F1 Paddock Notebook – Austrian GP Friday

- The day in Austria started with a meeting between F1, the FIA, all 10 teams, Pirelli and a number of drivers to discuss a possible change back to the 2018 tyres after a number of complaints in the early part of the team.

- The team vote ended in a 5-5 tie, falling short of the 70 percent majority required for any mid-season change, meaning the existing tyres will continue to be used. However, the possibility of fast-tracking Pirelli’s 2020 development tyres and debuting them in races towards the end of the year was discussed by all parties present, and remains an option.

- McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl stressed the lack of competition this year was down to more than just to the tyres: “We have three top teams with the same resources, and one team is doing a significantly better job than the other two. That’s the situation we are facing.”

- Claire Williams was impressed by the level of driver representation in the meeting on Friday morning, saying F1 needed to do more to get them involve in decision-making. “They can lend a really useful perspective and bring an interesting take that we may not have because we don’t drive these race cars,” she said. “They’re the guys that have to get in these race cars every weekend, so of course they should have an opinion and have a forum to be able to share that.”

- On-track, FP2 offered one of the more dramatic practice sessions of the year as Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas both crashed out, while Sebastian Vettel had a near-miss at the final corner, just about keeping his Ferrari out of the wall. Verstappen’s car sustained a considerable amount of rear-end damage, but no penalty is likely as he was running a Friday gearbox. The Dutchman blamed the “tricky” wind for the shunt.

- Bottas’ shunt came at the end of a difficult day for the Finn, which started with a power unit change after Mercedes discovered an oil leak on his car in the lead-up to FP1, forcing the team to switch back to the first-spec power unit used earlier in the year for the session. Once the issue was resolved, Bottas was able to use his PU2 for the second session, having also taken a fresh MGU-K for the weekend without penalty.

- Carlos Sainz took an all-new Renault power unit for his McLaren ahead of FP1, triggering a grid penalty that will see him start on the final row. He will be joined there by Alexander Albon, who has taken an updated power unit from Honda, resulting in a penalty.

- Six teams filled out the top seven positions in FP2 as the two red flags shook up proceedings, stopping many from completing a qualifying simulation run. Even pace-setter Charles Leclerc was forced to back off on his fastest lap due to yellow flags shown for Sebastian Vettel’s spin, meaning the best time of the day actually came in FP1, set by Lewis Hamilton (1m04.838s).

- Red Bull confirmed on Friday that Dan Ticktum had been dropped from its junior programme after a difficult start to the year in Super Formula. His seat there is expected to be taken by Pato O’Ward, who will make his F2 debut in Austria as a replacement for the banned Mahaveer Raghunathan. O’Ward qualified 17th on Friday.