Max Verstappen tops FP1 in Austria

Max Verstappen was quickest of all in FP1 around the Red Bull Ring in the only practice session before qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. The Dutchman was quickest on both the medium and soft tyres, with his lap time on the latter compound ensuring he topped the session by 0.255 seconds from title rival Charles Leclerc.

The Red Bull driver suffered damage at Silverstone last time out, but was right back up to speed around his team's home circuit and was the man to beat in the first session of the weekend.

His teammate Sergio Perez was way off the pace, only jumping to fourth on his final flying lap, with Leclerc and George Russell rounding off the top three. Russell's Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton was two tenths slower than the former Williams star, while Haas showed their hand with Kevin Magnussen in P6.

Max Verstappen immediately set the standard, topping the standings after the first flying laps as drivers were keen to get out and experience the track before qualifying later this afternoon.

The Dutchman won both races at the Red Bull Ring last season, and looked the man to beat again. While McLaren have been the midfield-topping team at Austria in recent years, with Lando Norris experiencing his best form in F1 at the circuit, the Brit suffered a slight fault when he was told to "limp home" by his dashboard.

His pace wasn't altogether quick to start the session either. Both he and teammate Daniel Ricciardo occupied 17th and 18th place, with only the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi slower than the McLaren pair in the early stages.

On the other hand, Alpine, who McLaren are fighting for fourth with, looked fairly quick with Fernando Alonso in second place.

Then, thing got even worse for McLaren as Norris was forced to pull over to the side of the road as smoke had come up through his seat with the driver indicating his car was "on fire." The red flag was immediately brought out, with Norris racing back to the garage on the back of a scooter.

His car was moved off the track fairly quickly, with the session resuming with just over 30 minutes remaining.

Then came some qualifying simulations from the two big teams on the soft tyres. Charles Leclerc was half a second quicker than his teammate Carlos Sainz, but was blown out the water by Max Verstappen's 1:06.302 lap time, which was the fastest by three tenths.

However, a rogue piece of debris caused another red flag and a second halt in FP1. It was cleared away with 15 minutes left of the session, which prompted the soft tyres to be fitted onto most cars, knowing it was time for qualifying simulations.

While Mercedes displayed some pace, both Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz were a way off their teammates, with the former nearly one second off Verstappen in the final 10 minutes.

As for McLaren, they suffered a nightmare FP1 in Austria. As well as Norris causing a red flag which ended his session, Daniel Ricciardo suffered major porpoising issues, and the changes they made "made it worse" according to the Aussie.

However, the next set of changes made things "definitely better", suggesting the problem may have been solved by McLaren. But, they completed by far the least laps as a team in FP1, with Norris in P20 and Ricciardo in P17.