Kimi Antonelli led a Mercedes one-two in first practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, the Italian set a 07.796 to put himself four hundredths faster than his teammate George Russell. Antonelli goes into this weekend looking to bounce back after his retirement in Barcelona, as Mercedes looks to have a slight advantage.
Antonelli goes into this weekend forty-one points ahead of Lewis Hamilton but going into this weekend looking to bounce back after his retirement and spent much of the session trading places with his teammate Russell.
Oscar Piastri put his McLaren third as he went just under eight hundredths off the two Mercedes and comfortably faster by over a tenth and a half faster than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Piastri, however, appeared to struggle with his brakes before going third.
Hamilton, meanwhile, put his Ferrari fifth as he went just under four hundredths behind his former title rival. Fresh from his first win for Ferrari in Barcelona the team has brought its first power unit upgrade of the season, but the seven-time champion appeared unhappy with the car on the radio played out during the session.
Ferrari is set to run their upgraded engine from Saturday, so Hamilton’s fifth place in first practice may not be a true representation of their pace, as he was over six tenths off the front.
Despite this being Red Bull’s home race, it was a difficult start for the team; software problems for Max Verstappen saw him stop twice in the pit lane in the opening twenty minutes, while Isack Hadjar was forced to change his engine after the team discovered a late problem, costing him around half of the session.
Red Bull had brought almost a new car for their home event with visible aerodynamic changes that they hope will get them closer to the front. But Verstappen continued to complain about the balance of the car.
Arvid Lindblad put his Racing Bull a quarter of a second behind Hamilton, the last driver to lap in under a second. Lindblad went nearly a tenth and a half ahead of champion Lando Norris, who lost three quarters of the session with a hydraulics issue, which could place him on the backfoot.
Franco Colapinto put his Alpine just under a tenth ahead of Dino Beganovic, ninth as the Swede replaced Charles Leclerc for FP1, while Ollie Bearman was nearly a tenth further behind as the Haas driver completed the top ten. Nico Hulkenberg missed out on putting his Audi in the top ten by nearly a tenth.
The German was three tenths faster than Isack Hadjar as his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto was replaced by Paul Aron, who was seventeenth. Pierre Gasly put his Alpine a quarter of a tenth behind Valtteri Bottas and ahead of Ayumu Iwasa who replaced Liam Lawson.
Alex Albon was sixteenth just two thousandths behind Iwasa, while Paul Aron split the Williams as he went three tenths faster than Luka Browning with Ryo Hirakawa. Jak Crawford was eight hundredths faster than Sergio Perez, the Cadillac splitting the Aston Martin as he went half a tenth faster than Fernando Alonso.
