Verstappen fastest on harder tyres than rivals in sole Austrian GP practice session

World championship leader Max Verstappen set the pace in the only practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix, ahead of both Ferraris.

Verstappen set the best time on his final push lap of the session with a 1’05.742, almost a quarter of a second ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr with Charles Leclerc third-fastest in the second Ferrari.

With just a single hour of practice time available for the weekend, drivers would have been relieved to be greeted by clear blue skies and a warm track to allow them to carry out their runs in perfect conditions. The many fans that had travelled to Austria greeted the world champion with cheers as he headed out on track and immediately beat Lewis Hamilton with his first flying lap to set the initial pace with a 1’08.094.

Sergio Perez moved ahead of his team mate at the top of the times as drivers acclimatised themselves to the circuit in the early minutes. Sainz and Valtteri Bottas both ran off at turn one as they tried to find their braking point for the uphill right-hander, while Yuki Tsunoda had a brief off at turn three.

Fernando Alonso used the medium tyres to move to the top of the times, before Verstappen beat the Aston Martin by a few hundredths while still on his original hard tyres. Hamilton then used the hard rubber to put his Mercedes on top with a 1’06.416 before the track fell quiet as teams returned to the pit lane to analyse data and make adjustments to their cars.

Williams took advantage of the clear track to send out Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant for their first timed runs of the day, before they were joined by a small group of cars including the two Red Bulls and Alonso’s Aston Martin. Drivers spent the middle phase of the session focusing on longer runs to prepare for both tomorrow’s sprint race and Sunday’s grand prix.

In the final ten minutes, focus turned to qualifying and outright pace. Ferrari sent both their drivers out on soft tyres, with Sainz going quickest of all on a 1’05.983, ahead of Verstappen who improved on his personal best time on medium tyres to go a tenth behind Sainz. Leclerc used the soft tyres to go third in the second Ferrari, with Hamilton fourth on the soft tyres.

As the chequered flag flew with time expiring, Verstappen improved on his final push lap to jump to the very top of the times with a 1’05.741, almost a quarter of a second quicker than Sainz. Leclerc also improved on his final lap, but was only just slower than his team mate in third.

Hamilton remained fourth ahead of Perez in fifth, with Lance Stroll sixth in the Aston Martin. Kevin Magnussen was seventh for Haas, ahead of Alonso in eighth. George Russell and Zhou Guanyu completed the top 10 positions. Lando Norris ended session at the bottom of the times in his updated McLaren, having not done a run on the soft tyres.

2023 Austrian Grand Prix first practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’05.742		30
2	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’05.983	0.241	32
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’06.012	0.270	33
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’06.251	0.509	34
5	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’06.262	0.520	32
6	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’06.340	0.598	29
7	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’06.497	0.755	27
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’06.656	0.914	31
9	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’06.696	0.954	28
10	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’06.780	1.038	33
11	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’06.794	1.052	23
12	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’06.809	1.067	36
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’06.846	1.104	30
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’06.847	1.105	33
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’06.985	1.243	34
16	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’07.017	1.275	36
17	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’07.018	1.276	25
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’07.202	1.460	30
19	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’07.287	1.545	28
20	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’07.368	1.626	20

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2023 Austrian Grand Prix

• Mercedes left scratching heads by lack of performance at Austrian GP
• Verstappen’s determination to grab every point makes him a record-breaker
• Austrian GP track limits farce was avoidable like ‘IndyGate’ and Spa 2021 – Brown
• Alpine now “definitely beatable” for McLaren after upgrade – Brown
• Paddock Diary: 2023 Austrian Grand Prix

Browse all 2023 Austrian Grand Prix articles