The Ferrari driver was almost 0.4s clear of his Red Bull Racing rival, with team-mate Carlos Sainz third.

Oscar Piastri was the best-placed McLaren driver in seventh, while Daniel Ricciardo was 12th best, 0.3s back from his RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

The early pace was set by Ricciardo, whose RB team had worked on the balance of his car following the opening hour of practice.

Then, the RB had proved a promising package with Yuki Tsunoda showing well with Ricciardo in 10th.

But while Tsunoda was pleased with his car, according to the team’s CEO Peter Beyer, his Australian team-mate wanted a few changes.

Ricciardo’s early 1:19.854s predictably didn’t last long, but it was a positive way to begin the session where again he had a set of medium tyres fitted.

Teams had split their approaches earlier in the day, with some preferring to burn through their soft tyre allocation, knowing it won’t work for Sunday’s race.

But as Free Practice 2 commenced, the medium tyre was used exclusively by the field which suggested the initial programme was more focused on the race.

Alex Albon was not on track. Following his clash with the wall in opening practice his car could not be repaired in time for the second session.

Heart rates at Williams raised even further when Logan Sargeant spun at Turn 11.

The American ran wide on the exit, dropping a wheel into the gravel to pitch him into a spin, narrowly avoiding the walls in the process.

As the session continued, Aston Martin rose up the order to leave Lance Stroll fastest from team-mate Fernando Alonso, with a best lap of 1:17.822s.

Predictably, those times didn’t stand but offered an early look at qualifying simulation times, since Stroll and Alonso had used the soft tyres for their laps.

When Ferrari completed its performance run, it resulted in Charles Leclerc going fastest from Carlos Sainz, the former with a 1:17.277s.

He sat 0.430s clear of his team-mate, with Verstappen slotting in third with an identical time to the Spaniard.

With another lap, the Dutchman improved, though by only 0.049s as he split the two Ferraris.

The focus then shifted back to race runs, meaning the order did not change in the run to the chequered flag; Leclerc was fastest from Verstappen, Sainz, and the Aston Martins.

A final hour of practice remains ahead of qualifying for Sunday’s race; free Practice 3 is set to begin at 12:30 AEDT on Saturday.