F1 Austrian GP Live Commentary and Updates – FP1 & Sprint Qualifying

Lots of drivers are in the pits now and we're about to see the soft tyres fitted. Mercedes leads the way with Hamilton and Russell on hard rubber, but will that picture change on softs?

Zhou and Bottas go out on softs and go seventh and eighth fastest with times of 1m6.901s and 1m6.925s. But here come the rest. 

Tsunoda is up to P3 before being pushed back by Stroll, who is now second on a 1m6.384s.

Hamilton may not do a soft tyre run here, as he is shown to have returned to the track on hards once more. 

P2 for Piastri and Norris is now beginning his qualifying simulation. He puts in a purple sector one. 

Norris was on a flier but an error under braking at Turn 4 saw him take a short trip through the gravel. Now is the moment to make those kind of mistakes though. 

Looking at the order, Williams look set for a difficult weekend with Albon in P18 and Sargeant in last. Haas with Hulkenberg and Magunssen also in the bottom four are struggling. 

Much like last weekend, Alpine appear to have found some pace with Ocon in P6 and Gasly just outside the top 10 in P11. 

After showing early pace, an issue on his best lap, Perez - much like Norris - is out of position in the order, down in P12. 

Given the number of hindered laps, there are still so many question marks ahead of sprint race qualifying, none less than those surrounding Hamilton's pace. At no point did he fit the soft tyre, yet he was still fifth fastest. Interesting! 

As ever, traffic will be the biggest issue, in sprint qualifying and we cannot wait. 

Good afternoon and welcome back. Time to get settled in as the clock ticks down towards sprint qualifying for tomorrow's Austrian GP sprint race. The pitlane light will turn green a little under 15 minutes.

The gap between first and 20th was 1.574s in practice earlier; quite a significant amount given the benchmark lap was jus 65.685s. But somehow I expect that to come down a fair bit when everyone is on the soft tyres with low fuel and trying to leave nothing on the table.

Before pontificating commences on who should end up near the top of the timesheets here, let's bring you up to speed with some developments from the lunch break. Firstly, the development that Red Bull and its RB sister team are set for a "quiet discussion" during the summer break as they decide between retaining Daniel Ricciardo or promoting Liam Lawson. You can read more about that here.

Onwards then to sprint qualifying. The form book, obviously, favours Red Bull at the track it now owns (although this writer still has to mentally check before writing the A1-Ring all these years on). Verstappen took pole in 2022, when qualifying determined the sprint order, and last year when a separate qualifying was introduced for the sprint topped both that session and regular GP qualifying.

But as recent weeks have made clear, Red Bull taking pole is no longer a foregone conclusion. Lando Norris seized the top spot in qualifying for the Spanish GP last time out, and the McLaren driver has decent form here. Remember in 2021, when he joined Verstappen on the front row? Oscar Piastri, his team-mate, was the closest challenger to Verstappen earlier on, let's not forget.

McLaren does, let's not forget, have a front wing update that it had brought this weekend. Want to read about it? Then you've come to the right place. 

Risk of rain for sprint qualifying is, well, 0%. As likely as it is that Pedro Diniz will make a comeback at Silverstone next week, frankly.

We almost dare not mention it, after last year's deluge, but will track limits have a role to play in determining the grid for the sprint? We await with bated breath... 

Hamilton, Tsunoda and Bottas oblige just as we were beginning to type that no takers had ventured onto the track yet. This isn't a long session, but then it's not a particularly long lap either.

Everybody heads out onto the track on the medium tyres, and they're not quite as up to temperature perhaps as Hamilton would like as he embarks on his first flyer. A huge tank slapper for the Mercedes driver will cost him speed all the way up the hill towards Turn 3.

Hamilton and Zhou are the first drivers who have times deleted for track limits infringements at Turns 6 and 9 respectively.

Alonso, Albon and Ricciardo are the three drivers who have set a time that are currently in the drop zone along with Hamilton and Zhou, who fell foul of track limits on their first runs. Both the Mercedes and the Sauber drivers have visited the pits and returned to the track to have another crack at it.

Hamilton's lap was compromised slightly by having to move out of the way for Bottas in the last sector, while his former team-mate was finishing off his own flyer, and the Finn then headed into the escape road at Turn 1 which will have been a distraction. But he is P12 for the moment.

Ricciardo is joined in the drop zone by Hulkenberg, Bottas, Albon and Zhou as Sargeant makes it through in 14th.

Let's run down the order at the top in that session. Verstappen paced Russell, Sainz, Norris and Stroll - making it five different manufacturers in the top five - ahead of Piastri, Leclerc, Perez, Ocon and Magnussen.