The Austrian Grand Prix is ​​the second in sprint format of the season, after Azerbaijan. therefore importance of one free practice session Red Bull ringThis Friday, dominated by World Championship leader Max Verstappen (1’05″742), both Sainz’s Ferraris and Alonso finished eighth.

Verstappen started by setting the fastest time at the Red Bull-owned Spielberg circuit, but lost a few minutes in the box after warning his team of a problem with the RB19: “Something is hanging off the right rear end plate,” he said. After returning to the track, he did not feel comfortable complaining about understeer.

Hamilton surpassed the World Cup leader’s time ahead (1’06″416), with Verstappen is just over a tenth and Fernando Alonso, to two. The three drivers on the Canadian podium thus showed that they were still fit and ready for an unusual weekend, with an uncertain weather forecast pointing to rain for two races and two qualifiers and both dry races. Stroll joined the party by wearing soft tyres.

They also had to go back to the garage to make adjustments to the two Ferraris. Austria has launched a flat-bottomed and substantial improvement package. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc tested them on a 100km shooting day Scuderia held in Maranello last Tuesday and are optimistic about the Austrian appointment after their move in Montreal.

Despite few minutes on the track, Sainz and Leclerc showed their speed in the closing stages of the first practice session, with the fastest Spaniard (1’05″983) on soft tyres, albeit on soft tyres. Verstappen who won his time with cars. Max pushed to recover first place on the final lap, with Sainz two-tenths behind and Leclerc third, four-tenths behind, and Pérez and Hamilton half a second behind. Fernando Alonso closed the freestyle in eighth place with almost a second.

Sergio Pérez was able to attend the session without any major problems after leaving the race yesterday as he was not feeling well on the media day of the Grand Prix. The Mexican driver had chain problems in the last races. Adding two victories significantly lowered his performance compared to the start of the course. He’s trailing Alonso in the World Cup standings, just nine points behind and under pressure from Red Bull, making his way to the ninth round of the calendar, which has already given him a wake-up call.

This afternoon will be qualifying (5pm) to form the starting line for the main race on Sunday, and Saturday will be dedicated to sprinting exclusively with qualifying (12:00pm) and the short race (4:30pm). On Saturday, eight points are awarded for the winner and one less point for the next classification until the eighth place. Throughout the year, this sprint weekend program will be repeated in Belgium, Qatar, the United States and Brazil.

AUSTRIA GP. Free Exercise 1:

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1’05″742

2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) at 0″241

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) at 0″467

4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) at 00″520

5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) at 0″674

6. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) at 0″755

7. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) at 0″808

8. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) at 0″914

9. George Russell (Mercedes) at 0″954

10. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) in 1″038

11. Alex Albon (Williams) at 1″052

12. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) at 1″067

13. Logan Sargeant (Williams) at 1″276

14. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) on 01″419

15. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) 1″460

16. Nyck De Vries (AlphaTauri) at 1″487

17. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) at 1″528

18. Pierre Gasly (Alp) at 01″545

19. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) at 1″619