Few cars ventured out at the start of the one-hour session – the only practice running available ahead of qualifying on the first sprint weekend of the season – before Valtteri Bottas and the Haas duo emerged after the opening five minutes had passed.
They were soon followed out by the rest of the pack taking to the circuit in dribs and drabs, with Alfa Romeo’s decision to send Bottas out first rewarded with the early first place benchmark as he warmed his tyres ahead of those still coming out of the pits – all cars heading out first on the full wets.
Bottas’s initial fastest lap was a 1n43.277s, which was briefly beaten by Kevin Magnussen’s 1m42.539s on the Dane’s first flier, before Bottas came around again to move ahead on a 1m40.216s.
Many drivers had off track moments during the early running, with kerbs Variante Alta and the downhill braking for the first Rivazza proving to be particularly challenging – Leclerc spinning at the former with Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon sliding off into the gravel at the latter.
On driver not to have any early dramas was Verstappen, who posted a 1m39.595s on his first timed lap and duly moved to the top of the times, with 10 minutes completed.
Leclerc then surged ahead on a 1m39.325s before Verstappen responded with two better efforts that brought the quickest time down to a 1m36.158s.
As the first 20 minutes concluded, Leclerc moved back ahead with a 1m35.629s – after which he spun wildly through the Acque Minerali sequence, the championship leader putting his left-side wheels onto the kerbs at the exiting of the first part and then spinning through the second before getting going again.
Perez moved ahead on a 1m35.476s before a lull in proceedings around the halfway point preceded several drivers – including the Aston Martin pair – venturing out on the intermediates for the first time.
It took 15 minutes before a driver running the green-walled rubber topped Perez’s previous best, with Carlos Sainz the one…
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