Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set an impressive pace in first practice at the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of qualifying for this ‘sprint’ race. The world championship leader was 0.255s quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Mercedes’ George Russell was third, 0.145s further. Lewis Hamilton was fourth, 0.207 seconds behind his teammate. Friday’s qualifying sets the grid for a short race on Saturday that determines the starting positions for the main grand prix. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was fifth fastest, followed by the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, the Alpine of Fernando Alonso, using the medium tires while everyone else at the front set their times on the softs, and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez . Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Yuki Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri completed the top 10. The session saw two red flags, one while Lando Norris’ McLaren was retired after a breakdown after Turn Four, and a second due to on-track debris. It was a difficult period for McLaren. In addition to Norris’ reliability issues, which surfaced fairly early on, Daniel Ricciardo was also struggling with a wobbly DRS flap, which took the team the longest to resolve. Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas, who was 14th fastest, will start from the back of the grid as a result of a penalty for using too many engine components this season.
