RB and McLaren were only joined by Sauber in running the softs in FP1, which ended with Yuki Tsunoda fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen in fifth and sixth for Aston Martin and Red Bull respectively.
Most of the pack headed out immediately at the start of the one-hour session where windy conditions prevailed in relatively cool temperatures, with all the early running conducted on the medium tyres – the C2 variety at last weekend’s test.
The big number of cars on track early meant the lead changed hands rapidly through the first phase, before Verstappen took command at the top.
The Dutchman had been held in the pits longest of all before he joined the fray with the end of the opening 10 minutes remaining.
He duly shot to the top of the times with his first effort – a 1m33.900s compared to the 1m38.955 that Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg had established as the opening benchmark as he led the pack out then pits initially.
Both Red Bull drivers made brief visits to the pits for front wing flap adjustments to aid their handling, as Verstappen in particular was complaining his RB20 initially felt “miles off”.
After the Mercedes pair had continued to find time as their opening runs continued, Lewis Hamilton got to 0.025s of Verstappen’s leading time before George Russell deposed the world champion with a 1m33.749s.
But that advantage lasted only a few seconds as Verstappen moved ahead again on a 1m33.535s before most of the drivers headed back to their garages and a lull in action ensued.
The order as the halfway point approached had Sergio Perez following the initial frontrunners, with Hamilton behind ahead of Aston Martin’s Alonso and the Ferrari pair led by Charles Leclerc.
But before the 30-minute mark was hit, Piastri led the switch to the C3 softs, and he used the red-walled rubber to post a new benchmark of 1m33.113s, 0.422s ahead of Verstappen’s previous best.
Piastri’s team-mate Norris then produced his own soft tyre flier just past the halfway point to go quickest on a 1m32.901s, as the previous frontrunners returned to the track but still running the medium tyres.
Hamilton, Leclerc, and Perez quickly registered better times on the mediums, but not enough to dislodge the McLarens, while other teams moving to the softs also had their drivers move ahead.
Tsunoda’s first lap on soft slotted him in behind Piastri, while in the other RB, Ricciardo took the top spot after 36 minutes with a soft-shod…
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