After four appointments in Austria the Sprint weekend, a further difficulty added to an already quite challenging triptych of races. In fact, Sprint offers drivers and teams only one Free Practice session before Qualifying which will take place in the afternoon. 60 minutes to immediately find the right feeling, and respond to the challenges of the Red Bull Ring, which presents some innovations such as the addition of gravel to overcome the problem of track limits. In this one free practice session all eyes are clearly on the home team, Red Bull. In recent events, the Austrian team has struggled to find the ideal set-up since Friday. It is true that the rules this year allow the change of set up between the Sprint and the qualification for the race, but starting on the wrong foot for Red Bull would not be the best given the competitiveness of McLaren which in the last Sprint in Miami found the first victory of the season. Curiosity is a lot. So let's see how the teams performed at the Red Bull Ring in Free Practice for the Austrian GP.
We hit the track for the only Free Practice session in Austria
Max Verstappen takes to the track immediately, the first to go out on medium tires followed by his teammate. Different work for Mercedes instead, Hamilton and Russell start with the hard ones. Mercedes wants to continue the positive trend after the two consecutive podiums achieved after the introduction of the latest updates in Monaco. The two Ferraris and the two McLarens also come down hard. Williams is the first team to fit soft tyres.
After 10 minutes the star team leads the group with George Russell, followed by Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The track is very short, one of the shortest in the World Championship, only 10 corners. For this reason the gaps could be even smaller.
In this initial phase the two Racing Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda seem to be struggling, the team had brought important updates to Spain. The specter of dismissal also hovers over Daniel's future. In fact, it seems that his job is seriously at risk, with Lawson ready to take over perhaps even before the summer break.
Red Bull looks for a square, Verstappen stops
As scheduled, Red Bull begins making adjustments to find the right set-up. On Perez's RB20, adjustments are made to the front suspension linkage to change the height of the front end. On that of Verstappen, who had complained about instability at the rear, the rear is instead lowered. However, the Dutchman did not find the response he was looking for, suffering from understeer. However, the problems do not seem to stop here. In fact, a few minutes later Verstappen's car was forced to stop in the middle of the straight due to a problem of dubious nature but which it is feared could be linked to the engine. The Dutchman is already at the regulatory limit having missed 4 Power Unit. At the fifth time a heavy penalty will be triggered. However, after a short pit stop the team decides to make it happen.
Verstappen is the best in the qualifying simulations, but Mercedes is the real protagonist
With the quartet of Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen and Perez leading the standings, the qualifying simulations begin with 10 minutes to go. Despite not knowing the fuel loads, the consistency of the Mercedes is surprising. In fact, Hamilton completed 39 laps with the same hard compound, maintaining excellent times and collecting a lot of data for the race. At the first attempt with the soft Max Verstappen placed himself in first position, however the two Ferraris were unable to attack the Dutchman's time by around 3-4 tenths. With the soft rooms Oscar Piastri is in second place. An unsuccessful attempt for Lando Norris, who after a fuchsia in the first sector ruins the lap by ending up wide in the gravel. Notably absent from the qualifying simulations is Mercedes.
The top 10 at the end of 60 minutes is made up of:
Max Verstappen
Oscar piastri
Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz
Lewis Hamilton
Esteban Ocon
Lance stroll
George Russell
Yuki Tsonoda
Fernando Alonso
