A few key numbers about the track in Austria: there were around 17 degrees and a superb atmosphere in the stands as the fans awaited the first drivers out on track, in the first free practice session for the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, the only practice session ahead of qualifying.
Max Verstappen’s first lap in anger put him straight to the top of the timesheets with a 1:07.729 on the medium tyres, while Alex Albon, who went to hospital for precautionary checks after Silverstone, was back fit and on his out lap. It took Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc ten laps, but the Monegasque finally had a somewhat representative lap on the board compared to early leader Max Verstappen: it was six-tenths off the pace, mind. Charles went third, sandwiched between the Alpine cars of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were starting to find their feet and they moved up the standings but only so far as 8th and 9th. Hamilton was +1.171s off the pace and Russell +1.188s.
After 20 minutes from FP1, the first red flag moment was caused by Lando Norris, who was forced to stop his car to the side of the track due to what seemed to be a power unit issue. Not ideal for McLaren. As ever with practice, the clock continued to tick down during the red-flag stoppage. As FP1 was back underway, both Ferrari F1-75 cars came out on the soft tyres, so we had the first real quick times of the weekend. Soft tyres on and those red cars found the grip immediately: Carlos went fastest before his Maranello teammate responded with a 1:06.650, 0.4s off Carlos. He was also 0.8s up on Verstappen, but the Red Bull was yet to set times on the softs.
And there was some stonking pace from Max Verstappen on his sofy-tyre lap, 0.348s ahead of Charles Leclerc. Drivers were gradually switching over to the soft tyres and naturally, as a result, the pace was starting to quicken. Max Verstappen was still out in front, but now with a best time of a 1:06:302. There was a second red flag due to a bit of debris at the exit of Turn 6, as the the stewards have called for a stoppage time to remove it. Again, not ideal for these teams ahead of qualifying.
The track was then getting buys as time started to run out and Hamilton was quick to put another time in, moving up to third just +0.607s behind Verstappen in first. He was sandwiched in by the two Ferrari cars, with his teammate Russell down in 12th at that stage. It was windy here, which was casuing troubles for the drivers, as Lewis Hamilton ran wide and had to save himself.
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It was Max Verstappen who set the pace after the first practice for Red Bull, with a best lap time of 1:06.302. The Dutchman was followed closely by Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, just over two tenths behind and it was George Russell who finished in third, sitting +0.400s off the Red Bull best lap time. Sergio Perez was in fourth with Lewis Hamilton in fifth, and Kevin Magnussen that finished just ahead of the other Ferrari car of Carlos Sainz.
Times
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:06.302 33 laps (s)
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0.255s 30 laps (s)
3 George Russell Mercedes 0.400s 31 laps (s)
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull 0.537s 25 laps (s)
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 0.607s 29 laps (s)
6 Kevin Magnussen Haas 0.663s 31 laps (s)
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 0.737s 28 laps (s)
8 Fernando Alonso Alpine 0.798s 31 laps (m)
9 Mick Schumacher Haas 0.944s 30 laps (s)
10 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 0.994s 31 laps (s)
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1.129s 25 laps (s)
12 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1.160s 26 laps (m)
13 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1.174s 27 laps (s)
14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Racing 1.220s 25 laps (m)
15 Alex Albon Williams 1.280s 32 laps (s)
16 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1.290s 32 laps (s)
17 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1.441s 23 laps (m)
18 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo Racing 1.587s 27 laps (s)
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1.847s 28 laps (s)
20 Lando Norris McLaren 3.613s 14 laps (m)
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