Lawson was clearly pushing hard, with the RB driver kicking up some gravel during a wide moment, while Leclerc had displaced Norris at the top – before the Briton retook the position, highlighting just how quickly the track was developing in the final minutes.

Perez had managed to improve to 12th – but could he remain out of danger given the rapidly falling times? Back at the front, Russell had impressively set an identical lap time to Norris’s effort of 1m 22.021s.

In a frantic traffic-packed final minute, the times kept coming in and Norris went even faster with a 1m 21.356s, almost half a second clear of Sainz in P2. Bottas, meanwhile, slotted into ninth – though others were not having such good fortune, including Perez who again suffered an early exit in P16.

There was also disappointment for Tsunoda, who was left frustrated after being eliminated in P17, while the other drivers pushed out were Ocon, Zhou and Colapinto, marking a first Q1 departure for the Argentinian.

Knocked out: Perez, Tsunoda, Ocon, Zhou, Colapinto