Kevin Magnussen led the pack around at the start of the early running on the medium and hard tyres – the Dane therefore establishing the first place benchmark at 1m36.852s using the yellow-walled rubber.
Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg then forged ahead on the medium and hard tyres respectively, before Lewis Hamilton ended the opening five-minutes of the one-hour session by going quickest on a 1m34.527s.
But that did not last long either as Verstappen – unlike Hamilton using the hards at this stage – went quickest on his second attempt at a first flier having gone off into the Turn 1 runoff on his first go.
The times continued to tumble as the drivers completed their initial exploratory stints, with several having off-track moments at Turn 1 and Turn 11 at the end of the long, meandering back straight, struggling for grip on the new track surface.
During this period, Nyck de Vries lost the rear of his AlphaTauri and spin around halfway through the long, tightening Turn 12 right, after which Carlos Sainz went quickest with a 1m33.823.
Hamilton then went quicker still before Verstappen, still on the same set of hards, posted a 1m32.465s that he beat with a fourth flying lap attempt to close out the opening quarter of the session on a 1m31.826s.
The pack then pitted and after a short lull in action many drivers switched to the softs for the first time, with Hulkenberg the first to do so and duly going back to the top of the times with a 1m31.392s just before the halfway mark.
Source: Autosport