Bottas, who has a five-place grid penalty following an engine change, was 0.045 seconds quicker than Hamilton. Hamilton’s title rival Max Verstappen was a massive 0.932secs off the pace in his Red Bull, ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Leclerc had an off at the high-speed Esses but escaped damaging his car. Leclerc, who lost control on the exit of Turn Five through the bumpy and demanding first sector, was 0.2secs quicker than the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. Both drivers of the red car were struggling with oversteer in high-speed corners, the cause of Leclerc’s incident.

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