Verstappen bolted on the soft tyres in the final part of the session to leapfrog long-time session leader Fernando Alonso, setting a 1m27.428s. The championship leader - who can sew up the title in Saturday's sprint race - then saw off an initial attempt from Charles Leclerc as the Monegasque suffered a snap of steering in his opening sector.
Sainz drew close with a 1m27.762s, but this was only good enough for second overall as Leclerc popped up into third on a second run with the soft tyres.
