Britain's Bearman was drafted in to replace Carlos Sainz after the Spaniard was hit by appendicitis and required surgery.

The session was halted for 10 minutes when Sauber's Guanyu Zhou crashed heavily into the wall at turn five, the track reopening with just enough time for a flying lap.

Verstappen, winner of the Bahrain opener last Saturday, produced a best time of one minute 28.412 seconds with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc 0.196 slower and Red Bull's Sergio Perez third on the timesheets.

George Russell lapped fourth quickest for Mercedes with McLaren's Lando Norris fifth and Fernando Alonso sixth for Aston Martin.

Spaniard Alonso, 42, made his Formula One debut in 2001 and with Renault was standing on the podium as second placed finisher in his home grand prix on the day Bearman was born.

Lance Stroll was seventh, also for Aston, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri eighth and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton ninth for Mercedes.

Britain's Bearman, Ferrari's youngest rookie at 18-years-old, did 22 laps with a best time of 1:29.306, 0.698 seconds off Leclerc's time.

The race is being held on Saturday to accommodate Ramadan, which starts on Sunday.