The hour-long encounter was interrupted when Alex Albon found the fence at Turn 7, plucking the right front wheel from his Williams and scattering debris across the circuit.
Oscar Piastri was the best-placed Australian in 10th, with Daniel Ricciardo one spot further back in a promising session for RB that left Yuki Tsunoda fifth.
The opening hour of practice had a busy start with Fernando Alonso leading the charge out on track – an aero rake on his Aston Martin.
A new front wing had been fitted to the Spaniard’s car with the rake in place to correlate the real world versus what the team found in CFD and the wind tunnel.
In the early stages, the medium compound tyre was preferred, Lewis Hamilton using it to bank a 1:20.866s to sit atop the timesheets.
Others went for the soft tyres, Charles Leclerc among them, the new C5 compound thought to be too soft for the race itself.
Both Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate, George Russell, complained of long brake pedals, with the latter also reporting a vibration through the steering rack.
Red Bull Racing also opted for the soft tyres for Sergio Perez, the Mexican going second fastest inside the opening 10 minutes with a 1:19.977s.
Ahead of him was Lance Stroll for Aston Martin, his 1:19.858s standing until Oscar Piastri went quicker.
The Australian’s time at the top of the standings was brief as Leclerc soon improved by 0.041s with a 1:19.337s – again on soft rubber versus the mediums for Piastri.
After 15 minutes, Verstappen laid down a 1:18.670s to top proceedings by more than 0.4s.
Like his Red Bull Racing team-mate, Verstappen had a set of the soft tyres fitted to his car which saw him go fastest of anyone through all three sectors.
Promising early pace left Yuki Tsunoda in fifth fastest after 20 minutes, with Daniel Ricciardo in the other RB a solid eighth.
The Australian then improved to rise to sixth as Tsunoda rose to second, the pair on the medium compound tyres.
A mistake from Alonso at Turn 10 made for a nervous moment as the Spaniard bounced through the gravel on the exit of the fast right-hander.
The two-time world champion was wide of the apex, his momentum carrying him off track as he collected the slide, lucky not to continue into the barrier that awaited.
While he escaped without serious incident, it did necessitate Aston Martin changing the floor of his car.
Lando Norris moved to the top of the timesheets midway through the 60-minute session, his 1:18.564s a little more than a tenth quicker than Verstappen had managed.
It was a time set of the soft rubber, the leading four drivers burning through the softest tyre in the three available to them.
The first to deviate from that was Tsunoda, who’d dropped to fifth with his earlier effort in a promising early display from RB.
Russell was next off the road, cutting through the inside of Turn 10 after the back end of the Mercedes stepped out dramatically as he navigated Turn 9.
With an armful of opposite lock, he did well not to spin the car as he recovered.
Valtteri Bottas was less fortunate, losing his Sauber at the same point as he completed a neat 360, flat spotting the tyres in the process.
As he returned to the track, the red flag was thrown after Alex Albon plucked the front-right wheel off the Williams at Turn 8.
There was also damage to the right rear of the car after he ran too wide exiting Turn 7 before sliding to a halt a little further up the road.
It was caused by the Brit taking too much kerb, pushing him wide and into the barrier on drivers’ right exiting the corner.
Running resumed with nine minutes left in the session, prompting a stampede back out on track with all 19 remaining runners on track.
On his first flying lap after the restart, Hamilton was off the road at Turn 1.
The Mercedes driver sailed by the apex and grabbed the edge of the gravel trap but carried on.
Next was Verstappen’s turn to run wide, finding the gravel a Turn 10 in a similar fashion to Alonso earlier in the session.
The world championship leader reported that he’d bottomed out heavily during the incident.
Nonetheless, the Dutchman improved to second fastest by the end of the session, Norris sitting atop the timesheets.
Third fastest was Russell, then Leclerc, Tsunoda, and Perez.
Piastri was the best-placed Australian in 10th, one spot up from Ricciardo, while Valtteri Bottas was at the foot of the timing screens, 1.45s off the pace.
