Mercedes' stealth fighters lead the way in first session of 2020

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas led the field in the first practice session of the 2020 season as Formula 1 put itself in gear in Austria.

The Mercedes pair enjoyed a trouble-free 90 minutes, with Hamilton concluding the morning with a fastest lap in 1m04.816s that edged Bottas by 0.356s.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was 0.602s adrift from Mercedes' black duo while McLaren's Carlos Sainz and racing Point's Sergio Perez rounded off the top four who all set their fastest lap on Pirelli's soft tyre.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were a lowly P10 and P12, indicating that Ferrari has a lot of work on its hands at the outset.

• 2020 Austrian Grand Prix - Free Practice 1 results

After a four-month forced break, Formula 1 put itself in gear on Friday morning at the Red Bull Ring, and not a moment too soon for the restless field of contenders.

McLaren boys Carlos Sainnz and Lando Norris were the first to venture out and kick off the 2020 season and the Spaniard did so under overcast skies and a 60% chance of rain.

Lewis Hamilton was also among the first group of runners, the reigning world champion showcasing the stunning new stealth-like black livery devoted to diversity and inclusion of Mercedes W11.

After 15 minutes devoted to checking systems, Valtteri Bottas put the first significant time on the board.

As everyone continued to settle in after a brief and light spell of rain, Racing Point's Sergio Perez was seen heading back to the pits with a trailing plume of smoke indicating an engine issue.

Gradually, the field gathered momentum, with Hamilton overhauling Bottas at the top with a 1m06.724s. Mercedes is apparently using its controversial DAS system in its W11, the push/pull steering device that allows to change the toe-in of the car's front wheels for an aero gain.

After 45 minutes, Hamilton led the field followed by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel , Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

Meanwhile, Racing Point had detected an oil leak on Perez's 'pink Mercedes', and when the issue was fixed the Mexican resumed his session to set a new benchmark time in 1m06.052s.

Confirming the speed of the RP20, Lance Stroll slotted in second at that point, edging Renault Daniel Ricciardo, Sainz and Hamilton.

But just before the session hit the 60-minute mark, Bottas jumped back to the top with a 1m05.486s that beat Perez by 0.3s.

However, a soft-shod Hamilton was the first driver to breach the 1m05 barrier and put himself back on top of the timesheet.

Shortly after, Red Bull's Max Verstappen looped it at Turn 1 as the Dutchman tested the limits of his RB16. But his best time was still good enough for P3.

Esteban Ocon's session came to a premature halt after his R.S.20 shed a piece of bargeboard on the main straight and Renault investigated the failure.

FP1 concluded with a Hamilton-Bottas Mercedes clean sweep, with the Finn edging Verstappen by half a second.

McLaren enjoyed a productive start to its weekend with Sainz clocking in fourth while Perez rounded off the top five.

Norris, Alex Albon, Ricciardo and Haas' Kevin Magnussen completed the top 9, while Ferrari's Leclerc and Vettel lingered down the order respectively P10 and P12, although neither driver ran on the soft tyre.

In the Alfa Romeo camp, Antonio Giovinazzi just edged team mate Kimi Raikkonen as the pair secured P14 and P15, while Pierre Gasly was 16th for AlphaTauri.

Williams' George Russell and Nicholas Latifi followed, with Daniil Kvyat and Romain Grosjean bringing up the rear, with the Frenchman completing little running after encountering a brake issue early on in the session.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter