Austrian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Max Verstappen untouchable ahead of two ambitious Ferraris

The first 20 minutes

We take the same ones and we start over, well almost … Callum Ilott will drive with Alfa Romeo, Guanyu Zhou with Alpine, and Roy Nissany at Williams.

A big day for @gyzhou_33 🙌

The F2 championship leader is making his #F1 practice debut 👏#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 @AlpineF1Team pic.twitter.com/v8mZjQmHJ2

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 2, 2021

Pirelli is bringing a range of test tires this weekend that will be officially introduced for the next Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Italian tire supplier, often under fire from critics, is trying to solve the problems of its tire explosions (Stroll and Verstappen in Baku).

There was action on the track during these first minutes of the session with Yuki Tsunoda going off track at turn 4, Lance Stroll at turn 7 and a near miss between Kimi Räikkönen and an uncooperative Nikita Mazepin to give him a clean line.

Quick reactions from Räikkönen ensure the Finn avoids a slow moving Mazepin#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/xgTb0tgcbq

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 2, 2021

After 20 minutes of driving, Verstappen was leading the classification ahead of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, all on test tires.

At mid-session

Several drivers returned to the track with soft tires (red), thus lowering their own best references.

We were able to see Lance Stroll spin at the start of his fast lap, due to tyres not being at the right temperature yet, and Nikita Mazepin this time hinder Lewis Hamilton at turn 3.

Stroll has gone off again

Lance is back on track after sliding at Turn 10 #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/a7zY2JHEC1

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 2, 2021

Pierre Gasly’s teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, seemed to be in perfect harmony with his AlphaTauri, 20 minutes before the end he was just over 3 tenths off Max Verstappen’s benchmark time.

At the halfway point, Max Verstappen still had the best time of the morning session (1:05.143) ahead of Charles Leclerc (+0.266) and Carlos Sainz (+0.288).

The last 20 minutes

Not much happened on track in the last 20 minutes except for a spin by Nikita Mazepin’s Haas, which almost hit the wall at turn 1.

The drivers worked on stringing together laps to simulate tire degradation in race configuration. In this game, Red Bull still seems to dominate the discussions, turning faster than Ferrari and Mercedes.

Under the checkered flag, Max Verstappen still held the fastest time of the session with a time of (1:05.143) ahead of Charles Leclerc (+0.266) and Carlos Sainz (+0.288).

Free Practice 1 Standings