The McLaren pair came alive on the soft compound tyres late in proceedings to stamp their authority over Ferrari, which had looked to be in the driver’s seat to that point.
Carlos Sainz was third fastest from Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, though the Red Bull Racing and Mercedes looked a step away from the front of the field.
After teams essentially lost Free Practice 2 to Pirelli’s tyre test, it was a busy start.
At Mercedes, George Russell had a new car after his crash on Friday afternoon while Verstappen had a new Honda power unit, out of his existing pool, in his Red Bull Racing.
Mercedes and Red Bull Racing therefore had specific interests to focus on in addition to their usual programs.
Part of that was assessment of tyre compounds with a mix of approaches as teams looked towards the race and the sets they needed available come Sunday afternoon.
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There were two approaches; run softs to save a set of mediums for the race, or run mediums and save an extra set of mediums – the former meaning teams would only have four sets of softs come qualifying.
The heavy hitters all opted to run softs.
Russell showed there were no ill effects from his Friday crash as he quickly shot to the top of the timesheets.
Though less than a tenth faster than Verstappen at the time it was an important moment as it demonstrated there were not only no lingering issues as a result of the chassis change, and that Russell was also able to quickly get back on it.
Of course, the time didn’t start for long, with Ferrari establishing itself at the top of the timesheets, Sainz ahead of Charles Leclerc, though there was next to nothing between them.
That was even before the performance runs began midway through the 60-minute session.
Sainz mustered a 1:17.447s on his single-lap run, just under two-tenths quicker than team-mate Leclerc.
Lando Norris held third but almost half a second back, his time was on par with Oscar Piastri in fourth who was baulked by Sainz on his lap. It suggested more in the pocket for both Papaya machines.
That was further highlighted by Yuki Tsunoda, who impressively placed his RB third fastest, between the two Ferraris and McLarens, on a set of medium rubber.
The complication was the impact Free Practice 2 was still having on teams and their run programs – the usual tempo having been abandoned in many respects.
Some teams had completed performance runs early, some had interference, while Verstappen waited until the final 15 minutes for his – recording a 1:17.003s to go fastest.
It was only in the final 15 minutes that some clarity emerged as a second period of qualifying simulations began.
Soon after Verstappen completed his lap, Norris pushed times down by a further 0.452s before Piastri went 0.059s quicker soon after.
Ferrari left its runs a few minutes longer, both its cars losing time in the final sector to McLaren which remained atop the timesheets.
McLaren clearly had strong pace, its pace in the hour arguably nosing it ahead of Ferrari as favourites heading in to qualifying.
Mercedes’ Friday speed looked to have disappeared, somewhat akin to what was seen a week ago in the United States as the squad struggled to go with the very front of the field once the wick was turned up.
Verstappen was unhappy but somewhere in the ballpark, while Perez aborted his best lap but was already well off the pace.
The Mexican had another go in the final minutes, but a mistake into the stadium section saw him go too deep to destroy that lap and he ended the session only 14th.
RB had both its cars in the top 10, Tsunoda in seventh and Lawson 10th, with Kevin Magnussen in ninth showing positive pace from Haas in what again looks to be a tight midfield battle.
At the front, McLaren now heads into qualifying as favourites over Ferrari, though the Scuderia looks a far stronger contender when it comes to race pace.
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