Bottas was 0.025 seconds ahead of Verstappen and 0.319secs quicker than his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Seven-time champion Hamilton was fifth fastest, behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Hamilton was struggling with his car, trying a number of times to improve but never managing to get a lap together. Hamilton said early in the session that the Mercedes was “undriveable” because of cold tyres, and seemed to be suffering with an unstable rear later on. He set the fastest first sector of the lap a number of times, but the time fell away further in the lap.

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