Verstappen fastest in Austria first practice

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the pace in practice at the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

McLaren's Lando Norris, who has been Verstappen’s most consistent challenger over the past five races, was on a quick lap but ran wide at Turn Four and ended up 13th.

Norris had set the fastest first sector time before his error, suggesting the Briton will again be competitive.

McLaren have introduced a new front wing for this weekend which they hope will further improve their performance, especially in slow-speed corners.

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who were quickest in the early part of the session, did not do a run on the soft tyre others late on.

They dropped to fifth and eighth on the timesheets as others did qualifying simulation runs late on.

Verstappen was 0.276 seconds quicker than Piastri, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third fastest and 0.370secs off the pace, just ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was sixth fastest ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

Behind Russell, RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completed the top 10.

In a hectic session which is the only practice teams get before qualifying for the sprint race later on Friday, Verstappen caused a brief red flag when his engine cut out on the pit straight.

It was a concerning moment for Red Bull as the Dutchman is already on the verge of a grid penalty for excessive engine usage as a result of a failure in Canada two races ago, which took him up to the limit of four engines for a season.

But after he was wheeled back to the pits the team managed to restart the car and he completed the rest of the session without problem.

No final decision has been made on the Canada engine but it is expected to be written off, although some parts may be salvaged from it.

That means a grid penalty at a future race, possibly before the summer break in August, is likely for the world champion.