2023-06-30 12:37:00
(Motorsport-Total.com) – Max Verstappen secured the best time in the first free practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix on the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. In the only FT session of the weekend, the Red Bull driver set a best time of 1:05.742 minutes, relegating Carlos Sainz (+0.241) and Charles Leclerc (both Ferrari/+0.270) to second place.
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Max Verstappen secured the best time in the first free practice session
Verstappen, half a “local hero” with the loud “Orange Army” behind him, was apparently not entirely satisfied with the start. At the beginning of the session he reported on the pit radio: “The front tires don’t really get grip, I have a lot of understeer.” All the more remarkable as Red Bull developed new suspension parts for the home race.
But not everything went perfectly for Lewis Hamilton (4./+0.509) either. The Mercedes, this time without updates, was “flashed” in the pit lane. Hamilton drove through the pit lane at 1:50 p.m. at 80.2 km/h instead of the permitted 80 km/h and had to pay a 100-euro penalty to the FIA.
As far as the balance of power for the rest of the weekend is concerned, the result of the first practice session does not necessarily have to be representative. Firstly, because Friday’s qualifying is held in the evening, when the track temperatures are much lower. And secondly, because the two Ferraris drove their best times on soft Pirellis, while Verstappen did on medium.
On the subject:
Result 1st free practice
Paddock live: Friday training in the F1 live ticker
F1 analysis live: From 10:30 p.m. on YouTube
Live broadcast: information about Sky (DISPLAY)
With lap times just over a minute, the Red Bull Ring is usually known for extremely tight time gaps. In free practice, at least nine drivers were within one second. The last, Lando Norris (McLaren), was 1.626 seconds behind Verstappen’s best time.
It is all the more remarkable that Verstappen was so much faster than the Ferraris despite the harder tires. “This lead is nice,” says Helmut Marko in an interview with ‘ORF’. When asked about the toughest competitors, he replies: “Hamilton and Alonso.”
Toto Wolff says: “It depends on whether someone drove with 80 or 110 kilos. We will be smarter in qualifying,” says the Mercedes team boss in an interview with ‘ORF’. “I would rate the Red Bull as strong. And then comes the gang with Ferrari, Aston Martin and us.”
Fifth was Friday lunchtime Sergio Perez (Red Bull/+0.520). The Mexican, who was still ill in his hotel room on Thursday and stayed away from all media appointments, seems to be fit again and did not have to deal with any health problems in the first training session, at least as far as can be seen from the outside. Marko says: “Up until the last run, he was doing well. That fits.”
He lined up in front of Lance Stroll (Aston Martin / +0.598), Kevin Magnussen (Haas / +0.755) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin / +0.914). Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) was in last position for a long time, but improved to 13th place with the last run. His gap: 1.104 seconds.
In an interview with ‘Sky’, Franz Tost explains how important the first practice session was: “You can’t change much in the set-up because you always lose too much time during the only free practice session. We start with a normal amount of fuel, will then drive a racing simulation with a lot of fuel.”
“Because we have to get feedback. You can’t start the race here without having data on tire degradation. We need this data to draw up a strategy, and it all has to happen in the first practice session,” he said toast
Where can you watch qualifying and the race live?
At the Austrian Grand Prix, qualifying takes place on Friday evening. The session, which deals with the starting positions for Sunday’s race, starts at 17:00. In Germany, just like all other sessions of the race weekend, qualifying will be broadcast exclusively by Sky. Preliminary reports from qualifying begin at 4:45 p.m. (ADVERTISEMENT: Be there up close with Sky, from the first free practice session to the award ceremony!)
The sprint shootout is then on the program on Saturday, in which the starting grid for the F1 sprint will be determined. The shootout starts at 12:00 p.m. (Sky preliminary reports from 11:45 a.m.), the actual F1 sprint over 24 laps at 4:30 p.m. (Sky preliminary reports from 3:30 p.m.).
And on Sunday, the Austrian Grand Prix will follow over 71 laps on the Red Bull Ring. The race starts at 3:00 p.m., Sky broadcasts from 1:30 p.m. Incidentally, with assessments by expert Timo Glock.
The program on Sky is rounded off by the daily F1 show on the Formel1.de YouTube channel. Host Kevin Scheuren welcomes Stefan Ehlen on site in Spielberg for the analysis of the day in Formula 1. On Friday and Saturday from 10:30 p.m., on Sunday from 11:00 p.m. (broadcast schedule provisional, subject to change). (To be informed by push message when the streams start, subscribe to the channel now for free and activate the bell!)
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