FP1 Highlights | 2024 Austrian Grand Prix

After last week's Spanish Grand Prix, we're straight back into the action this weekend at the Red Bull Ring for the second round of a triple header that concludes next week at Silverstone. And with Austria hosting the third sprint of the year, the drivers just had one hour of practice on Friday morning to dial in their cars ahead of sprint qualifying. Max Verstappen holds the record for the most Grand Prix wins at this racetrack, but the championship leader looked to be in trouble midway through the session when his car ground to a halt on the start-finish straight, bringing out the red flags. Now I have an engine, what is it saying? Engine fault? Standby. The Dutchman took a new power unit last time out in Spain and has now used his full allocation for the season, so will be hit with a grid drop if he needs another. But after being wheeled back into the garage, he was back out on track within minutes and we'll be hoping it was simply a glitch rather than a terminal problem that could cost him grid slots later on this weekend. And the engine trouble didn't seem to affect Verstappen's pace as late in the session, he set a time of 1 minute 05.685 to take top spot on the timesheets at his team's home race. Verstappen was chased home to the flag last week in Spain by Lando Norris and the McLaren man arrived in Austria this weekend ready to challenge for victory again. But his ultimate pace remains something of a mystery after he had a trip through the gravel on his flying lap on the soft tyres. It left him down in P13. His teammate Oskar Piastri, though, was right at the sharp end, finishing the session in second spot behind Verstappen. In a bid to curb the problems we've seen at this circuit of the drivers incurring track limits penalties with 12 handed out after last year's Grand Prix, the organisers have added gravel strips at turn 9 and 10 to stop the drivers running wide. And it seemed to work, with the stewards much less busy handing out warnings than they were this time last year. But at 2.7 miles long, the short lap in Austria means it can be a struggle for drivers to find space on track. Lewis Hamilton almost made contact with Lance Stroll in the opening few minutes, while his Mercedes teammate George Russell was held up by Joe Guanyu late on. And Yuki Tsunoda had a close shave with Alex Albon. That was so scary, man. Albon, that was so dangerous. Yeah, I saw that. But Nico Hülkenberg had little sympathy for his fellow drivers, as he tried to stay out of the way of Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. I avoided, but I didn't know that Ferrari's on the lap. Yeah, watch for Verstappen pushing. All these crybabies here with the traffic. So Verstappen finished top of the timesheets, with Piastri just under three tenths behind in P2. Leclerc was next in the lead Ferrari, followed by teammate Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and Alpine's Esteban Ocon. Lance Stroll was P7, ahead of Russell, Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso in P10. Pierre Gasly was 11th for Alpine, ahead of Sergio Perez, Norris and Joe. Then it was Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo and Hülkenberg. Albon was P18, with Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargent rounding out the order. Next up, sprint qualifying.