FP1: Verstappen leads Honda-powered 1-2 in Austria

The first of two home races for Red Bull began with Max Verstappen setting the pace in FP1 before the Styrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen, who was the championship leader with 12 points after winning the last time in France, was the first and only driver to dive into the 1:05 on this fast and furious Red Bull Ring circuit.

Pierre Gasly also demonstrated the power of the Honda engine by finishing in P2, just a few tenths behind his former Red Bull teammate.

Mercedes, meanwhile, was not too far removed from its title rivals as Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, P3 and P4 respectively, were four tenths off the pace, as was Yuki Tsunoda on the other side of the AlphaTauri garage.

It’s a day to keep an eye on the weather maps



# HaasF1 #StyrianGP # FP1 pic.twitter.com/rFWrPDgXQJ

– Haas F1 Team (@ HaasF1Team) June 25, 2021

Discover the latest teamwear 2021 in the official Formula 1 store

Thunderstorms threatened to disrupt the weekend events at the Red Bull Ring, but it was a bright and sunny start in the Styrian hills for the first training session.

Robert Kubica, who replaced Kimi Räikkönen at Alfa Romeo in the only driver change of the session, started with a spin in Turn 3 and Haas’ Mick Schumacher soon followed with his own spin – both managed to avoid early contact with the crash barriers.

After the first 15 minutes of the session, it was Verstappen who set the first marker with a 1: 06.511 on the medium tire. Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda all combined to form a Honda-powered top four in the early stages.

Hamilton, half a second behind P5 after his first run with medium tires, was the first of the big hitters to switch to the softest, red-striped tires.

He drove the fastest through the middle sector, but was only able to get a tenth out of Verstappen’s fastest time. On the other side of the Mercedes garage, Bottas was three tenths behind his teammate after his first lap on the soft mix.

Alonso suddenly shot to P2 as he got within a tenth of Hamilton, but that excitement was short-lived as the FIA ​​skipped his time for exceeding the course limits.

Back at Mercedes, Bottas noticed an improvement on his second flying lap and lost Hamilton from the lead by just 0.004 seconds.

Just as we reached halftime of the FP1 session, Hamilton regained the top spot with his second plane with 0.054 seconds – but it wasn’t long before the session lead changed hands again.

AlphaTauris Gasly cut Hamilton’s time by a tenth and then Verstappen went back to the top as he became the first driver to dive into the 1:05 benchmark.

Bottas immediately looked better from the Dutchman back then, but a bad final sector made sure that he was two tenths behind the pace. He had gone through the first two sectors the quickest.

P2 then became P4 again for the Finn, as he was the last driver whose lap time was canceled because the track limits were exceeded – this time in turn 10.

Verstappen tried to go even faster, but traffic issues made him pits again to prepare for his first race simulation run of the weekend – typically around 10 laps of data in those shortened one-hour sessions.

The long runs came and went without major incidents, although Hamilton and Bottas were both involved in traffic problems and came into contact with the likes of Charles Leclerc, Antonio Giovinazzi and Gasly.

But before the second training session on Friday afternoon, all eyes are on the sky, as the dark clouds began to brood over the Styrian course.

FP1 timesheet

All best times set on soft tires

1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1: 05.910
2 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 0.256s
3 Lewis Hamilton-Mercedes 0.422s
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.476s
5 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 0.487s
6 Fernando Alonso Alpin 0.609s
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine 0.641s
8 Lance Walk Aston Martin 0.674s
9 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 0.704s
10 Charles Leclerc-Ferrari 0.719s
11 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 0.720s
12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 0.759s
13 Sergio Perez Red Bull 0.786s
14 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 0.798s
15 George Russell Williams 0.938s
16 Lando Norris McLaren 0.951s
17 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1.270s
18 Mick Schumacher Haas 1.563s
19 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo Racing 1.913s
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 2.171s

Follow the action of the Styrian Grand Prix with the PlanetF1 Live Center