F1 Austrian GP: Antonelli pips Russell to top FP1, Norris hit with hydraulics issue

Formula 1 world championship leader Kimi Antonelli has topped first practice at the Austrian Grand Prix, having a slight edge on team-mate George Russell on a toasty Red Bull Ring.

Russell led the opening running in Spielberg on mediums with a 1m10.407s and then 1m09.898s, ahead of team-mate Antonelli. The Italian teenager took over command with a 1m08.448s lap, but a better comparison came at the halfway point when both Mercedes men donned Pirelli's softs. Antonelli set a 1m07.796s lap, 0.119s ahead of his team-mate, which would remain untouched until the end of the sweltering hot session in Styria.

Russell's best effort got him to within 0.040s of Antonelli, as the Mercedes pair had a gap of almost one second to Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad at that stage, which was the result of other teams dialling in their upgrades or hitting reliability issues.

A hydraulic leak kept reigning world champion Lando Norris out of his McLaren MCL40 until the final 15 minutes of the session, the latest reliability gremlin to hit the Briton. Oscar Piastri did make it out earlier, initially struggling with his brakes before setting a 1m.07914s lap to go third, just 0.117s behind Antonelli's chart topping effort.

Max Verstappen's session was delayed by suspected clutch issues. Verstappen joined the action after 20 minutes on soft tyres, but said he was struggling with a lack of grip and feel in the heavily revised Red Bull RB22, which features a new floor, sidepod and various other upgrades. Eventually, the four-time world champion improved to go fourth, 0.281s behind Antonelli.

Barcelona winner Lewis Hamilton gradually chipped away at his personal bests to take fifth in the Ferrari, which featured an upgraded V6 engine, shipping six tenths to the Mercedes cars. That ended up bumping Lindblad to sixth, ahead of Norris who took seventh on the medium tyre without trying the faster softs in anger, while Franco Colapinto in the Alpine took eighth place.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

On a non-sprint weekend held on a traditional road course, the Austrian Grand Prix was an ideal opportunity for teams to use up one of their four mandatory rookie FP1 sessions. Aboard Charles Leclerc's Ferrari, Dino Beganovic was the fastest rookie runner in ninth, with Haas regular Oliver Bearman rounding out the top 10.

Ayumu Iwasa was 15th in Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls machine. Paul Aron also took part, the Estonian deputising for Gabriel Bortoleto in the Audi and claiming 17th. Luke Browning deputised for Carlos Sainz at Williams and was 18th-fastest, with Ryo Hirakawa 19th in Esteban Ocon's Haas and Jak Crawford 20th as he replaced Aston Martin's Lance Stroll.

The second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar was only 12th after suffering engine issues early on and once he did make it out, the Frenchman struggled with severe balance issues that left him off the pace.

The session almost took place without noteworthy incidents, until Sergio Perez ground to a halt at Turn 3 in the Cadillac with one minute of the session to go to effectively end the running early.

F1 Austrian GP - FP1 results

FP1

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	29	1'07.796		S	229.712
2	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	30	+0.040 1'07.836	0.040	S	229.577
3	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	26	+0.117 1'07.913	0.077	S	229.316
4	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3		Red Bull	Red Bull	17	+0.281 1'08.077	0.164	S	228.764
5	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	25	+0.665 1'08.461	0.384	S	227.481
6	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41		RB	Red Bull	18	+0.930 1'08.726	0.265	S	226.604
7	L. Norris McLaren	1		McLaren	Mercedes	9	+1.077 1'08.873	0.147	M	226.120
8	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Mercedes	27	+1.166 1'08.962	0.089	S	225.828
9	D. Beganovic Ferrari	38		Ferrari	Ferrari	26	+1.258 1'09.054	0.092	S	225.527
10	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	26	+1.275 1'09.071	0.017	S	225.472
11	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27		Audi	Audi	30	+1.369 1'09.165	0.094	S	225.165
12	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6		Red Bull	Red Bull	11	+1.685 1'09.481	0.316	S	224.141
13	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77		Cadillac	Ferrari	21	+1.725 1'09.521	0.040	S	224.012
14	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Mercedes	28	+1.750 1'09.546	0.025	S	223.932
15	A. Iwasa Racing Bulls	90		RB	Red Bull	19	+1.841 1'09.637	0.091	S	223.639
16	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	31	+1.848 1'09.644	0.007	S	223.617
17	P. Aron Audi	97		Audi	Audi	20	+1.850 1'09.646	0.002	S	223.610
18	L. Browning Williams	46		Williams	Mercedes	29	+2.183 1'09.979	0.333	S	222.546
19	R. Hirakawa Haas F1 Team	50		Haas	Ferrari	23	+2.697 1'10.493	0.514	S	220.924
20	J. Crawford Aston Martin Racing	34		Aston Martin	Honda	22	+3.406 1'11.202	0.709	S	218.724
21	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11		Cadillac	Ferrari	14	+3.487 1'11.283	0.081	H	218.475
22	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Honda	21	+3.537 1'11.333	0.050	S	218.322
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