The Australian handed over the wheel of his MCL39 to Pato O’Ward in the first session, losing valuable minutes to get familiar with the track and starting the weekend with a slight handicap compared to his two title rivals.

He further added: "I think it's more just little details. The car feels like it's in a pretty decent place, just didn't get the grip out of it in that first soft lap. Some small tweaks, of course. (It) didn't feel perfect out there, but nothing major.”

Piastri returned to the car in the afternoon, effectively starting his weekend from FP2, but ultimately finished the day in eleventh, unable to put together a competitive lap on the softs and running slower than both his teammate and Max Verstappen over race pace.

The American has softened his position from last month, when he said he would have preferred a repeat of 2007 — when Alonso and Hamilton lost the title to Kimi Räikkönen at Ferrari — rather than favoring one driver.

Brown made it clear that team orders would only be applied if it becomes obvious that one of the two drivers is no longer in the title fight.