@LewisHamilton leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two in #AustrianGP FP1. #F1

Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton lead from team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes held a dominant one-two in FP1 at the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.

Seven months after the 2019 season finished, the coronavirus plague-delayed new campaign finally began as cloudy skies filled the air at the Red Bull Ring, with not much action taking place in the first quarter of the hour and a half session.

Most of the field were kept in their respective garages after they completed their installation laps, although McLaren duo Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris along with Bottas set the early pace.

But the trio joined the rest in the pits as the rain started to fall 20 minutes in and a wet track was declared.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was the first to head back out for a few tours on the intermediates, but the drivers decided that the track was not wet enough to use the grooved rubber.

Shortly after the first half an hour had been completed, Hamilton posted his first hot laps on the harder Pirelli compounds, improving on three consecutive laps to claim top spot with a 1:06.994.

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was on course to depose Hamilton’s benchmark but his RP20 racers started puffing smoke around his flying lap – which was later confirmed to be oil on his exhaust – and the Mexican had to abort his lap so the problem could be fixed.

Hamilton continued to improve on his best efforts, briefly impeded by Racing Point’s Lance Stroll before the Canadian had his lap time deleted after exceeding track limits at the exit of the penultimate corner.

A hive of activity in the 45 minute mark saw Sainz, Stroll and Renault F1 Team’s Daniel Ricciardo enjoying small spells at the top, with Perez snatching top spot as soon as he returned to the track to lead a Racing Point one-two momentarily with a 1:06.052.

Once the 90 minute session hit one hour, the Mercedes drivers hit the Red Bull Ring circuit after a bit of time waiting in their team garages, with Bottas getting the better of Perez’s benchmark with a 1:05.773 then lowering it to a 1:05.486 on the red marked softs.

Hamilton then on his soft rubber stint, retook first place with a 1:04.968 – attacking the kerbs upon the exit of the fast turn seven and eight chicane along with the final corner.

The reigning World Champion then improved once more to a 1:04.816 with 27 minutes left on the clock, which remained as the session’s best until the end – with team-mate Bottas second at 0.356 adrift of the Briton.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was third after spinning his Honda-powered RB16 racer at the exit of turn one – losing the rear as the swung through the apex.

The Dutchman got going again and on the softs moved up the order and wound up 0.602 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s Austrian GP benchmark time.

Sainz, Perez and Norris followed in fourth-sixth places respectively as Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon took seventh and Renault’s Ricciardo finished FP1 in eighth.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was ninth and ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who rounded out the top ten 1.108 seconds off of Hamilton’s in what was a quiet session for the Scuderia.

Stroll finished outside the top ten in 11th and in-front of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who was 12th and Renault’s Esteban Ocon who took 13th but ended his session early after a piece of bargeboard bodywork off his R.S.20 as he ran down the main straight with 20 minutes remaining, which brought out a brief Virtual Safety Car to recover the debris.

A few drivers – including Perez – suffered lock-ups at tight up-hill right turn three section, but it was turn one that was giving the drivers issues, with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen locking up and running wide their twice.

Alfa Romeo Racing pairing of Antonio Giovinazzi and Raikkonen placed 14th and 15th, ahead of Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who was 16th.

The two Williams Racing entries of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi were 17th and 18th respectively.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat took 19th and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean who brought up the rear after being stranded in the garage due to a brake fluid leak in his VF-20 racer and completed only three laps.

You can see the full Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2020 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the following link: https://www.skysports.com/f1/grandprix/austria/results

You can catch up on this weekend’s race preview at the following link: #Formula1 Rolex #AustrianGP 2020 Preview. #F1 #F1IsBack

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