Austria Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Max Verstappen on top ahead of Carlos Sainz
Max Verstappen was the fastest in the session ahead of the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. The French drivers in the Alpines finished at the bottom of the standings.
The Austrian Grand Prix has just completed its one and only practice session. For an hour, the drivers completed as many laps as possible to gather information. Several teams have made improvements.
45 first minutes of long relay testing
After 2 weeks of waiting, Formula 1 is back in Austria. The place of Ferrari’s last victory. The progress is confirmed for Mercedes after the two podium finishes obtained during the Grand Prix of Barcelona and the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Ferraris were trailing behind in the first 45 minutes, the Italian cars completed 24 laps on the Red Bulls Ring with hard tires. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz found themselves in 17th and 18th place before switching to soft tires to set fast laps less than 3 hours before the main race qualification.
It was Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes on hard tires that held the first place for 52 minutes during the practice session, ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
A session ending with the atmosphere of qualifiers
The last 15 minutes of this only free practice session were used to prepare for the qualifying session for the main race.
It was Max Verstappen who set the fastest lap ahead of the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc. The Dutchman set the best lap of the session on medium tires. As for the two French drivers, Estéban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, the session was not optimal. Both drivers are in 18th and 19th position.
The results table
| N° | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verstappen | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1:05.742 | 30 | |
| 2 | Sainz | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:05.983 | +0.241 | 32 |
| 3 | Leclerc | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:06.012 | +0.270 | 33 |
| 4 | Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | 1:06.251 | +0.509 | 34 |
| 5 | Perez | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1:06.262 | +0.520 | 32 |
| 6 | Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | 1:06.340 | +0.598 | 29 |
| 7 | Magnussen | MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | 1:06.497 | +0.755 | 27 |
| 8 | Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | 1:06.656 | +0.914 | 31 |
| 9 | Russell | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | 1:06.696 | +0.954 | 28 |
| 10 | Guanyu | Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake | 1:06.780 | +1.038 | 33 |
| 11 | Albon | Williams Racing | 1:06.794 | +1.052 | 23 |
| 12 | Piastri | McLaren F1 Team | 1:06.809 | +1.067 | 36 |
| 13 | Hülkenberg | MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | 1:06.846 | +1.104 | 30 |
| 14 | Bottas | Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake | 1:06.847 | +1.105 | 33 |
| 15 | Tsunoda | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 1:06.985 | +1.243 | 34 |
| 16 | De Vries | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 1:07.017 | +1.275 | 36 |
| 17 | Sargeant | Williams Racing | 1:07.018 | +1.276 | 25 |
| 18 | Ocon | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1:07.202 | +1.460 | 30 |
| 19 | Gasly | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1:07.287 | +1.545 | 28 |
| 20 | Norris | McLaren F1 Team | 1:07.368 | +1.626 | 20 |
Next appointment for the drivers at 5 PM for the qualifying session for Sunday’s race.
