The Australian driver — and Drivers’ Championship leader — topped the timing sheets with a lap of 1:42.022, more than four-tenths ahead of Max Verstappen, who finished second. Norris, Piastri’s closest rival in the Drivers’ Championship race, was more than half a second off Piastri’s pace, finishing 0.504 seconds behind his McLaren teammate.

For the first time in its 20-year existence the squad heads to a race without being spearheaded by Christian Horner, who has been dumped days after the British Grand Prix.