Max Verstappen was fastest in the first practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver set a 06.302 on the soft tyre which put him a quarter of a second ahead of championship rival Charles Leclerc going into qualifying this afternoon. The Dutchman set his fastest time on the soft tyres, putting thirty-four laps in the hour-long session.<\/p>\n
Verstappen goes into qualifying looking as the driver to beat, although there could be slightly more to come from Ferrari at the short and high speed Red Bull Ring. The team has also brought a small aerodynamic and cooling update.<\/p>\n
Mercedes continued to underline the step forwards they have made in recent races with George Russell going third fastest, four-tenths off, with Sergio Perez splitting the Mercedes after going eight hundredths faster than Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n
Perez moved into fourth late in the session, when Hamilton tried to respond he went off at Lauda Kurve, and that left him in fifth with the top five being covered by six tenths. The Mexican had briefly run fastest before being shuffled down to fourth after complaining<\/p>\n
The return of the Sprint has shaken up the Red Bull Ring weekend, with qualifying moved to Friday and setting the grid for the shorter race on Saturday, which in turn dictates the starting order for Sunday’s Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Kevin Magnussen put his Haas sixth-fastest going seven hundredths ahead of the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso put his Alpine six hundredths behind his fellow Spaniard. However, Alpine took a different approach setting their fastest times on the medium tyres while all a part from Perez set theirs on soft tyres.<\/p>\n
Mick Schumacher was ninth going five hundredths of a second faster than the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda. Lance Stroll missed out on the top ten by two tenths, with the two\u00a0Aston Martin\u2019s being spilt by Esteban Ocon after he went three hundredths faster than Sebastian Vettel.<\/p>\n
Valtteri Bottas put his Alfa Romeo fourteenth ahead of Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly. The Finn not looking quick at a circuit where he has taken two wins, as the team look to have taken a step back, Bottas will start Sunday\u2019s race from the back thanks to penalties for exceeding engine parts.<\/p>\n
McLaren had a difficult session, Daniel Ricciardo could only managed seventeenth after struggling with an oscillating DRS flap, which it took the team most of the hour to solve. Lando Norris could only manage fourteen laps, his session also hampered by reliability and a hot bottom.<\/p>\n
Guanyu Zhou was eighteenth nearly a second and half behind Ricciardo and ahead of Nicolas Latifi by three tenths.<\/p>\n
F1 Today \u2013 Austrian Prixview \u2013 07\/07\/2022<\/a><\/p>\n