Hamilton leads Bottas in opening Austria F1 practice
Lewis Hamilton led Mercedes to a one-two finish in the opening Formula 1 practice session of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend at the Red Bull Ring, beating teammate Valtteri Bottas by one-tenth of a second.
Fresh from reclaiming the lead of the drivers' championship with victory in last Sunday's French Grand Prix, Hamilton was quick to stamp his authority on proceedings early in Austria, setting the pace for Mercedes with a best time of 1m04.839s.
Lewis Hamilton led Mercedes to a one-two finish in the opening Formula 1 practice session of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend at the Red Bull Ring, beating teammate Valtteri Bottas by one-tenth of a second.
Fresh from reclaiming the lead of the drivers' championship with victory in last Sunday's French Grand Prix, Hamilton was quick to stamp his authority on proceedings early in Austria, setting the pace for Mercedes with a best time of 1m04.839s.
The lap was just six-tenths of a second shy of last year's pole position lap, with Hamilton recording the effort on Ultrasoft tyres as he finished 0.127 seconds clear of Bottas in the sister Mercedes W09 car. Both drivers ran with new parts on their car through the session following Mercedes' first "serious" update package of the season, as confirmed by Hamilton on Friday.
Max Verstappen took third place for Red Bull at the start of the team's home race weekend, finishing two-tenths of a second back from Hamilton despite an early spin, while Sebastian Vettel led Ferrari's charge in fourth place as he lapped a further 0.1s slower.
Daniel Ricciardo left it late before completing his fastest time for Red Bull, going six-tenths slower than Hamilton on the Ultrasoft tyre to take fifth overall. Kimi Raikkonen took sixth in the second Ferrari, finishing almost one second off the pace.
In the race to lead the midfield, Romain Grosjean set the pace for Haas on the Supersoft compound to take seventh place ahead of Force India's Esteban Ocon, while Charles Leclerc impressed once again for Sauber to take ninth. Pierre Gasly completed the top 10 for Toro Rosso despite not having the updated front wing brought to Austria, instead running on teammate Brendon Hartley's car as he finished half a second back in P10.
Marcus Ericsson finished FP1 11th for Sauber ahead of Kevin Magnussen, with Carlos Sainz Jr. taking 13th in the lead Renault, two places ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg. Sergio Perez wound up 14th between the pair for Force India.
Williams' Lance Stroll ended the session 16th despite reporting a late issue, while Robert Kubica made his second FP1 appearance of the season for the team, propping up the timesheets in P20. McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne took 17th and 18th respectively, the latter damaging his front wing early on after running over the kerb at the exit of the final corner.
Second practice at the Red Bull Ring will begin at 3pm local time in Austria on Friday (2pm BST).
