F1 Austrian GP Live Commentary and Updates – FP1 & Sprint Qualifying
Friday's action from the 11th round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
The sprint format will be run for the third of six times in 2024 at the Austrian Grand Prix, with drivers being granted only a single practice session to get to grips with the Red Bull Ring and especially the new kerbs.
Max Verstappen heads to Red Bull's home race on the back of successive grand prix victories for the first time since April, but McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes will be hopeful of keeping the pressure on the Dutchman.
First practice will get under way at 11:30BST (12:30 local time), with sprint race qualifying at 15:30BST (16:30 local time).
Live Standings
Summary
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Leaderboard
- Verstappen, Red Bull
- Norris, McLaren
- Piastri, McLaren
- Russell, Mercedes
- Sainz, Ferrari
- Hamilton, Mercedes
- Perez, Red Bull
- Ocon, Alpine
- Gasly, Alpine
- Leclerc, Ferrari
- Magnussen, Haas
- Stroll, Aston Martin
- Alonso, Aston Martin
- Tsunoda, RB
- Sargeant, Williams
- Ricciardo, RB
- Hulkenberg, Haas
- Bottas, Sauber
- Albon, Williams
- Zhou, Sauber
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Summary
- Verstappen claims sprint pole from McLaren duo Norris and Piastri
- Leclerc only 10th after failing to set a lap in SQ3
- Out in SQ2: Magnussen, Stroll, Alonso, Tsunoda, Sargeant
- Out in SQ1: Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Albon, Zhou
Live Text
Good morning and welcome to the Red Bull Ring for first practice at the Austrian Grand Prix.
We are preparing for a vital practice session as drivers then head into qualifying for Saturday's sprint race after just the single hour or running.
So what has happened this weekend so far? Well, the first thing to mention is the new kerb philosophy to hopefully reduce the number of penalties handed out for track limits violations.
There was also then the news of Pierre Gasly signing a new multi-year deal with Alpine and the least surprising news, that Lance Stroll's safest seat in F1 will remain his for "2025 and beyond".
Gasly's signing was certainly an interesting one, and he explained his reasons for the decision despite Alpine being "miles off" early in the season.
Not that housekeeping is out of the way, the music has played and it's time to turn our attention to the track, where drops of rain are reported to be falling!
The official risk of rain stands at 20 percent but the mountainous setting often sees weather bubble up seemingly from nowhere.
Green light and FP1 is go!
Verstappen wastes no time in heading out first on medium tyres. Hamilton and Russell start things on hards for Mercedes.
Norris has reported that the steering 'reminds me of Miami' - but that issue seemed to be a relatively simple fox on that occasion.
The early times are coming in and Russell leads a very early Mercedes 1-2 with a 1m7.932s.
Aston Martin are wasting no time in completing the usual scrubbing of tyres that they would often do later in the weekend.
"I don't like this steering column. It feels weird," reports Tsunoda as he runs off the track at Turn 1.
Verstappen briefly goes fastest before Russell goes half a second better with a 1m7.013s. Hamilton's latest effort was hindered by a slow Aston Martin on the racing line at Turn 3.
Williams are the first drivers to fit the soft tyre, with Albon and Sargeant both now taking to the track on the red-walled rubber.
There goes Hamilton, topping things with a 1m6.925s on his sixth lap on the hard tyres.
Mercedes' return to the front has been impressive in recent weekends, with the introduction of a new front wing in Monaco seeming to be a turning point.
P9 for Albon and P17 for Sargeant on their soft tyres. Unless the engines were turned right down, that will have Williams worried for the rest of the weekend.
Having been relegated to last, Sargeant crosses the line to improve to P11, one place ahead of Albon with a 1m7.806s. That's still more than a second off the pace of those on hards and mediums ahead.
As Verstappen comes into the pits, Russell exits to begin his next run, again on the same set of hard tyres.
RB endured a difficult Spanish Grand Prix weekend despite bringing a large upgrade package and things again look difficult in Austria, with Ricciardo and Tsunoda both currently in the bottom three.
As we say that, Tsunoda moves up to P14.
We're beginning to see the problem that will be in full evidence in sprint race qualifying later on today - traffic. Leclerc was fully blocked by Hulkenberg at Turn 4, before repaying the favour later on.
We're now entering a brief period of quiet on the track with drivers largely heading into the garages. Only Hamilton and Tsunoda remain on the track.
A new fastest lap for Hamilton with a 1m6.254s. He's 0.1s clear of team-mate Russell on hards, with Verstappen third and 0.4s back on mediums.
And with that, all 20 drivers are in the pits. Maybe even a single one hour session is too long for the teams - whisper it quietly!
We have drivers back on the track, with Russell, Sargeant and Zhou the first back out of the garages.
Tsunoda has continued to complain about the steering column and has double-checked a change cannot be made during the session. The news, as he feared, was negative and he'll have to live with the problem for now.
Soft tyres again for Williams. We're not sure if these are still the same set, but with limited rubber available, this would indicate that Williams are not planning on running softs in the sprint race.
In good news for Red Bull, Perez is currently in P4 and just one place behind Verstappen. Can he provide Verstappen with assistance across the weekend?
RED FLAG
Verstappen is crawling to a halt on the pit straight! And he has stopped!
The car is turned off and he's rolling back down the pit straight.
"Engine fault," reports Verstappen. His reversing Red Bill is gathering speed.
The marshals have now gathered the Red Bull and they are pushing him back into the pits. He only changed the diff settings, but this will almost certainly be his session over.
Green flag. While Verstappen now sits in the garage, the rest of the field file back out onto the track.
Astonishingly, Verstappen is now back out on the track after a very quick fix. Astonishing!
However, if he is found to deliberately have allowed his car to roll backwards down the track, he could find himself in the streward's gaze.
We're not really seeing times improve as drivers focus on long runs for the moment. We'll get qualifying simulations with about seven-eight minutes remaining.
A real moment for Tsunoda there as he's caught out by traffic into the penultimate corner. He was forced to take avoiding action to avoid a monumental crash.
By: Autosport Staff
