Verstappen Ahead of Leclerc, Russell in Opening Practice Session in Austria

Max Verstappen was fastest in the opening practice session of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend on Friday as the twenty drivers prepared for Qualifying later this afternoon.

The Red Bull Ring is hosting the second of the three sprint races set to be held during the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, and Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen had the advantage in the only practice session prior to Qualifying.

The session was affected by two red flags, the first for McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris stopping on track with a suspected engine issue, while the second was needed due to a rubber strip from the track lifting up and laying on the surface.

Verstappen did not let the delays affect him as he set the pace with a time of 1:06.302, 0.255 seconds clear of Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while George Russell made it three different teams inside the top three, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver ending 0.400 seconds back of the fastest time.

Sergio Pérez was a late improver as the second Red Bull driver ended fourth fastest, with the Mexican edging out Lewis Hamilton in fifth, while Kevin Magnussen was an impressive sixth for the Haas F1 Team.

Last weekend’s British Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz Jr. was down in seventh in the second Ferrari ahead of his fellow Spaniard, Fernando Alonso of the BWT Alpine F1 Team, while the second Haas of Mick Schumacher, fresh off scoring his first points in Formula 1 at Silverstone, was ninth ahead of Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Lance Stroll was the best placed of the two Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team drivers in eleventh, with team-mate Sebastian Vettel thirteenth behind the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon, while Valtteri Bottas was fourteenth for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN.

Bottas goes into the weekend knowing he will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid following a number of engine component changes, but he will get to start Saturday’s Sprint race from wherever he qualifies on Friday.

Alexander Albon was fifteenth for the Williams F1 Team ahead of the second AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly, while Daniel Ricciardo was the best placed of the McLaren drivers in seventeenth, the Australian suffering with issues with his Drag Reduction System (DRS) for a second consecutive weekend having endured a painful race in Silverstone unable to use it for much of the day.

Zhou Guanyu was eighteenth as the Alfa Romeo driver returned to the car for the first time since his horror crash on lap one last Sunday, while the field was rounded out by Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and the unfortunate Norris, the latter unable to set a truly representative lap time due to his car issues.

Red Bull Ring Free Practice 1 Result

To follow…