Marko Hanželic
The longest break in the history of Formula 1 is officially over and the 71st season of this race begins. They were both the first to drive on the track in Spielberg McLaren, first Carlos Sainz Jr.., who will be racing for next season Ferrari, then Lando Norris, which z Daniel Ricciard next season he gets a new teammate. The track took place before the start of the first free practice almost completely dried, even though it rained heavily in Spielberg practically all night.
weather forecast
RED BULL RING TIMELet us remember that you are in this season the teams do not choose the tires for each race themselves, but all get the same blends determined by the competition management and the official tire supplier Pirelli. They entered the season with a new look Mercedes, which supports with its black-clad silver arrows fight against racism. At Williams are the reasons for the new appearance of a commercial nature, as they broke up with a named sponsor, the company RoKiT. Silver on Red Bull Ringu they also perform with a controversial system THE, against the use of which they intend to Red Bullu to lodge a formal protest.
The first quarter of an hour didn’t bring excessive dynamics, either McLaren they drove each of their rounds, and it soon became clear that the relationship would not change significantly this season. Po Bottas in the fastest lap he repeated the exercise again Hamilton and overtook his teammate and showed that this year’s race cars are faster than last year’s as he dropped below the fastest time last year’s FP1.
Esteban Ocon he made his debut in a Renault car and had quite a few problems getting used to the circumstances, and the fact that he lost part of his training in the middle of training did not help him. bargeboard. In the end, he finished in thirteenth place, significantly lower than his teammate Ricciardo.
They took care of some drama before the end of the training Max Verstappen, which spun in the first turn, and Daniil Kvyat, who did the same in the last one, and was a little short of “taking” with him George Russell, who just drove past, but managed to brake, so it all ended without consequences for both racers.
The first free practice, of course, cannot be a criterion for the continuation of the season, but it seems that there will be nothing new at the top. Both Mercedesa they are easily ahead of the competition, which is six tenths of a second behind the first. McLaren they still seem similarly strong as at the end of last season, they are strong with their own "B-Mercedes" advanced at Racing Point, which many see as a controversial solution.
And what is s Ferrari? Leclerc on the tenth and the celebrant Sebastian Hag in 12th place. Reality or Italian games? Everything will be much clearer in the next two days.
Surprisingly slow, they were at the first practice AlphaTauri, even though it is Red Bull Ring so to speak, their second home scene, Williams it traditionally occupies the tail of the table, although this time it is completely at the bottom Haas' Romain Grosjean, who due to technical problems did not complete a single fast lap.
Austrian GP, FP1: Results
| M | NO | DRIVER | THE CREW | TIME | THE DIFFERENCE | CIRCLES |
| 1 | 44 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:04.816 | 42 | |
| 2 | 77 | V. Bottas | Mercedes | 1:05.172 | + 0: 00.356 | 38 |
| 3 | 33 | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:05.418 | + 0: 00.602 | 37 |
| 4 | 55 | C.Sainz | McLaren | 1:05.431 | + 0: 00.615 | 41 |
| 5 | 11 | S. Perez | Racing Point | 1:05.512 | + 0: 00.696 | 33 |
| 6 | 4 | L.Norris | McLaren | 1:05.621 | + 0: 00.805 | 41 |
| 7 | 23 | A.Albon | Red Bull | 1:05.701 | + 0: 00.885 | 29 |
| 8 | 3 | D. Ricciardo | Renault | 1:05.860 | + 0: 01.044 | 29 |
| 9 | 20 | K. Magnussen | Haas | 1:05.907 | + 0: 01.091 | 27 |
| 10 | 16 | C.Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:05.924 | + 0: 01.108 | 31 |
| 11 | 18 | L. Stroll | Racing Point | 1:06.074 | + 0: 01.258 | 34 |
| 12 | 5 | S. Vettel | Ferrari | 1:06.077 | + 0: 01.261 | 32 |
| 13 | 31 | E. Ocon | Renault | 1:06.270 | + 0: 01.454 | 22 |
| 14 | 99 | A. Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 1:06.360 | + 0: 01.544 | 24 |
| 15 | 7 | K. RäikkÜnen | Alfa Romeo | 1:06.365 | + 0: 01.549 | 28 |
| 16 | 10 | P. Gasly | Alpha Tauri | 1:06.404 | + 0: 01.588 | 25 |
| 17 | 63 | Mr. Russell | Williams | 1:06.495 | + 0: 01.679 | 27 |
| 18 | 6 | N. Latifi | Williams | 1:07.025 | + 0: 02.209 | 31 |
| 19 | 26 | D. Kvyat | Alpha Tauri | 1:06.943 | + 0: 02.127 | 19 |
| 107% of the time | 1:09.353 | |||||
| 20 | 8 | R. Grosjean | Haas | 1:46.361 | + 0: 41.545 | 6 |
