Styrian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Max Verstappen and Alpine impress

The first 20 minutes

The drivers appeared on the track in the first few seconds of rolling to collect as much data as possible on this circuit that they will use for 2 weeks. Almost all the drivers started their track reconnaissance with the yellow tires (medium).

Formerly a regular in F1, the Polish driver Robert Kubica replaced Kimi Räikkönen at the wheel of the Alfa Romeo this morning and was the first one to make a mistake in turn three. The same turn three caused a lot of issues for the drivers, as we saw both Haas drivers go off track in their early laps.

It’s discussed every weekend but the track limits will once again be closely examined by track officials. The corners affected will be the last two corners of the circuit (turns 9 and 10).

⚠️ TRACK LIMITS ⚠️

Turn 10 👀#StyrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/MElpmUHeBa

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 25, 2021

Winner in France, Max Verstappen was the first to set a benchmark time on the yellow tire with a time of 1:06.511, ahead of Pierre Gasly (+0.129) and Sergio Pérez (+0.289), and Yuki Tsunoda (+0.349).

At the midway point

Carlos Sainz was the first to have a scary moment at turn 1, spinning at turn 1, he blocked Valtteri Bottas who was coming out of the pits for a few seconds, no damage for the Spaniard who was able to restart his car. After a difficult weekend at Le Castellet, the red cars still seem to struggle in Austria, currently in 10th and 11th position with 20 minutes left in the session.

Carlos Sainz has spun exiting Turn 1

He came to a halt pointing the wrong way in the pit lane exit but he’s back up and running again now#StyrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/vrgr9Hl0lq

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 25, 2021

The drivers then began to make their marks with the soft (red) tires. The Mercedes cars set the fastest times, but narrowly fall short of the reference time set by Max Verstappen on medium tires.

After 40 minutes of driving, Max Verstappen had regained his position as the leader by setting a lap time of 1:05.910 on soft tires. He was followed by Pierre Gasly (+0.256) and Lewis Hamilton (+0.422).

The last 20 minutes

The last part of the session was devoted to long relay simulations on soft and medium tires. Max Verstappen’s Red Bull seems to be the fastest car in relay simulations, leading Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes by more than a tenth per lap.

Respectively ranked 6th and 7th, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon managed to set good times in this first session, being just over half a second off Max Verstappen’s reference time.

The Saturday qualifying session could be contested in the middle of the pack, as a small tenth of a second separated the drivers placed between 6th and 14th place.

Under the checkered flag, Max Verstappen was ahead in this first practice session of Pierre Gasly’s Alphatauri as well as the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

Free Practice 1 Standings