Verstappen takes early FP1 lead over Piastri in Austria

With only one hour of practice ahead of Sprint Qualifying, it was Max Verstappen who kickstarted Red Bull’s home Grand Prix weekend by topping the timing sheets, leading over Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc in a busy FP1 session.

With the grid’s focus on the sole hour of practice’s results amplified by the limited Sprint format, Free Practice 1 was all about gathering the crucial data teams will rely upon for the remainder of the weekend.

The session had non-stop track action, even with a short-lived Red Flag at the midway point, with all three tyre compounds making an appearance, as drivers were tasked with completing both long and short-run simulations.

One to extract the most out of the opening session was Oscar Piastri, with the McLaren driver sporting an upgraded front wing and re-profiled front suspension this weekend.

Piastri’s first lap, set on the hard compound tyre, placed him three-tenths off the benchmark in P5.

Still coming to terms with the new track limits deterrents at Turns 9 and 10, Piastri was just one of many drivers to dip two wheels into the gravel. 

Aside from an affected lap time, his MCL38 escaped those minor trips off-track challenges unharmed.

The #81 was also challenged by Max Verstappen as the pairing exited the pitlane, with the eager Dutchman attempting to squeeze past Piastri to gain track position. 

He set off to conduct his long-run simulations, however, was soon forced to return to the pits alongside the rest of the grid.

Following the Verstappen-induced Red Flag and in the later stages of the hour session, Piastri’s McLaren was doused in flow-vis and sent out for his soft tyre run.

The 23-year-old immediately jumped to the top end of the grid, securing the second fastest time overall which was a 1:05.961s, around three-tenths back on the FP1 benchmark.

As for Piastri’s teammate, Lando Norris failed to set a time on his soft tyres after carrying too much speed into the gravel trap at Turn 4.

Norris started the session complaining of similar steering issues to Miami, saying that it was difficult to turn right, but slightly easier to turn left.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38 during FP1 at the Austrian GP. Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images.

The second-running Australian’s teammate also had his fair share of steering issues, with Yuki Tsunoda instantly reporting that he was unhappy with his steering column after running wide into Turn 1. 

The issue wasn’t amended mid-session, and will instead be dealt with ahead of Sprint Qualifying. 

As for Daniel Ricciardo, who was running a different set-up to Tsunoda in a bid to test the waters ahead of Sprint Quali, the #3 started his session on the verge of the top ten.

His first lap on the hard compound tyre placed him in P11, 1.9 seconds back on the early benchmark.

His second attempt was marginally better, moving him four-tenths closer to the top time, however, leaving him further back in the order in P19.

Ricciardo switched his focus to long-run simulations, lapping around the 1m 10s timeframe before the Red Flag.

The RB crew spent a short while making some front suspension changes to Ricciardo’s car before sending him out on the soft tyre to set the 10th fastest time.

His lap fell back to P16, with Tsunoda recording a time within the top ten to assert his setup’s dominance over Ricciardo’s. 

At the chequered flag, however, it was Verstappen who sealed the top spot.

In front of Red Bull’s home crowd and his passionate Orange Army, Verstappen found himself frequenting the top three times alongside the Mercedes and McLaren drivers.

He made an early split-second appearance in P1 before being replaced by George Russell whilst also losing out to Lewis Hamilton, both drivers who didn’t representatively run the soft tyre in the session.

The Dutchman later brought a pause to the whole session when a sensor issue on his RB20 caused him to pull to the edge of the main straight.

He was quickly guided into the pitlane as a Red Flag was declared, and was equally as quick to be sent back out onto the Red Bull Ring with 25 minutes to go. 

Setting off on his first and only impactful soft tyre run, Verstappen demoted the Ferrari duo who made a rare FP1 appearance at the top of the order.

His time of 1:05.685s held its own as the rest of the grid completed their soft tyre runs, with only the #81 coming within reach by the chequered flag.

Max Verstappen driving the RB20 on track during practice at the Austrian Grand Prix. Image: Chris Graythen/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

Right until the final soft tyre runs, Mercedes ruled the opening session of the Austrian weekend.

Russell was the first to secure the early benchmark on the hard compound, a 1:07.013s, with Hamilton claiming the top slot at the halfway point of the session.

From that point, however, Mercedes’ session quietened down barring a complaint about sending both cars out at the same time from the #63.

After not taking to the track for a flying lap on the red-marked tyre, Hamilton ended his session in P5, with Russell behind in P8.

Replacing Mercedes in the top four were the Ferraris, with Charles Leclerc leading the way ahead of Carlos Sainz by just seven-hundredths. 

It was a pretty uneventful session for the Italian outfit, with heart rates slightly spiked by an angry interaction between Leclerc and Nico Hulkenberg after the Haas driver disrupted one of the #16’s flying laps.

Hulkenberg wasn’t satisfied with Leclerc’s complaints, calling him and the other vocal drivers “cry babies”.

Although that was a low point of the session for the Haas garage, they had their fair share of highs too after Kevin Magnussen made his way into the top five times and remained there for a decent portion of the FP1. 

Williams conducted a completely different run plan to the rest of the grid, strategically distributing their tyres ahead of Sprint Qualifying.

With the mandatory use of two sets of medium tyres in Sprint Qualifying, Williams was cautious as to save their sets for later in the weekend.

As a result, the team sent both their drivers out on the soft tyre for the bulk of the session, with Alex Albon instantly jumping to the top ten on his first run.

He later drifted back to P11, and after a scary moment in the path of Tsunoda, ended the session at the back of the field in P18.

Sprint Qualifying will get underway at 12:30 AM (AEST), with teams then having only their limited long-run simulations to go by for tomorrow’s Sprint.

Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

2024 Austrian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, June 28th

FP1: 20:30-21:30

Saturday, June 29th

Sprint Qualifying: 00:30-01:14

Sprint Race: 20:00-21:30

Sunday, June 30th

Qualifying: 00:00-01:00

Race: 23:00

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