Ahead of today's opening practice session the air temperature is 30 degrees C, while the track temperature is 50 degrees. The weekend has been declared a heat hazard event.

In terms of updates, McLaren has a new Rear Corner and Rear Wing. The rear brake duct inlet has been revised, targeting an improvement in local flow conditioning and resultant gain in aerodynamic load generated around the rear corner, while the rear wing - the Woking team's version of Ferrari's 'Macarena' wing - has been modified to deploy the flap to an alternative position in straight line mode resulting in a larger reduction in drag.

Mercedes has a revised Front Suspension and Coke/Engine Cover. The leg fairing angle of attack has been adjusted to improve alignment to onset flow throughout ride height range, resulting in improved flow to the rear of the car, while a narrower on the engine cover rear exit allows more cooling range tuning, biasing more cooling flow to the louvres rather than the rear exit.

Red Bull has a new Sidepod Inlet, Engine Cover, Floor, Rear Suspension, Rear Corner, Rear Wing and Exhaust Tailpipe. The sidepod inlet has been optimised following earlier changes upstream, the inlet has been re-profiled and re-positioned to capture air with good enough pressure for the radiators. Having altered the inlet, the consequence was then to re-optimise the sidepod profiles simultaneously matching the updated floor at the junction line. There are also minor changes to the central engine cover and cooling louvres. The floor sees a further iteration of optimisation to compliment the new sidepod inlet, extending to the forward floor and then to the sidepod all to generate more local load and extract performance. As part of the sidepod revision, a floor board change was also accomplished to offer another iteration of design to improve the downstream conditions for the sidepod and beyond. Revisions to the rear suspension fairings are to better match the upstream conditions and maintain flow stability whilst extracting more local load. The rear corner has been revised for the rear suspension fairings and
attendant winglets. In terms of the rear wing, given the pylons now by regulation contact the mainplane underside, the interface is sensitive and revised with pylon changes to the same element profiles seeking to extract more load and at least maintain flow stability. Finally, a subtle re-positioning of the tailpipe has enabled the last portion, which is regulated to circulated and within a limited angle range to have greater overlap with the one permitted supporting bracket to extract more local load.

Ferrari has a new Front Wing Endplate, RV Tail, Floor Board and Mirror stay. The revised front wing endplate features a new diveplane and new footplate vane arrangement, a further step applied to the new geometry introduced in the previous race in Spain, consolidating the original flow features and performance objectives of this front wing. The remaining new parts are free practice test items, they are not track specific and are focused on data gathering and correlation exercise.

Racing Bulls have a new Exhaust Tailpipe and Diffuser. The tailpipe position helps with the flow management around the rear of the car, allowing the rear wing to perform efficiently, while further refinement of the diffuser trailing edge devices, provides improved aerodynamic flow conditioning at the back of the car.

Haas has a new Front Corner and Cooling Louvres. The FBD geometry has been refined to provide a smoother flow path, reducing local losses and improving downstream flow quality towards the rear of the car. The revised scoop configuration required a concurrent optimisation of the suspension leg fairings to preserve aerodynamic efficiency. Meanwhile, the circuit-specific operating conditions required an additional increase in cooling capacity, achieved through the introduction of two additional apertures on the upper surface of the sidepod.

Audi has a new Front Wing, Front Corner, Floor, Rear Corner, Rear Suspension, Beam Wing and Rear Wing. The updated endplate design leads to local load gain and improves flow structures and characteristics of the car, while for this event a rearrangement of the lower deflector's stays is introduced to improve local flow conditions on the front corner. The new rear floor design will result in a load improvement at the rear of the car, also altering rear axle load characteristic. In combination with the rear floor update the rear deflector geometries have been adapted to manage the new flow conditions at the rear. The new rear wing design results in improved local load at the rear axle together with complimenting the updated flow conditions from floor development.

Alpine has a new Front Wing, Front Wing Endplate, Nose, Front Corner and Diffuser. Evolution of the front wing design as part of the French team's in-season development, should deliver incremental aerodynamic gains and improve flow management. The front wing endplate has been part of the redesign to improve downstream flow control and enhance overall aerodynamic efficiency, while the nose has been updated to better integrate the new front wing design and deliver better aerodynamic performance across the front end. The front corner has been redesigned to work alongside the updated front wing, improving the flow management and aerodynamic efficiency. Finally, an aero winglet has been added to improve local flow management and deliver efficient aerodynamic load towards the rear end.

