Max Verstappen topped the only practice session for the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, as it seems that Lando Norris will be his main challenger for the next weekend in a row, on yet another close grid.
While the Verstappen was the fastest at the end of FP1 from McLaren's Oscar Piastri and by some margin, we did not get to see the real pace of the McLaren, in other words, Norris did not show us what he was capable of doing as he locked up on his first qualifying simulation and could not manage another lap due to traffic.
So while the Briton was 13th fastest at the end of the session, expect him to take the fight to Red Bull's triple Formula 1 Champion in Sprint qualifying next.
Verstappen on the other hand suffered from a power unit scare as he stopped in the middle of the session after an engine fault. He caused a Red Flag but was soon back out on track as Red Bull sorted out the issue in minutes.
Ferrari seemed to be in a better situation after their Barcelona struggles as Charles Leclerc was third fastest with Carlos Sainz fourth.
Lewis Hamilton was fifth, but did not do a run on Softs, while George Russell who was eighth fastest tried to do a qualifying run but got hampered by traffic.
So expect Mercedes to be closer than what FP1 showed which sets things up for an exciting Sprint qualifying.
Buildup towards FP1
The 2024 Austrian GP is the second race of the first triple header this season, and it will be a Sprint weekend, the third of six planned weekends.
This will put a greater emphasis on this single practice session this weekend which will be followed by the qualifying for the Sprint race on a track that punishes the slightest of mistakes with a quite a short lap.
So we are racing just days after the 2024 Spanish GP in Barcelona, and following up on that race, there are various topics to look out for.
We can look forward to another round of Verstappen vs Norris as McLaren continue to be the closet challengers to Red Bull, while Mercedes will be interesting to watch after what was their best weekend so far this year in Barcelona.
Ferrari did not deliver with their upgrades in the Spanish GP, so will one extra weekend with the new parts and data collected in the previous race help them challenge for the top positions in Austria?
In 2023, the Austrian GP was a track limits festival, all drivers going over the limits at Turns 9 and 10, but this time gravel traps have been places at the exits of those two corners to stop drivers from exceeding the track limits. So let's see how the drivers behave now...
Race Director Niels Wittich explained the changes: "We have installed a 2.5m-wide gravel strip directly behind the kerb at the exit of Turn 9 and Turn 10 on the left-hand side and in Turns 1, 3, 4 and 6 we’ve moved the white line to make the distance to the gravel less than 2 meters."
Pirelli has gone soft for Austria with the three softest compounds in their range available this weekend: C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft).
In terms of upgrades, not much this weekend; Mercedes and Sauber both have new beams wing, while Ferrari have revised cooling louvres, while VCARB have rear drum winglet ducts revised for this race.
McLaren have a new front wing with a revised geometry to improve air flow with a revised front suspension designed to work with the new wing.
FP1 Session Highlights
The session started in cloudy conditions with track temperature at 31 degrees Celsius as air temperature at 23 degrees. Drivers and teams will be hoping for some dry running with only 60 minutes available to tune their cars.
Soon Norris reported issues with his steering, he said: "The steering reminds me a little bit of Miami, a little bit harder to turn right and much easier to turn left."
After going the track, Yuki Tsunoda also complained about steering issues, reporting that he didn't like the steering column and that it felt "weird".
Hamilton then had a close moment with Lance Stroll, the Briton on a flying lap the Canadian driving leisurely around into Turn 3. The Mercedes almost rear-ended the Aston Martin.
The teams were all using a mix of Medium and Hard compounds with focus on the strategy for the Sprint, as the new rules for 2024 allow them to break parc ferme conditions after Saturday's short race ahead of qualifying for Sunday's grand prix.
Before the half point only the Williams drivers, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant ventured out on the Soft tyres, but did not set any spectacular times. Sargeant went 13th fastest and Albon 14th.
15 minutes into the session Fernando Alonso reported strong tail winds at Turns 1 and 6.
40 minutes into the session, Nico Hulkenberg had a moment with Leclerc, reporting to his team that he didn't know the Ferrari was on a push lap, and was warned that Verstappen was also pushing.
The Hulk said: "I aborted but I didn't know the Ferrari was on a lap. All these cry-babies here with the traffic."
As for the order at that moment, well:
Tsunoda, back in the team garage asked of changing the steering column was possible, the answer being negative. Not until the end of the session that is.
Russell had a moment at Turn 3, locking up while going on the kerb and going deep into the run-off area, but no contact, he keeps going.
With 28 minutes remaining, Verstappen brought out the first Red Flag of the weekend, as he slowed down on the start/finish line as his car developed a fault after changing the differential settings.
Onboard replay showed the power unit on the #1 RB20 sounding bad, as it seems to be another hit for the reigning Champion who is already on the limit in terms of allowed power units per seasons. An extra power unit means a penalty.
Verstappen rolled back down hill and was soon collected by the marshals and pushed into the team pit box.
The session was green lighted with less than 25 minutes remaining, and Verstappen was soon back out on track. It seems it was just a glitch.
Less than 20 minutes from the end, Tsunoda had a close call with Albon, the latter trying to take the racing line, the former on a hot lap. Albon just notices the Japanese driver in the last minutes and avoids contact.
Pierre Gasly, on Hard tyres, locked up his front right tyres going into Turn 3 and runs wide, while Kevin Magnussen suffers a similar situation moments later but at Turn 1.
Magnussen, again, goes out of shape in Turn 9, and goes wide in Turn 10, but manages to escape the gravel strips.
But soon, Oscar Piastri became the first driver to go into the new gravel traps, running wide on the kerbs at Turn 9, but keeps going.
In the final eight minutes of the session, the qualifying runs started with the teams - aside from Williams - using the Soft tyres for the first time.
Naturally the times starting dropping and the session ended with Verstappen leading, while Norris messed up his Soft runs.
The drivers did the practice starts at the end, as usual.
How they finished
Verstappen posted a 1:05.685 to go fastest and 0.276s ahead of Piastri in second while Leclerc was 0.094s further down the road in third.
Sainz was fourth fastest, 0.073s behind his teammate and 0.126s ahead of Hamilton, the Briton fifth in the Mercedes.
Esteban Ocon was sixth fastest in the Alpine, who seem to be keeping their momentum for the second weekend in a row, while Stroll was seventh in the Aston Martin.
Russell was eighth fastest, seven tenths of the pace, but noting that he did not managed a run on Softs. He was ahead of Tsunoda, as VCARB seemed to have a better handle on their car and its upgrades after Barcelona's disasters.
Alonso was tenth in the second Aston Martin, while Sergio Perez was 12th ahead of Norris who was 13th.
Austrian GP FP1 Classification
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