Austrian GP, Practice One: Lewis Hamilton ahead of Sebastian Vettel
Hamilton 0.144s ahead of Vettel; 'Sausage kerbs' wreck front wings; Ferrari test new parts in bid to catch Mercedes
Friday 28 June 2019 13:45, UK
Lewis Hamilton made the fastest start to the Austrian GP weekend after edging out Sebastian Vettel in Practice One, as Ferrari tested more parts on their car in a bid to catch F1 2019's runaway leaders Mercedes.
Hamilton, winner of the last four races, complained of a lack of grip and damaged his front wing in the opening session, but still set the pace with a 1:04.838 on Spielberg's high-speed and flowing Red Bull Ring.
But Hamilton was only a tenth of a second ahead of Vettel, who set his fastest time on the medium tyres compared to his rival on the softs.
As ever in Spielberg, the 'sausage kerbs' around the side of the track caught a few drivers out and Nico Hulkenberg's front wing was ripped in half after running wide at Turn Nine. That damage caused a red flag which ended the session.
"It was a bit messy overall," said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. "A lot of teams breaking front wings, we broke two, and we need to find the right set-up."
Bottas, who has never been out-qualified at this circuit, was just behind Vettel in the other Mercedes, whose domination of the season so far has prompted Ferrari to rapidly find an answer to their aerodynamic woes.
Ferrari brought upgrades to the last race in France but after several of those new elements failed, the team confirmed that they were running 'test items' in Practice One in Austria to 'understand exactly why some pieces didn't work' last weekend.
Charles Leclerc, who was also on medium tyres, was fourth for Ferrari, three tenths off Hamilton.
Red Bull led the session during the first half of running but Max Verstappen, a superb winner here last season, couldn't hook up a lap on the quickest compound and finished fifth, 0.422 off the pace.
Pierre Gasly was sixth, just ahead of Carlos Sainz as McLaren enjoyed another impressive start to their weekend - though the Spaniard is set to start at the back of the grid due to engine penalties.
The top-10 was completed by Renault's Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen in the Haas, and Lando Norris for McLaren.
Though not the shortest circuit on the calendar, the Austria track provides the quickest lap times all year and the whole grid were split by less than two seconds in P1, apart from Robert Kubica in the Williams.
The whole Austrian GP weekend is live only on Sky Sports F1. Sunday's race begins at 2.10pm with build-up from 12.30pm. Find out more about Formula 1 on Sky Sports
