Formula 1 | Austria, Free practice: Best time and reliability alert for Verstappen

The Austrian Grand Prix began with Free Practice, the only non-competitive session of the weekend since it is a Sprint format. The F1 drivers therefore took advantage of these 60 minutes to prepare for both qualifying and the race, before the Sprint Shootout which will take place at 4:30 p.m. this Friday.

On the evolution side, Mercedes F1 brings a new beam wing with less downforce, while Ferrari has changed the gills on its sidepods, with more significant cooling. McLaren brings a new front wing and a new front suspension. RB F1 has new brake ducts at the rear, and Stake F1 also has a beam wing with less downforce.

From the start of the session, Lando Norris mentioned a strange direction: “It’s like in Miami, it’s harder to turn right but easier to turn left”. The Briton finally won in Florida, which is not a bad sign at the very start of the weekend.

George Russell took the provisional best time in 1’07″392 on hard tyres, and Lewis Hamilton was 0″029 behind his team-mate. Norris set a time one tenth behind Russell, and five thousandths ahead of Max Verstappen, who was running on medium tyres.

Yuki Tsunoda missed the first corner of his first flying lap, going wide, and complained about a steering error “odd” which he did not appreciate. Hamilton improved to 1’06″925. Verstappen did better in 1’06″645, still on mediums, before being beaten immediately by Russell and his hard tires in 1’06″386.

Nico Hülkenberg was pushed off the track by Charles Leclerc, whom he had just obstructed, not before we could determine that the Monegasque’s slightly wide passage was intentional. The Haas driver complained about “babies” who complain about the traffic on the track!

Hamilton initially came back to within a handful of thousandths of a second of his teammate, before taking the best time in 1’06″254. The Ferrari and McLaren drivers notably improved their times afterwards to move back into the top 10.

Shortly after mid-session, the number 1 Red Bull stopped on the straight, with Verstappen complaining of an engine problem! The red flag was waved, and when the session resumed, Verstappen returned to the track. It was therefore probably a software bug which could have triggered security.

Nothing serious, therefore, for the world champion’s RB20, but Red Bull will have to understand where this untimely stop comes from. Because if such a problem reoccurs during the race, it will certainly be impossible for the team to correct it remotely, which could cause the driver to retire.

Tsunoda was scared when Alex Albon fell in front of him while he was on a fast lap. Fortunately, the Williams driver quickly canceled his maneuver. The Japanese, meanwhile, was still complaining of steering problems and requested a steering column change, which the team was unable to do during the session.

The laps on soft tires began around ten minutes from the end of the session, Lance Stroll placed second and Tsunoda fourth. Leclerc set the best time in 1’06″055, beaten by Verstappen in 1’05″685. Sainz placed third and Esteban Ocon fifth.

Norris was going faster but went wide in Turn 4, canceling his fast lap after a long stint in the gravel. Hamilton did not use soft tires, driving on hard compounds until the end of the session. Russell did the same.

Oscar Piastri placed his McLaren in second place, and Sainz moved up to fourth. But with the Mercedes and Norris on hard tires and Pérez on medium compounds, it is difficult to establish a concrete hierarchy.

Verstappen therefore sets the best time of the session ahead of Piastri and the Ferraris. Hamilton is fifth ahead of Ocon and Stroll then Russell, but the Mercedes seemed fast with rather slow tires. Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso complete the top 10.