This put him 0.228s clear of Leclerc, while Lando Norris – off the back of his dominant victory last time out at Zandvoort – was third for McLaren. Sainz followed in fourth, with Bottas ending the session an impressive fifth for Kick Sauber and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri going sixth quickest.
Hamilton took P7 as Mercedes’ sole runner for much of the hour, ahead of Alex Albon for Williams in P8, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in P9 and Alonso rounding out the top 10 for Aston Martin.
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Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and the RB pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda were 11th, 12th and 13th respectively, in front of Pierre Gasly in the Alpine and Zhou Guanyu’s Kick Sauber in 14th and 15th.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll set the 16th quickest time, while Colapinto took 17th, having avoided beaching his Williams following a trip through the gravel at the end of the session. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg were 18th and 19th, with Ocon having a spin at the tail-end of the session, as Antonelli’s brief running put him down in 20th.
With the first practice hour of the weekend under their belts, the teams and drivers will have the opportunity to debrief and take a breather before returning to the track for second practice at 1700 local time.
