Perez tops opening practice for the Styrian GP

Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez, driving the pink Force India Mercedes, an exact copy of last year's works Mercedes, turned a lap at 1m04.867s to top opening practice for the 2nd Austrian GP – called the Styrian GP – at the Red Bull Ring near Zeltweg.

Max Verstappen was a close 2nd for Red Bull just 0.096s behind as he looks to recover from last weekend's DNF.

The works Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas (last week's winner) and Lewis Hamilton were 3rd and 4th while Lance Stroll in the 2nd pink Mercedes rounded out the top-5.

The two Ferraris were 10th (Vettel) and 12th (Leclerc) almost 1-second off the pace.

Practice 1 Results

POS	DRIVER	NAT.	TEAM	TIME
1	Sergio Perez	MEX	BWT Racing Point F1 Team	1m 04.867
2	Max Verstappen	NED	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	1m 04.963
3	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG	1m 05.089
4	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes AMG	1m 05.120
5	Lance Stroll	CAN	BWT Racing Point F1 Team	1m 05.396
6	Alexander Albon	THA	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	1m 05.483
7	Carlos Sainz	ESP	McLaren F1 Team	1m 05.602
8	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m 05.698
9	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Renault F1 Team	1m 05.769
10	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Scuderia Ferrari	1m 05.770
11	Daniil Kvyat	RUS	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m 05.815
12	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1m 05.837
13	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Renault F1 Team	1m 05.874
14	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1m 05.908
15	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m 06.441
16	Romain Grosjean	FRA	Haas F1 Team	1m 06.446
17	Jack Aitken	GBR	Williams Racing	1m 06.768
18	Robert Kubica	POL	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m 06.797
19	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1m 09.598
20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	No time set