Cadillac has a new Sidepod Inlet, Engine Cover, Sidepod / Coke, Cooling Louvres, Mirror Stay, Roll Hoop Leg Fairings, Floor Bib, Floor Leading Edge, Diffuser and Beam Wing. The sidepod inlet has been reprofiled and enlarged as part of a broader bodywork update, increasing the intake area to efficiently increase power unit cooling capacity. The engine cover has been updated as part of wider bodywork update to facilitate increase in power unit cooling capacity whilst also improving flow quality to the rear of the car. The sidepod top deck has been resurfaced to facilitate increased power unit cooling capacity, with updated coke profile to improve flow quality to rear corners and suspension. The mirror stays have been updated to improve flow conditioning to the rear of the car, minimising losses and improving rear aerodynamic load across the range of operating conditions and attitudes. The roll hoop stays have been reprofiled to improve aerodynamic stability and therefore improve the flow conditioning to the rear of the car across a wider range of yaw angles. The bib and keel geometry has been updated to increase local load and improve flow conditioning to the rear of the car and diffuser, while the floor leading edge surfaces and devices have been resurfaced and updated to generate more local load and improve the flow quality to the rear of the car and diffuser. The rear floor and diffuser surfaces have been updated to generate more aerodynamic load at the rear of the car whilst retaining favourable characteristics throughout the car's operating envelope. Finally, the beam wing has been updated as part of the wider floor update, to increase load aerodynamic load at the rear of the car.

There are a number of reserve/third drivers on duty this morning, they are Ayumu Iwasa at Racing Bulls, Dino Beganovic at Ferrari, Paul Aron at Audi, Luke Browning at Williams, Jak Crawford at Aston Martin and Ryo Hirakawa at Haas.

Williams and Cadillac both broke the curfew last night, for the Grove outfit this was the second time this season, for the American team the first.

Green light, and Beganovic leads the way, followed b Iwasa, Perez, Browning and Crawford. However, Norris will not be joining him any time soon, while his car is up on its stand, the 2025 world champion is on the pit-wall.

As more drivers head out, it's a mixture of hards and mediums.

Norris isn't the only driver currently sidelined, for there appears to be an issue with Hadjar's car also.

Perez sets an early benchmark (13.3530) as Verstappen has stopped in the pitlane. "Every time I stop I can't release the clutch again," he reports as he is ushed back to his garage.

Antonelli is the first of the big guns to posts a time (11.029), however, Russell - who reports a "weird throttle pedal" responds with a 10.407.

McLaren confirms a hydraulic leak on Norris's car, as Antonelli posts a 9.119.

Lindblad goes third, ahead of Hulkenberg, Albon and Perez.

Hirakawa hits one of his mechanics during a pit stop.

Turn 3 is already proving to be problematic in terms of track limits, with a number of drivers falling foul of the right-hander.

Verstappen heads out but once again he grinds to a halt and has to be rescued.

Russell improves to 8.898, Bearman goes sixth and Gasly eighth.

A 9.001 sees Antonelli close to within 0.103s of his teammate.

Verstappen is finally on track as Colapinto goes fifth with a 10.450.

Gasly improves to third with a 10.333.

Purples in all three sectors see Antonelli go top with an 8.448. Russell improves to 8.740.

On his first flying lap, Verstapepn goes third with a 9.043, while Piastri posts a 9.333 to go fourth. The McLaren driver is on mediums while Verstappen is on softs.

Piastri complains that his brake pedal is long and inconsistent.

Hamilton improves to sixth with a 10.011, the subsequently locks-up in Turn 3.

"I have very little feeling," reports Verstappen.

"The cooling, part of the bodywork, on the left-hand side, is coming off," reports Perez. He is told to pit.

With just over half the session remaining, the Mercedes pair head out on softs.

Antonelli posts a 7.796 and his teammate a 7.915.

"It's a bit of a struggle at the moment," reports Hamilton.

Hulkenberg (softs) improves to fifth with a 9.165, as Piastri says he is struggling with his brakes which are still inconsistent.

"The whole car is shaking under braking," says Verstappen.

On the softs, Colapinto improves to fifth with an 8.962.

Hadjar is finally on track, as Lindblad (softs) goes third with an 8.726.

Hadjar, on the softs, goes thirteenth with a 10.403.

As Albon improves to tenth on the softs, Hamilton is the latest to switch to the red-banded rubber.

The seven-time world champion improves to third with an 8.549, 0.753s off the pace.

Antonelli goes wide in Turn 1, just moments after Hadjar also goes off.

Piastri goes third with a 7.913 on the softs, just 0.117s off the pace.

As Norris finally heads out - with 14 minutes remaining - Perez reports an issue. "I've lost ignition, everything," he says, he is on the verge of pulling off track but is able to get going again.

On mediums, Norris posts a 9.255 to go eleventh.

A big lock-up for Browning in Turn 1.

Norris improves to seventh as Antonelli and Piastri run wide in Turn 1.

Verstappen goes fourth (8.077) as Norris switches to the softs.

A mistake in S1 sees Norris abort his first flyer on the red-banded rubber.

"I don't understand the balance at all, it's a mess," reports Hadjar.

Beganovic, in the second Ferrari, improve to ninth.

"Again, I've lost everything," says a clearly frustrated Perez who subsequently stops on the approach to Turn 3.

The session is red-flagged with less than a minute remaining.

Unfortunately, with the Cadillac stranded on track the drivers will not be allowed to perform any practice starts.

Antonelli is quickest, ahead of Russell, Piastri, Verstappen, Hamilton, Lindblad, Norris, Colapinto, Beganovic and Bearman.

Hulkenberg is eleventh, ahead if Hadjar, Bottas, Gasly, Iwasa, Albon, Aron, Browning, Hirakawa, Crawford, Perez and Alonso.