F1 Austrian GP: Kimi Antonelli leads Mercedes 1-2 as Lando Norris faces reliability woes in FP1

Mercedes came out swinging in first free practice at the Austrian GP as Antonelli pipped George Russell, while Norris hit more reliability trouble in the McLaren

Mercedes' championship leader Kimi Antonelli topped first practice at Formula 1's Austrian Grand Prix, having a slight edge on team-mate George Russell at 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-odd 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.

Lewis Hamilton ended the session fifth for Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

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, and Franco Colapinto in the Alpine.

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 just a minute to go, Perez's stoppage effectively ended the first of three practice sessions.

F1 Austrian GP: FP1 results

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	A. Kimi 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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