Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth fastest, ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull and the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, who was 0.848secs off the pace.

The seven-time champion had two spins during the day, both times without hitting anything.

The first was in the first session, when he spun entering Hugenholtz, the second when he ran a little wide out of the tricky right-hander at Turn Nine and put his rear wheel on to the grass.

Nevertheless, Hamilton ended the day 0.096secs and two places ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc, an encouraging start to the final part of the season after a difficult end to the first for the Briton.

Hamilton said: “Not been the worst of days. We were making progress. We were quite far off in P1, a lot further than normal. We progressed but still quite a chunk off so we have some work to do overnight.

“Pace-wise we are where we are. I don’t know how we’re going to find 0.8secs but we will try our best.”

He said of his spins: “First one was just pushing too much. Also ride quality is not where we’d want it, so the car is quite unpredictable. The second one I touched the grass and had a snap.”

Leclerc described it as “a very, very, very, very difficult Friday, probably the worst of the season” and said they were losing “90% of the time” in two corners. He did not name them, but it was the tricky two right-handers of Turns Eight and Nine.

Leclerc said it would take a “miracle” to turn the situation around.

Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda was seventh and Alex Albon was another to crash in the second session in the Williams, going straight on at the first corner, Tarzan, and breaking his front wing against the barriers.

Verstappen himself had an off after the end of the first session, misjudging his braking into the Tarzan hairpin that starts the lap after doing a practice start.

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli crashed in the first session, running off track at Turn Nine and ended the second session 12th.