F1: Verstappen tops opening practice in Austria

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Using Medium tires vs. all his competitors on soft Pirelli tires, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen set the pace during first practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, placing ahead of Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc across a busy hour of running around the Red Bull Ring.

Despite the tire performance handicap, it could not stop Verstappen – leading the way, with his 1m05.742s some two-and-a-half tenths quicker than Sainz and Leclerc.

Cannot say it is the car, look where Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez is – 0.52s slower in 5th with the same car.

Verstappen motored around slowly for several laps as the clock ran down toward zero.

Like a Cheetah stalking its prey.

Then with a few seconds remaining to take the green for one flying lap, Verstappen accelerated out of the final corner and set about turning the quickest lap by o.241s.

He then waved to his cheering fans – the Orange Army – on his cooldown lap, his prey captured and consumed.

Lewis Hamilton was 4th for Mercedes, 0.509s back after turning the fastest lap on the hard Pirellis earlier in the session. Hamilton was fined 100 Euros for a pit lane speeding violation in the session.

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen – set for his 150th Grand Prix start this weekend – grabbed P7 behind the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and ahead of the #14 Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

George Russell was around four-tenths slower than teammate Hamilton in ninth, with Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu completing the top 10.

Next up today is the all-important qualifying session – which sets the grid for Sunday’s race.

So much for McLaren’s upgrade package – Lando Norris was dead last and slower than teammate Oscar Piastri with the old McLaren setup

Practice 1 Results