A slow-burning session, which featured no track action for the opening five minutes, ended with a series of qualifying simulations in which Verstappen set a 1m30.267s lap to eclipse the two McLarens - which had found performance relative to the Red Bull driver overnight.
Verstappen had headed the field after the first set of soft-tyre runs, logging a 1m30.960s - slower than the previous day's headline effort as overnight rain had washed away some of the rubber on the track surface.
