Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes was 18th fastest, struggling for pace on both qualifying-style runs and race simulations. He said over the radio that “something’s wrong”.
Red Bull were not their usual imperious selves. Verstappen ran later than his rivals because of the enforced delay to his programme, and should have had the better of the track conditions when he set his fastest lap.
But he was not able to match Leclerc’s pace, set earlier in the session, and his high-fuel run was not especially strong either, although affected by traffic and only three laps long.
As in the first session, a number of drivers had off-track moments, especially through the high speed chicane at Turns 10 and 11.
None, though, crashed, unlike in the first session when Williams driver Alex Albon lost control on the exit of Turn Six and smashed into the wall at Turn Eight, which follows shortly afterwards.
Albon missed the second session, with Williams saying they were assessing the damage to his car.
Mercedes appeared to be struggling. Both drivers had a number of ‘moments’ through the day, Russell catching the car through when he lost the rear in Turn Nine in the first session and then having a grassy moment through Turn One in the second. And Hamilton ran wide in Turn 10 in the second.
It was worrying for Mercedes, whose struggles with rear-end instability in Saudi Arabia caught them by surprise – they thought they had ironed out that characteristic in this year’s redesigned car.
Ferrari, by contrast, looked fast on single laps or longer runs, an encouraging start to the weekend for the Italian team.