Kimi Räikkönen set the fastest time before qualifying, while Vettel hit trouble with his engine. Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 3.
Räikkönen started leading the session by less than one tenth over his teammate. Hamilton was P5, but he set the fastest time after a few laps. Verstappen was P4 behind the Ferraris and ahead of Bottas and Ricciardo, who set his time with the soft tyre and was 9 tenths slower.
In the second half of the session, Ricciardo used the soft tyre and improved Hamilton’s time by 4 tenths and a half. However, it didn’t take long for Ferrari to take back the lead, as Räikkönen went quickest ahead of Vettel. The German driver had to slow down towards the end of the session as Ferrari suspected there was an issue in his Ferrari.
The session ended with Palmer missing the braking point in the last corner and hitting Verstappen’s rear tyre, causing him a puncture and breaking his own front wing.
Result:
1 Räikkönen 2 Vettel 3 Ricciardo 4 Bottas 5 Hamilton 6 Verstappen 7 Pérez, 8 Massa 9 Ocon 10 Vandoorne 11 Alonso 12 Stroll 12 Magnussen 14 Hülkenberg 15 Sainz 16 Gasly 17 Palmer 18 Grosjean 19 Ericsson 20 Wehrlein