Championship leader Kimi Antonelli led George Russell in a Mercedes one-two in first practice at the Austrian Grand Prix as their rivals ran into reliability problems.
Two weeks after being beaten by Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona, Mercedes demonstrated they are still favourites for this weekend’s race at the Red Bull Ring as the Mercedes duo swapped places at the top of the timesheet throughout the session.
Antonelli, who leads Hamilton by 41 points in the Drivers’ Championship and Russell by 50 points, ended up on top by 0.040s with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri just one tenth behind in third.
But, the other McLaren of Lando Norris lost 45 minutes of track time due to a hydraulics leak and is already on the backfoot.
Both Red Bulls also spent time in the garage as software problems for Max Verstappen saw him stop twice in the pit lane in the opening 20 minutes, while Isack Hadjar was forced to change his engine after the team discovered a late problem, costing him around half of the session.
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Max Verstappen came to a stop in the pit lane twice in his Red Bull during opening practice in Austria
Red Bull have almost a new car for their home event with visible aerodynamic changes that they hope will get them closer to the front.
Verstappen finished the session fourth, 0.281s behind Antonelli, but was unhappy with the balance of the car, claiming the “whole car is shaking under braking”.
Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok said: “It’s not ideal, especially for Red Bull because they brought a big update here so would have wanted both cars out there, gathering data and gaining comparisons.
“Not ideal for McLaren and Norris as well. But if it’s going to happen, it’s better to happen in FP1 because you then have two sessions to catch up.”
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Lando Norris on McLaren’s hopes for Austria this weekend
Ferrari are set to run their upgraded engine from Saturday, so Hamilton’s fifth place in first practice may not be a true representation of their pace as he was over six tenths off the front.
Charles Leclerc was one of six drivers to give up their seat for a rookie as each driver is obligated to let a rookie driver their car in two practice sessions in the season.
Leclerc was replaced by Formula 2 driver Dino Beganovic, who was the best of the rookies, in ninth while full-time rookie Arvid Lindblad impressed in sixth for Racing Bulls.
Austrian GP Practice One Timesheet
Driver
Team
Time
1) Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
1:07.796
2) George Russell
Mercedes
+0.040
3) Oscar Piastri
McLaren
+0.117
4) Max Verstappen
Red Bull
+0.281
5) Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari
+0.665
6) Arvid Lindblad
Racing Bulls
+0.930
7) Lando Norris
McLaren
+1.077
8) Franco Colapinto
Alpine
+1.166
9) Dino Beganovic
Ferrari
+1.258
10) Oliver Bearman
Haas
+1.275
11) Nico Hulkenberg
Audi
+1.369
12) Isack Hadjar
Red Bull
+1.685
13) Valtteri Bottas
Cadillac
+1.725
14) Pierre Gasly
Alpine
+1.750
15) Ayumu Iwasa
Racing Bulls
+1.841
16) Alex Albon
Williams
+1.848
17) Paul Aron
Audi
+1.850
18) Luke Browning
Williams
+2.183
19) Ryo Hirakawa
Haas
+2.697
20) Jak Crawford
Aston Martin
+3.406
21) Sergio Perez
Cadillac
+3.487
22) Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin
+3.537
Sky Sports F1’s live Austrian GP schedule
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Look back at some of the most dramatic moments throughout the years at the Austrian Grand Prix
Friday June 26
1.55pm: F3 Qualifying
2.30pm: Team bosses’ press conference
2.50pm: F2 Qualifying
3.35pm: Austrian GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5.15pm: The F1 Show
Saturday June 27
9am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Austrian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Austrian GP Qualifying build-up*
3pm: AUSTRIAN GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday June 28
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: F2 Feature Race
10.50am: Porsche Supercup
12.30pm: Austrian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: THE AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Austrian GP reaction: Chequered Flag
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
*Also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1’s European season continues with the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime