Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time in the first half-hour free practice session that was held prior to the first qualifying session, but he and defending race-winner Edoardo Mortara were split by just 0.01 seconds. Mortara's teammate Laurens Vanthoor completed the session in third place, marginally faster than Bottas' teammate Roberto Merhi, with Carlos Huertas completing the top five, just over a second off the pace. Renger van der Zande rounded out the top six, in a crash-filled session with four drivers – Daniel Abt, Felix Rosenqvist, Rio Haryanto and Kimiya Sato – hitting the wall, with William Buller and Michael Ho also having excursions down escape roads.
