McLaren and Ferrari were next on the timesheets with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, who took over from their team mates, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc, for the afternoon/evening action.

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Daniel Ricciardo took fourth for RB after some late drama that saw him narrowly avoid a wing mirror that had freed itself from Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin – Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg not managing the same and driving over it.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, having almost run into a slow-moving Sainz at Turn 12 in the late afternoon, wound up fifth, with the aforementioned Stroll and Leclerc taking sixth and seventh respectively.

Fernando Alonso’s morning efforts put him eighth overall, from Piastri, the lead Kick Sauber of Zhou Guanyu and Williams’ Logan Sargeant, who enters his second season in the sport.

There were problems for Sargeant and Williams on the opening day of action

However, Sargeant’s preparations were twice disrupted, first by a wild spin at Turn 9 that sent him into the run-off area and then by a suspected driveshaft issue that brought him back to the pits again.

George Russell was the sole Mercedes driver in action en route to 12th, followed by the other RB, Kick Sauber, Williams and Alpine machines of Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon.

Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Hulkenberg brought up the rear in 17th and 18th, cut adrift of the pack, with Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez set to get their first pre-season running on Thursday.