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The calm descended on the circuit during the first minutes of life of the class, while everyone waited for conditions to approach those that would be present in the heats and the race.
After that, the drivers began to enter the track in succession, and everyone was limited to “soft” tires only.
Upon completing his first quick attempt, something was wrong with the Verstappen’s rear wing, the fin was swinging as soon as the DRS was activated, wasting precious time on the straight lines.
Everyone came back in the final minutes for the final playoff simulation, and the surprise came this time when Verstappen edged out the Mercedes duo with a relatively comfortable gap, given the presence of Red Bull and Mercedes far from the rest of the competition.
Verstappen managed to set the best time this weekend so far at 1 minute 28.355 seconds, despite his recoil problem.
The Dutchman was 0.263 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton, while Valtteri Bottas was third, a tenth of a second behind his teammate.
After the accident he suffered yesterday in the second free tests, Alexander Albon, the second Red Bull driver, was in fourth place, but was 0.663 seconds slower than his colleague, and the last one was in a second rung with the lead.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz, Jr., drove a very even train after fifth, being only 0.017 seconds faster than Pierre Gasly, and Lando Norris confirmed McLaren’s strong pace in his seventh.
Daniel Kviat was eighth ahead of Lance Stroll, while Sergio Pérez completed the top ten, well ahead of the Renault duo.
