Hamilton tops first Austrian GP free practice

Mercedes Lewis Hamilton Austria
©Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap time in this morning's first free practice session of the Austrian GP, edging out Red Bull's Max Verstappen and team mate Valtteri Bottas.

The Mercedes driver's 1:05.975 is also a new track record for the Red Bull Ring, a time clocked on soft tyres and 0.190s clear of Verstappen who cranked up his performance in the closing stages of the session only to spin at the Turn 3 hairpin.

It was an eventful FP1 with many spins and mishaps, mainly induced by tyre issues according to most drivers.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was fourth after a spin at Turn 1 early when the German clipped the apex and found himself facing oncoming traffic.

Kimi Raikkonen was also caught out when braking for the troublesome Turn 1, spinning and damaging his first set of Supersoft rubber in the process.

Turn 9 was another source of problems for many drivers, with Romain Grosjean suffering a puncture after running over the kerb on the exit, while Felipe Massa also ran hard on the exit and pitted for a thorough inspection.

McLaren's drivers made good use of their new spec-3 Honda power unit, with both Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne running in the top-ten on Friday morning.

Free Practice 1 results

PosDriverTeamTimeGapLaps
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:05.975s38
2Max VerstappenRed Bull1:06.165s+ 0.190s23
3Valtteri BottasMercedes1:06.345s+ 0.370s35
4Sebastian VettelFerrari1:06.424s+ 0.449s28
5Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1:06.620s+ 0.645s32
6Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:06.848s+ 0.873s24
7Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren1:07.283s+ 1.308s31
8Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1:07.437s+ 1.462s31
9Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1:07.510s+ 1.535s28
10Esteban OconForce India1:07.511s+ 1.536s39
11Felipe MassaWilliams1:07.550s+ 1.575s29
12Kevin MagnussenHaas1:07.594s+ 1.619s30
13Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:07.633s+ 1.658s32
14Jolyon PalmerRenault1:07.649s+ 1.674s31
15Lance StrollWilliams1:08.041s+ 2.066s35
16Romain GrosjeanHaas1:08.074s+ 2.099s20
17Sergey SirotkinRenault1:08.586s+ 2.611s27
18Alfonso CelisForce India1:09.280s+ 3.305s15
19Pascal WehrleinSauber1:09.323s+ 3.348s29
20Marcus EricssonSauber1:10.853s+ 4.878s12

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