At the start of the 60-minute session, AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries set the first-place benchmark at 1m17.918s during the opening laps using the prototype compound construction set to become standard across Pirelli’s range from the upcoming British GP, which several other runners sampled early on too.
But Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon all then cycled through to temporarily head the pack following their first laps out of the pits – the field at this stage spread across the hard and mediums already in use for Pirelli since the start of the season.
At the five-minute mark, Verstappen then popped in ahead with a new leading time using the C1 prototype hard tyres before he was shuffled back by the Ferrari drivers, unusually, running the softs from the start.
With both SF-23 now running Ferrari’s updated sidepods, home hero Sainz posted a new benchmark on the red-walled rubber at 1m14.999s, as team-mate Leclerc slotted in 0.601s behind in second.
The red pair returned to the pits before running again on the softs at the end of the first 10 minutes, with Sainz going now faster and Leclerc closing to 0.223s behind.
Verstappen then reappeared on the mediums and forged ahead at the 15-minute mark, his 1m14.968s getting him ahead of Sainz despite only heading him in the opening sector.
After a short lull in action, Ferrari sent its drivers out again on the softs for qualifying simulation effort, with Sainz leading the way and blasting ahead of Verstappen’s previous best with a 1m14.274s.
But that lead only lasted a few moments as Leclerc headed Sainz in the second and third sectors and moved ahead on a 1m14.246s.
Then came Verstappen’s first run on the softs and the world champion’s 1m13.907s reclaimed the top spot with 25 minutes completed – good enough to lead Leclerc by 0.339s.
Source: Autosport