After those times came in, Leclerc looked to have set the pace before Norris surged into P1 with a lap of 1m 31.504, four-tenths clear of Leclerc’s previous benchmark. Piastri, meanwhile, slotted into third after going wide at the final corner on his effort.
Hamilton took fourth place ahead of Russell, while Nico Hulkenberg was an eye-catching sixth for Kick Sauber. Albon followed in seventh, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and the Racing Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda completing the top 10.
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Bearman, Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz took 11th through to 15th respectively, while Max Verstappen was down in 16th for Red Bull having aborted his lap on the soft tyres, meaning that he did not get a representative effort on the board.
Behind the Dutchman was Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, Lawson in the Red Bull, the Kick Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto and Doohan, who was unable to rejoin following his car issues.
With the weekend’s only practice session now complete, the drivers and teams will have a brief opportunity to assess their data before turning their attentions to Sprint Qualifying, which is scheduled to get underway at 1530 local time.
