Lewis Hamilton top, but Ferrari show promise: Austrian GP FP1 Results

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton top, but Ferrari show promise: Austrian GP FP1 Results

Looks like a tight battle ahead!

Matthew Scott

Friday 28 June 2019 12:30 Updated: 13:26

Lewis Hamilton was top of the time sheets in the first practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix, but Ferrari showed signs that they could be in the mix in Spielberg this weekend. Sebastian Vettel's best lap was just a tenth of a second slower than Hamilton's, but set on harder tyres.

The Red Bull Ring is anticipated to play to Ferrari's strengths more, with longer straights allowing them to open up performance from their powerful engine.

Valtteri Bottas was third quickest, having missed the first half-hour of the session due to an engine change, while the Finn struggled with his brakes when in action later on.

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There were also issues for other drivers running over the 'sausage' kerbs, which took chunks of carbon fibre off cars foolish or unfortunate enough to run over them at speed. Indeed the session was red-flagged in the final minutes after Nico Hulkenberg lost a huge chunk of front wing at Turn 9.

McLaren once again look well-placed to take 'best of the rest' honours, with seventh-placed Carlos Sainz lapping closer to the Red Bulls ahead than eighth-placed Daniel Ricciardo could get to him.

Lando Norris, 10th-fastest on the hardest tyre, will be McLaren's leading challenger in Austria, however, with Sainz set to drop to the back of the grid in Sunday's race due to engine penalties.

Austrian GP FP1 results

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:04.838
2. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1:04.982
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 1:04.999
4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:05.141
5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:05.260
6. Pierre Gasly (Red Bull) 1:05.378
7. Carlos Sainz (McLaren) 1:05.502
8. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) 1:05.846
9. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 1:05.876
10. Lando Norris (McLaren) 1:06.125
11. Romain Grosjean (Haas) 1:06.135
12. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 1:06.272
13. Alexander Albon (Toro Rosso) 1:06.285
14. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) 1:06.383
15. Sergio Perez (Racing Point) 1:06.457
16. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1:06.708
17. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) 1:06.729
18. Lance Stroll (Racing Point) 1:06.756
19. George Russell (Williams) 1:06.805
20. Robert Kubica (Williams) 1:07.665