Lewis Hamilton broke the track record to top the opening practice session at the Red Bull Ring ahead of Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Hamilton set a 1m05.975s to beat the previous record set by himself last season. His time was set on the soft tyres – the hardest of the three available this weekend.
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was third quickest ahead of Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Verstappen was 0.190s adrift of the Brit’s benchmark on the super-soft tyres.
The Dutchman suffered a spin at Turn 3 with less than a minute remaining, which followed a major moment at Turn 6 where he clipped the wall and picked up minor damage to the rear of his RB13.
Bottas also spun in the closing stages of the session, Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest with Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen sixth.
Both Ferraris spun at Turn 1 during the session, with both drivers struggling to find the correct balance around a circuit they have never won on.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo was fifth, Stoffel Vandoorne was an impressive seventh quickest albeit on the ultra-soft tyres.
His McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso was ninth quickest behind Daniil Kvyat, who had multiple spins throughout the session, and ahead of Esteban Ocon who rounded out the top 10.
Sergey Sirotkin and Alfonso Celis Jr. replaced regulars Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez for FP1.
Sirotkin was 0.9s behind team-mate Jolyon Palmer in P17, one place ahead of Mexican Celis Jr. who ended up nearly 1.8s adrift of Ocon.
