Nico Rosberg was one step ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, setting the pace in the first practice session in Austria.
Already the cars are going quickly, with Rosberg nearly one second faster than the race lap record set by Michael Schumacher in 2003. Multiple drivers went wide and even damaged their cars during the session.
His championship rival Hamilton was over three tenths slower and had a couple of moments during the session. At one point he spun into one of the gravel traps, with Renault’s Romain Grosjean also spinning a few seconds later.
The two Ferrari drivers finished third and fourth, with Sebastian Vettel exactly 0.2 seconds ahead of his teammate Kimi Raikkonen. The other Finn in Formula 1, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, finished the first practice session in tenth.
Daniel Ricciardo was the best out of everyone not in a Mercedes or Ferrari car. Sixth place went to Carlos Sainz Jr., who will be happy with his session this morning, while Felipe Massa split the Red Bull and Toro Rosso drivers in seventh.
Max Verstappen had multiple moments with the yellow painted curbs around the Red Bull Ring. The main incident happened while coming out of Turn 5, which damaged his right front suspension and meant he was beached in the gravel trap on the outside of Turn 6.
