Max Verstappen cruises to top spot in FP1 in Austria
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Max Verstappen coasted to top spot in FP1 for the Austrian Grand Prix, as he picked up where he left off after the Styrian Grand Prix. The Ferrari pair of Leclerc and Sainz completed the top three.
After victory in the Styrian Grand Prix last weekend, Verstappen stamped his authority on the race weekend early doors as he topped the timesheets in FP1. He'll be looking to make it three race wins in a row after winning last weekend, and in France before that.
Charles Leclerc was second, 0.266 back on the Dutchman and Carlos Sainz was a further 0.288 behind as Ferrari picked themselves up after a difficult set of results. Leclerc's Styrian race was comprimised after contact with Gasly on lap one so he'll be hoping to bounce back this weekend.
Valtteri Bottas led Mercedes' charge but could only manage P4 whilst his teammate Lewis Hamilton could only finish seventh in FP1. The Brit had a series of lap times deleted early on for exceeding track limits.
Yuki Tsunoda was fifth for Alpha Tauri a positive result for him given how dominant Pierre Gasly has been in that team dual. Kimi Raikkonen finished sixth, Sergio Perez (P8), Pierre Gasly (P9) and Lando Norris (P10) completed the top ten.
Driver changeups
There were a few driver switches for FP1 as Callum Ilott, Roy Nissany and Guanyu Zhou came in at Alfa Romeo, Williams and Alpine respectively. Zhou was the top finisher in 14th for Alpine, with Ilott 16th and Nissany 18th, beating his Williams teammate Latifi.