Verstappen leads the field in opening practice in Austria

Red Bull's Max Verstappen set the fastest time in the only practice session scheduled ahead of this afternoon's Austrian Grand Prix qualifying, an event run this weekend to F1's sprint race format.

Verstappen edged Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by 0.255s while Mercedes' George Russell was 0.400s behind the Dutchman., with Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton rounded off the top five.

• Austrian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 - Results

After last weekend's thrills and spills at Silverstone, Formula 1 is filling the green hills of Styria with the muffled sound of its hybrid engines.

However, a common denominator this weekend between the two rounds could be the weather, with rain clouds predicted to roll over the Red Bull at some point during the next three days.

As a reminder, Pirelli has brought its three softest compounds to Spielberg. But more importantly, it's a sprint race format this weekend which means that drivers will have to make due with just FP1 before they head into qualifying later today.

The action kicked off with the track temperature at 37.3C and air temp at 17.5C.

Zhou Guanyu, the unwilling but lucky victim at Silverstone of the race's terrifying start-line shunt, was among those drivers that logged an early time when the track went green, but Verstappen - a local hero of sorts here in Austria based on the amount of orange in the grandstands – quickly sprung to the top when he fired in the first sub 1m08s lap on the medium tyre.

Alex Albon, another Silverstone start-line victim, was also on track at the wheel of his repaired Williams which features its full upgrade package, including a new front suspension.

But proceedings came to a halt after 20 minutes after McLaren's Lando Norris had parked his car at the exit of Turn 5, the victim of an apparent issue related to his brand-new Mercedes power unit.

The session was red flagged as the McLaren was rolled out of harm's way while its driver was transported back to the pits on the back of a motorbike.

Practice resumed with 32 minutes left on the clock and with Verstappen still leading the field.

A move to the soft tyre propelled Ferrari's Leclerc and Sainz to the top, but a soft-shod Verstappen quickly reclaimed the lead, lowering the benchmark time to 1m06.302 while Hamilton slot into P3.

Another stoppage was declared when a piece of debris found its way onto the track. Further inspection revealed a thin piece of rubber from the run-off area behind the kerbs at Turn 6.

The session got back underway with 15 minutes to go, and with Russell seizing third from Hamilton. Meanwhile, Verstappen's efforts to improve were thwarted by a pair of slow Alfa Romeo's and then by the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

There were no changes in the closing minutes of the first practice, with Verstappen thus leading Leclerc, Russell, Perez and Hamilton who completed the top five after a good opening session for Mercedes.

Haas emerged as a strong midfield contender with Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher both clocking in among the top ten, respectively P6 and P9, with Sainz and Fernando Alonso sandwiched in between.

Yuki Tsunoda rounded off the top ten, leading AlphaTauri's efforts while Pierre Gasly was P16. Stroll was Aston's fastest runner in p11, with Sebastian Vettel concluding his session 13th.

It was not a good start for McLaren, with Norris forced to sit out most of the session due to an engine issue while Daniel Ricciardo was only P17, the Aussie appearing to struggle with DRS and rear wing troubles.

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