2018 Austrian GP first practice report: Sebastian P4, Kimi P6. Ferrari distant but likely to have been holding back their true pace.

Lewis Hamilton led Mercedes to a one-two finish in the opening Formula 1 practice session of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend at the Red Bull Ring, beating teammate Valtteri Bottas by one-tenth of a second. The lap was just six-tenths of a second shy of last year’s pole position lap, with Hamilton recording the effort on Ultrasoft tyres as he finished 0.127 seconds clear of Bottas in the sister Mercedes W09 car. Both drivers ran with new parts on their car through the session following Mercedes’ first “serious” update package of the season, as confirmed by Hamilton on Friday.

But Scuderia Ferrari often keep their cards close to their chest on a Friday and Sebastian Vettel’s early pace, he’s just three tenths back, suggests the Maranello team will still be contenders. Sebastian Vettel led Ferrari’s charge in fourth place as he lapped a further 0.1s slower. Daniel Ricciardo left it late before completing his fastest time for Red Bull, going six-tenths slower than Hamilton on the Ultrasoft tyre to take fifth overall, while Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen took sixth in the second Ferrari, finishing almost one second off the pace.

Second practice at the Red Bull Ring will begin at 3pm local time in Austria on Friday (2pm BST).

Austrian Grand Prix – Here are the final results from the opening free practice session (FP1) at the Red Bull Ring.

Results (Classification)

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:04.839
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +0.127
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.233
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +0.341
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +0.644
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +0.937
Romain Grosjean Haas +1.189
Esteban Ocon Force India +1.216
Charles Leclerc Sauber +1.376
Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso +1.555
Marcus Ericsson Sauber +1.561
Kevin Magnussen Haas +1.565
Carlos Sainz Renault +1.588
Sergio Perez Force India +1.616
Nico Hulkenberg Renault +1.640
Lance Stroll Williams +1.728
Fernando Alonso McLaren +1.773
Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren +1.859
Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso +2.032
Robert Kubica Williams +2.585