Austria Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Max Verstappen sets the fastest time

On Red Bull’s territory, Max Verstappen set the fastest time in the first free practice session of the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday. The Dutch driver recorded a time of 1’06″302. He was followed by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari (1’06″557) and George Russell’s Mercedes (1’06″702).

After an extraordinary Silverstone Grand Prix, Formula 1 set up camp in Austria. The first session was marked by two red flags. A mechanical problem on Lando Norris’ car caused it to stop on the track. For the second flag, a rubber strip was destroyed into several pieces as a car passed over it. During the session, the drivers tested several tire compounds, pushing the limits of the track. It should be noted that they are not penalized for crossing the white lines during free practice sessions. The French drivers had a rather challenging session. With a difficult car, Pierre Gasly could not do better than sixteenth, while Esteban Ocon took twelfth place.

🚩 RED FLAG 🚩

📻 “I’m on fire I need to stop… there’s smoke from under my seat so I’d rather get out alright”

Lando Norris has stopped in the middle sector during Friday’s only practice#AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/nJ3kgwpLYb

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 8, 2022

Note that the weekend format is different. With its sprint format, F1 offers only two free practice sessions. The qualifying session takes place on Friday to establish the starting grid for the sprint race on Saturday.

The ranking of the first session.