Verstappen pips Ferrari drivers to top free practice in Austria

A late charge by Max Verstappen in Friday's single practice at the Red Bull Ring allowed the Red Bull driver to top the session ahead of this afternoon's Austrian Grand Prix qualifying.

Verstappen, who set his quickest lap on the medium tyre, pipped the soft-shod Ferrari of Carlos Sainz by 0.241s while Charles Leclerc was third.

Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a reasonably good start to his weekend, the Mercedes driver clocking in P4, just edging Sergio Perez.

• Austrian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 - Results

This weekend's Sprint format means that drivers were only awarded a single practice session, with qualifying for Sunday's main event taking place late on Friday afternoon.

Perez sat out Thursday's media day, but the Red Bull charger was feeling better on Friday morning and declared fit to drive.

Weather forecasts earlier this week called for rain on the opening day of running but those predictions proved wide of the mark as the Styrian hills were basking in the sun at the outset of the free practice, with little chance of rain and an air temperature of 26.6° C.

McLaren has rolled out a heavily revised McLaren MCL60, but Lando Norris is the sole recipient of the new-spec car, with Oscar Piastri getting his hands on the updates next week at Silverstone.

Verstappen put the first fastest lap on the board, a tour achieved in just over 68 seconds, underlying once again the track's fast nature. Perez followed his teammate at the top as the Red Bull pair traded places.

Unsurprisingly, with only one hour to sort out their contenders, all teams bar Williams were circulating out on the track. As the times nudged down, Alonso – who will be looking for another strong performance in Austria – went fastest but Verstappen quickly recouped the top spot.

Meanwhile, Williams was finally up and running, the Grove-based outfit reporting that its tardy start was just part of its run plan.

Twenty minutes in, Hamilton jumped to the top, the Mercedes, shod with the hard tyre, driver setting a new benchmark with a 1m06.416s that outpaced Verstappen's best by 0.182s. But it was early minutes still in the session.

Ferrari's drivers – running this weekend onboard an SF-23 that features a modified front wing and tweaked sidepod inlets – were logging their laps but they remained constrained to the lower tier of the field.

Williams however, initially left in the lurch, caught up nicely, with Albon setting the fifth fastest time onboard an FW45 car that, as a reminder, was heavily upgraded in Canada.

With 15 minutes to go, Hamilton remained on top, but a soft-shod Lance Stroll slotted into second ahead of Verstappen, Alonso and Russell.

Better late than never, Ferrari finally dialed in the speed, which propelled Sainz and Leclerc – running on the soft tyre – up to P1 and P3, the pair sandwiching Verstappen who also improved while Hamilton was pushed down to fourth.

In the final minute of running, Verstappen pipped both Ferraris to conclude FP1 at the top of the timesheet, with a 0.241s edge of the Scuderia's chargers.

Hamilton remained fourth ahaed of Perez, while Stroll rounded off the top six. Further back, Haas' Kevin Magnussen, Alonso, Russell and Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu completed the top ten.

Albon ended FP1 in 11th position just ahead of Piastri. McLaren's updated MCL60 looked decent out of the box, yet Norris worryingly closed out the field, 1.626s adrift from the session's pace setter.

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