Hamilton was 0.195 seconds quicker than title rival Max Verstappen in fourth. Unusually, neither Mercedes driver set their best time on the ‘soft’ tyre, while Verstappen did, but could only improve very slightly from his best on the medium. Verstappen was also complaining about the behaviour of the front end of his car. Hamilton was also fastest in the first session earlier in the day, but just 0.056secs clear of Verstappen. Verstappen made a blistering start to the first session, well clear of the rest of the drivers for the first quarter of the session after quickly getting up to speed. But Mercedes upped their pace as the session went on to supplant him. Verstappen was a couple of 10ths off Hamilton until a run right at the end of the session closed him up to his rival. In the second session, Hamilton was 0.172secs quicker than Verstappen on the medium tyres when they did their first runs. Neither Hamilton nor Bottas could improve on the soft tyres on their qualifying simulation runs. Verstappen also struggled to do so – but did in the end shave 0.077secs off his fastest time to edge closer to the Mercedes.

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