Ahead of today's opening session the air temperature is 24 degrees C, while the track temperature is 44 degrees. There is heavy cloud cover with a 20% chance of rain.
Hard to believe, but only one team has upgrades this weekend, McLaren, which has a new Front Wing, Rear Wing, Beam Wing and Floor Furniture, all of which are for performance as opposed to circuit specific. The completely new front wing design, is aimed at improving flow conditioning towards the floor and bodywork resulting in improved aerodynamic performance, while a new rear wing assembly has been designed aiming to increase aerodynamic load efficiently in all conditions. In conjunction with the rear wing, a new beam wing has been designed for improved interaction and flow conditioning, while a small modification to the floor furniture, will result in better flow conditioning and resultant improvement of aerodynamic performance of the floor.
While there were ten reserve/third drivers on duty last week, today it is only six. Leonardo Fornaroli at McLaren, Freddie Slater at Audi, Luke Browning at Williams, Dino Beganovic at Ferrari, Colton Herta at Cadillac and Gabriele Mini at Alpine.
Not forgetting, of course, Rafael Camara, who makes his F1 debut at Haas.
Still dealing with the fact this isn't his year, Russell faces further misery this weekend as he has a 5-place grid penalty for taking on a new ICE.
Mini is first out, followed by Colapinto, Lindblad, Lawson and Camara. As more drivers emerge it is a mixture of hards and mediums.
It's almost over before it begins as Beganovic gets well out of shape exiting Turn 12.
Of the first wave, Albon goes quickest with a 14.398, but this is subsequently eclipsed by Norris who stops the clock at 13.661.
Antonelli posts a 13.642, but Verstappen responds with a 13.341 as Fornaroli heads out on softs.
Bortoleto goes fourth, ahead of Lawson, the New Zealander looking increasingly unlikely to continue with RB next season, despite his impressive form this year.
Only Fornaroli has the upgrades, Norris running the 'standard' car.
Hamilton improves with a 13.298, but no sooner has Antonelli posted a 13.044 than Verstappen crosses the line at 12.959.
Following a big lock-up, Herta runs wide at Turn 1 as Russell goes fifth with a 13.617.
Slater stops at Turn 10, bringing out the yellows.
The session is red-flagged, the young Briton suffering his second successive frustrating session. Last week, of course, he had the issue with the cooling fan left attached to the car, and then a technical issue which limited his track time.
"I lost the gears and then the car switched off," the Briton tells his team.
The session resumes with 40 minutes remaining.
Lindblad is first out, followed by Mini, Antonelli, Bearman and Colapinto.
Herta has been noted for a red flag infringement.
Antonelli raises the benchmark with a 12.789 as Antonelli complains that his seat is moving.
No further investigation of the red flag incident as Hamilton consolidates his third place with a 13.246.
By the way, Antonelli is on mediums, while Verstappen and Hamilton are on hards. Norris and Russell, who are fourth and fifth, are also on the yellow-banded rubber.
A 12.777 from the 2026 world champion, as Verstappen heads out on softs, the first of the big guns, indeed pretty much the first driver, to run the red-banded rubber.
"Unacceptable, unacceptable these shifts," complains Verstappen as he posts an 11.953.
Colapinto, like his teammate still reeling from last weekend's penalties, heads out on softs, as does Albon.
Colapinto goes third with a 13.140.
As Alonso is noted for a yellow flag infringement, Herta calls for a change of steering wheel, complaining that "half the buttons don't work".
Antonelli heads out on softs, as does his Mercedes teammate. However, on his first flyer the Italian runs wide in Turn 1 after locking-up.
On the softs, Bortoleto goes second with a 12.614, however Antonelli is on a hot lap.
Russell goes second with a 12.103, as Antonelli stops the clock at 11.799 and Colapinto improves to 12.654.
Browning goes tenth with a 13.591, but is demoted when Lawson goes sixth with a 12.747.
Hamilton improves to third with a 12.041 as a new floor is spotted in the other Ferrari garage.
Bearman goes eighth and Camara fifteenth.
Albon has stopped just after Turn 13, however he is able to get the car to safety without causing the session to be stopped.
Bortoleto goes fifth with a 12.614.
An 11.717 puts Norris top, 0.082s up on Antonelli and 0.236s up on Verstappen.
We haven't seen much of Hadjar thus far, but suddenly he pops up in sixth with a 12.233.
Put off by a slower car on the inside line, Alonso locks-up in Turn 1 and runs slightly wide.
In quick succession, Browning, Camara and Lindblad have their times deleted.
With 12 minutes remaining, Antonelli switches back to mediums.
Lindblad admits that he went down the escape road for safety reasons, to avoid Antonelli.
Lindblad switches to hards and Camara to mediums as Antonelli has his time deleted for running wide in Turn 12.
Beganovic is back on track as Verstappen complains that his steering is heavy on the right.
"We have to slow down and box," Beganovic is told, "we have an issue with the car."
Herta completes his 25th lap, which should be enough for him to qualify for his superlicence.
As Verstappen continues to complain about his steering, he is told that the issue can be seen in the data.
A wild moment for Stroll, whose car is all over the place, as Verstappen pits.
Russell is the latest to get out of shape in Turn 1, but he manages to hold it together.
The session ends as Mini is told he did a "decent job".
Norris is quickest, ahead of Antonelli, Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Hadjar, Mini, Bortoleto, Colapinto and Lawson.
Fornaroli is eleventh Bearman, Alonso, Lindblad, Bottas, Albon, Browning, Camara, Stroll, Herta, Beganovic and Slater.
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