Norris recorded his best lap midway through the session to bump Verstappen from the top of the timesheets, minutes before a brief red flag for debris.
That compromised a number of drivers, Oscar Piastri included as he ended the session sixth, while local favourite Carlos Sainz was third best.
Six of the 10 teams had upgrades, Mercedes, McLaren, Alpine, and Williams without new parts this weekend according to FIA documents.
Ferrari and RB meanwhile had significant packages, both teams heading out on track on the early moments.
Aero rakes were common place, even amongst those that didn’t have upgrades like McLaren.
On track, Oliver Bearman was at the wheel of Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas for the opening 60-minute practice session.
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In the early minutes, Yuki Tsunoda topped the session, though a problem with his DRS flap saw it oscillating when opened.
It was a busy start, with Verstappen fastest after 20 minutes with eight laps under his belt.
In total, 17 drivers had set times, though all 20 had been out on track. Those not to have logged a timed lap were Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso, and Pierre Gasly.
Ahead of them on the timesheet, Logan Sargeant was 17th, 2.8s off the 1:15.424s set by Verstappen.
With his rear wing coated in flo vis paint, Bottas had his DRS flap oscillating like Tsunoda’s did earlier.
It was a new rear wing for Sauber, the Finn having logged 10 laps by the halfway point of the session.
Russell went fastest as he bolted on a set of new medium tyres to lower the benchmark time to a 1:14.692s.
The time didn’t top timesheets for long, with Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, and Verstappen all improving to push the Mercedes driver to fourth.
The championship leader’s new best was a 1:14.252s on a set of the soft compound tyres.
It prompted a busy period of single lap running with a host of drivers taking on a set of soft tyres.
Lando Norris went fastest with 24 minutes remaining, logging a 1:14.228s lap to inch ahead of Verstappen’s best by 0.024s.
The red flag was thrown shortly after to clear a piece of wing, which had broken off Alonso’s Aston Martin at Turn 9.
Running quickly resumed once the debris was cleared.
The stoppage came at an awkward time for Oscar Piastri, who was on an out lap on a new set of soft tyres at the time.
He saw 15th under the stoppage, his best 2.006s off his team-mate’s session-topping best.
The Australian was among those to quickly head back out, rising to sixth fastest with a 1:14.867s.
The red flag bisected plans for teams which created a traffic problem of sorts on track.
Some remained focused on single lap pace while others were looking at longer runs – and therefore running several seconds a lap slower with high fuel.
That was reflected by Russell, who asked why Mercedes had sent he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton out close to one another on track.
The pair were on slightly different plans; Hamilton on the medium rubber and Russell on the hards.
Inside the final six minutes, Pierre Gasly reported a problem that left him unable to drive the car and returned to the box.
The session ended with all 20 drivers on track so they could take part in practice starts from the grid.
Norris ended the hour fastest, narrowly ahead of Verstappen in second with Sainz third best from Russell, Perez, and Piastri.
Tsunoda was 20th and slowest, 1.688s off the pace, while Ricciardo was 15th in the other RB, around three-tenths better than his team-mate.
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