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A lap as the chequered flag waved saw Verstappen move three-tenths clear at the top of the timesheets.
He headed Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Perez, with McLaren and Ferrari also in contention towards the top of the timesheets.
Plumes of dust were kicked up by cars as they first headed out, the circuit described by Oscar Piastri as “super slippery.”
With the exception of Alpine, the field was out on medium compound tyres, the Enstone pairing of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon on hards.
The Anglo-French team had a troubled session with Ocon reporting a lack of power in his car with just three laps under his belt.
That triggered a power unit change back in the garage that ended Ocon’s session without a time on the board.
A brief red flag was thrown after 13 minutes to allow marshals to clear a piece of metallic debris from the circuit – appearing to have broken off a car, suggestions being it was Franco Colapinto’s Williams.
Charles Leclerc’s session was short-lived when he crashed into the Tecpro barrier at Turn 15 after 27 minutes.
The Italian GP winner skated long under braking, carrying too much speed before ploughing into the wall, blaming the dirty circuit on approach to the downhill left-hander.
It triggered the second red flag of the session as he climbed out of the stricken Ferrari.
Leclerc sat at the top of the timesheets at the time, 0.03s faster than Max Verstappen – though a dirty track meant their respective times were not especially meaningful.
Having reported a lack of grip in his early laps Oscar Piastri also reported heavy bottoming from his car.
McLaren appeared to be running different wing levels across its cars; Piastri running a higher downforce configuration than his team-mate.
On single lap pace, Lando Norris rose to the top of the timesheets from his team-mate, the pair more than half a second clear of the pack with 20 minutes remaining
Following the second stoppage, Daniel Ricciardo found himself third on timesheets with 22 minutes remaining.
It was a result of a one lap run on the soft tyre giving a false impression of the pace in the RB.
Qualifying simulation runs were interrupted when Colapinto found the wall inside the final 19 minutes.
The Argentinian drew the third red flag for of the session after he hit the barrier exiting Turn 4.
He was late turning into the right-hander, the back end stepping out before he slapped the wall in an impact heavy enough to see the medical car deployed.
Hamilton was fastest under the stoppage with a 1;45.859s, ahead of the two McLarens led by Norris.
A good lap from Verstappen saw him fastest through the first two splits, but lost time on the long front straight to end the lap only second fastest, 0.036s slower than Hamilton.
Carlos Sainz sat fourth inside the final five minutes to again suggest a competitive weekend with the four leading teams all in contention.
The Spaniard’s contribution in the session was important given the lack of running from Leclerc, even if he was pushed back to fifth at the flag as Perez improved.
Ricciardo ended proceedings 10th, just over a second off the outright pace but well clear of team-mate Yuki Tsunoda while Oliver Bearman was 11th, one spot up from Nico Hulkenberg at Haas.
