Strong start for Red Bull despite technical glitches

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Friday was a solid start to the Austrian Grand Prix weekend for Red Bull Racing at the team's home circuit.

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were in the top five in both morning and afternoon practice. They were within four tenths of a second of Lewis Hamilton's best time of the day in FP2.

But Ricciardo's running was curtailed when his Red Bull suffered a turbo issue in the afternoon session. And Max Verstappen suffered some floor damage in the morning and a brake issue that delayed his involvement in the afternoon.

"It was another good Friday today," insisted Ricciardo. "We seemed to be relatively competitive.

"I didn’t really get to do a proper long run at the end because we had a couple of issues, but otherwise it was a smooth day."

"The top five cars were within four-tenths," he noted. "Hopefully that remains for tomorrow and then it’ll be quite an exciting show for the weekend.

"I’m sure Mercedes will probably turn it up for qualifying but I hope we can stay in that fight.”

Hamilton stays in charge in second practice

"I think it was a positive day," agreed Verstappen.

"We had a small issue with a brake connection at the start of FP2," he confirmed. "We had to take the floor off the car which lost us some time. But we pretty much completed our programme so we can be happy with that."

Neither Ricciardo nor Verstappen felt that any of the minor issues that had encountered on Friday would adversely impact their weekend.

"We still have some work to do tonight," said Verstappen. "I’m not fully happy with the balance we had today. But we are also not too far off.

"We always know that in qualifying Mercedes will turn up their engines," he remarked. "And of course the weather here can change very quickly. So it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.”

Many drivers had a moment or two during the day's track activity. Verstappen himself had a scare in the last corner when his Red Bull drifted wide and onto the grass and dirt.

"This is not the highest grip track," he explained. "With the higher speeds this year, if you have a moment, it is difficult to correct without hitting a kerb or going through the gravel.

"The yellow kerbs were definitely a challenge," he added. "I think maybe they are not the type of kerbs for Formula 1. The cars just aren’t designed for it."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.