Rosberg quickest as kerbs stop Verstappen in FP1

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of first free practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, in a session where new kerbs caused trouble.

The Red Bull Ring has been a happy hunting ground for Rosberg so far, with the championship leader having won both races since F1 returned to Austria in 2014. He opened up with some strong pace on Friday morning, with his time of 1:07.373 - set on supersoft tyres - leaving him 0.357s clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton as four drivers posted laps quicker than last year's pole position time.

The benchmark in qualifying a year ago was 1:08.455 but ultrasoft tyres coupled with a new surface have contributing to quicker lap times, with Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel (1:08.022) and Kimi Raikkonen (1:08.222) all dipping under that mark.

Despite the quick times, the session was a tricky one which saw a lot of drivers punished for mistakes. Max Verstappen suffered the most damage, losing part of his front wing over new exit kerbs at Turn 8. There are a number of new additions designed to deter drivers, and after Verstappen complained about them being dangerous he then ran wide at Turn 5 and broke his front right suspension, sliding into the gravel at the next corner.

Verstappen was not along in having off-track excursions, with Hamilton spinning early at Turn 3, bouncing across the gravel and rolling back onto the track. Romain Grosjean was following Hamilton at the time and in taking evasive action he also spun, stopping on the inside of the circuit.

Rosberg also went off at the same corner, taking to the gravel and rejoining via an escape road, while Daniel Ricciardo did similar at the end of the session having run wide at Turn 6. Ricciardo ended FP1 fifth fastest but over a second slower than Rosberg.

There was also a worrying moment when Ricciardo attacked the penultimate corner but had Marcus Ericsson within the pit entry on the inside and the pair almost collided as Ericsson understeered and had two wheels outside the pit entry line. While Ricciardo took to team radio to say it wasn't Ericsson's fault, simply the nature of the pit entry, the stewards announced the Sauber driver is under investigation for crossing the white line.

Carlos Sainz was sixth fastest, just ahead of Felipe Massa who only ran on the supersoft tyre in the opening session compared to ultrasofts for those above him. Verstappen, Daniil Kvyat and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top ten, with Kvyat also spinning late on at Turn 2.

Ferrari opted not to run the Halo cockpit protection device on the car itself, although it was visible outside the garage at the start of the session but never installed.

Manor enjoyed a competitive start to the weekend with Pascal Wehrlein 16th quickest on a track which should suit its car, but Force India's reserve driver Alfonso Celis Jr again struggled, setting the slowest time of the session some 1.5s off team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.

AS IT HAPPENED: Austrian Grand Prix - FP1

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