando Alonso, Hamilton and Lando Norris, as first place benchmark was 10s lower by the end of the opening five minutes of the one-hour session.
Alonso and Norris exchanged positions at the front, with the latter and the two Ferrari drivers the only runners using the medium tyres during the early laps while all the others used the hards as they gained confidence with every tour and benefitted from F1 rubber being laid down on the tight, twisty, city track.
