Amid a series of qualifying simulations over the second half of the session as the sun began to fall, Ferrari elected to wait for the track temperature to drop a little more before sending both drivers out for their first attempts at an all-or-nothing flying lap.
Sainz’s 1m32.065s on his first push-lap on the soft tyres awarded him with top spot, and the Spaniard’s time managed to withstand a late siege amid a flurry of qualifying simulations.
Sainz had earlier led the line before being displaced by Russell, as the Mercedes duo sat atop the order after the opening half-hour of running. Russell had been leading Hamilton as the two had eschewed the medium compound used by their front-running rivals for an early series of soft-tyre laps.
Russell’s 1m32.364s on the soft had vaulted him back to the top, but was beaten by Lando Norris’ 1m32.303s. The McLaren driver’s time could not hold firm from Sainz’s lap, as the two Ferraris took to the stage.
Although the Ferrari pair ran the risk of encountering a sector three yellow flag when Alex Albon went off at Turn 17, the green flag was waved at the chicane just in time for them to pass through unrestricted.
On a second tilt, Russell leapfrogged Norris to reclaim second while Sainz attempted to better his time on a second run – but the Monza polesitter instead found himself performing a 50-50 grind on the Turn 7 exit kerb and had to abort his run.
Team-mate Charles Leclerc also had to back out of a lap after setting the fastest first sector, which denied Ferrari the chance of securing another practice 1-2.
Norris ended the session third behind Russell, as Max Verstappen managed to get up to fourth with his final soft-tyre lap while experimenting with his upshifts throughout the session.
His first flying run ultimately fell 0.7 seconds short of Sainz’s eventual best effort, and although hot fix to the upshifts yielded a drop in lap time, Verstappen nonetheless continued to struggle for traction.
Leclerc backed out of his opening flying lap, and his next try could not offer anything further than fifth overall. After having to abort his third attempt, he ended the session two tenths clear of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.
Oscar Piastri was seventh fastest to beat Sergio Perez – who also struggled with an “on the edge” rear end and difficulty getting the front end of his car to bite. This put him just over a tenth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s ninth-best time, as Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.
Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon fell outside of the first half of the field, ahead of the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll as the Silverstone outfit seemingly did not pursue any top-line pace.
Liam Lawson managed to rescue a spin at Turn 2 after dipping a wheel off line, and narrowly kept his AlphaTauri out of the barrier before continuing on with his session. He placed 16th, between Pierre Gasly and Albon.
Valtteri Bottas was 18th fastest but will be investigated by the stewards for not following directions regarding the pit entry, where he was seen to drift over the separating kerb onto the circuit before returning to the pit entry line. Zhou Guanyu and Logan Sargeant propped up the order.