Austria – Free Practice 1: Nico Rosberg breaks lap record

For this first session at the Red Bull Ring, the conditions are perfect, with plenty of sunshine. However, the air temperature is only 19°C while the track is at 31°C. The track was completely washed by the rain that fell at the end of the day. It is noteworthy that Alfonso Celis is stepping in again at Sahara Force India, replacing his fellow countryman Sergio Perez.

The drivers do not rush onto the track and often only complete a short installation lap before returning to the pits. Thus, after the first quarter of an hour, only Verstappen, Hülkenberg, Wehrlein, and Celis had their names on the timesheet.

The first significant time is set by Nico Rosberg, at 1:09:154. Lewis Hamilton is relegated to seven-tenths behind but had to contend with traffic from Romain Grosjean and Kimi Räikkönen. He still manages to outpace Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas. While Ferrari was supposed to debut the second version of its famous Halo on Sebastian Vettel’s car, the German driver completes his initial laps without it but on ultra-soft tires, allowing him to move into second position.

Finally free from the traffic in front of him, Lewis Hamilton picks up the pace and improves his teammate’s benchmark by three-tenths. But after the first half-hour, the Briton makes a mistake at turn 3, and Romain Grosjean is forced to spin as well in order to avoid him.

Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg responds to his teammate and goes under the 1:09 mark, with a time of 1:08:166, simply setting the track record! He thus erases the record set by Michael Schumacher in 2003.

The ranking is then Rosberg, Hamilton, Vettel, Ricciardo, Räikkönen, Verstappen, Bottas, Button, Massa, Sainz.

Running wide in the penultimate corner, Max Verstappen damages his front wing and the left flap detaches from the car and ends up on the track. Nonetheless, since it is not on the racing line for the last corner, the stewards decide to let the session continue.

This turn 8 thus poses problems for many competitors as Bottas, Grosjean, Hülkenberg, and Ricciardo also go over the curbs. In this first session, they are trying to test the limits of grip in this crucial turn before the pit straight.

We came close to a collision between Marcus Ericsson and Daniel Ricciardo as the Swede experienced some understeer while entering the pit lane. He crossed the white line and forced Daniel Ricciardo to go wide. The Sauber driver is now under investigation by the stewards.

If a great silence falls over the Spielberg circuit for about ten minutes, it’s Nico Rosberg who decides to head back on track first. He takes the opportunity to further improve his lap record, becoming the first to go under the 1:08 mark, with a time of 1:07.373! However, he pushes a little too hard and ends up in the gravel trap at turn 4. Nevertheless, he manages to escape without further damage.

On the other hand, Max Verstappen makes a mistake on the yellow curbs of turn 6 and finds himself stuck in the gravel trap as his suspension couldn’t withstand the impact. His session ends half an hour before the finish and triggers the deployment of the virtual safety car.

Half an hour before the end of the session, the standings are Rosberg, Vettel, Hamilton, Räikkönen, Massa, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Kvyat, Bottas, and Sainz.

It’s Rio Haryanto’s turn to make a mistake at turn 8 by executing a major spin but without consequence. However, having rejoined the track in a careless manner, he becomes the subject of an investigation by the stewards, just like his teammate Pascal Wehrlein, who was too fast under VSC conditions.

Lewis Hamilton joins his teammate in the club of drivers under the 1:08 mark but remains three tenths off, with the same tire specifications, from the session’s benchmark. Sebastian Vettel remains at the doorstep of this symbolic barrier as his best time is only 1:08.022.

It’s Daniel Ricciardo’s turn to go off into the gravel at turn 6, but he is also able to rejoin the track. Daniil Kvyat indicates that the degradation of his ultra-soft tires was significant after his 16-lap stint.

At the end of the session, all the drivers stop on the straight to practice the starting procedure.

From our special correspondent in Spielberg