At the start of the one-hour session, Nyck de Vries led the pack out of the pits, running a large aerodynamic measuring device behind the front wheels of Sebastian Vettel's Aston Martin.
When the 2021 Formula E champion pitted before setting a timed lap – which he would not do until near the halfway point as Aston concentrated on its aero load data-gathering early on – Haas's Kevin Magnussen set the first place benchmark at a 1m27.185s.
