Austrian GP: Verstappen tops FP1 as red flag hampers running
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the pace in FP1 of F1 British GP from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell.
Despite there being no incidents, the FP1 session in F1 Austrian GP saw two red flag period at Red Bull Ring, where the first one was to clear Lando Norris’ McLaren at the pit exit after the team hustled him to stop as soon due to overheating problem.
The Brit has a new ICE taken for this weekend which is his third, with him also taking his third TC, MGU-K and MGU-H. There was another red flag when rubber from the circuit started to pull off after the cars ran over it, with the rescue team having to remove it.
As noted, there were no major issues apart from gravel moment for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen doing so on the cement run-off. Traffic was huge with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen being hurt the most.
Despite that, Verstappen led FP1 in F1 Austrian GP with a 1m06.302s lap ahead of qualifying. He led Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1m06.557s), with Mercedes’ George Russell (1m06.702s) in third as Perez (1m06.839s) jumped to fourth after a late lap pushing Lewis Hamilton (1m06.909s) to fifth.
In terms of PU elements, Leclerc took his second ES. His teammate Carlos Sainz (1m07.039s) was seventh behind Magnussen (1m07.965s), with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (1m07.100s) seventh – having not run on the soft tyre.
Haas’ Mick Schumacher (1m07.246s) and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m07.296s) rounded out the Top 10, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in 11th from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who also set his time on the medium tyre. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel slotted in 13th.
Alfa Romeo’s Bottas was 14th on the medium tyres as he is expected to start from the back of the grid due to his fourth ICE, fourth TC, fourth MGU-H, fourth MGU-K and third CE. Williams’ Alexander Albon was 15th with the updates still on his car.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was only 16th from McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who set his best time on the medium tyre but his session was hampered by rear wing issue. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was 18th – with a second CE – from Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Norris.
