#StyrianGP FP1 Report: @RacingPoint’s @SChecoPerez tops the time-sheets. #F1

BWT Racing Point’s Sergio Perez put his Mercedes-powered RP20 to the head of the time-sheets in FP1 at the Styrian GP in Austria ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

Last weekend’s season-opening Austrian Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas put his F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer in third and ahead of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Conditions at the Red Bull Ring were six degrees hotter than last Friday morning’s Free Practice 1 season, as McLaren’s Carlos Sainz set the initial pace as several outfits including Alfa Romeo Racing and Renault F1 Team – attached aerodynamic measuring devices to their respective cars for the exploratory laps.

Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon moved to the top of the field with a 1:06.344 on the yellow C3 medium compounds, over the ten minute mark in the hour and a half session, improving on that benchmark before team-mate Verstappen eclipsed the Thai-Briton with a 1:06.087 – also using the medium rubber.

Verstappen continued to lower his effort as they reached one hour remaining on the clock, which ended under a red flag due to Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi parking his FW43 on the inside of the quick right-side kink of turn five.

Latifi reported to his team that the engine just cut-out, although the cause of the problem was found to be a gearbox issue, which was at first covered by a virtual safety car deployment before the session got temporarily suspended so the FW43 would be craned off the side of the track.

The red flag conditions came to an end in the 34th minute mark of the 90 minute session, and over ten minutes in – it was Verstappen who continued lowering the benchmark on the yellow side-walled medium tyres, posting a 1:05.760 as they reached the mid-point of FP1.

Mercedes duo Bottas and Hamilton emerged on the mediums, after they began their initial stints on the C2 white-marked harder compounds, with the former taking top spot before Hamilton snatched P1 with a 1:05.208.

Hamilton improved once more before Perez put on the C4 red-branded softs and jumped ahead of the Briton with a 1:04.867 just before it reached one hour into the session.

Bottas then moved into second on the mediums again – before Verstappen ran the softs to eclipse the Finn and wound up 0.096 seconds adrift of Perez’s Styrian GP FP1 benchmark.

This left both Bottas and Hamilton, 0.222 and 0.253 off the Mexican respectively, with Perez’s Racing Point team-mate Lance Stroll fourth, setting a 1:05.396.

But Stroll’s best effort was deleted after exceeding track limits and running wide at the exit of the final corner – a 1:05.211 – which was set moments before the Mexican set his opening practice-topping benchmark on the soft rubber.

Albon who was complaining of his Honda-powered RB16 racer’s handling, ending the morning session in sixth place, in-front of McLaren’s Sainz taking seventh and Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly – who also had a lap time removed for a last corner track limits infringement.

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo finished ninth and ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who completed the top ten as the latter tested a new front wing and floor on his SF1000.

Vettel’s best effort was 0.903 seconds adrift of Perez’s Styrian GP FP1 benchmark, with the German suffering a massive lock-up on the run down to the right-hand up-hill right-hand corner of turn three and taking an excursion into the run-off area during the earlier runs.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat also spun-out there later on – losing the rear of his Honda-powered AT01 racer as the Russian turned well away from the corner’s apex – and took 11th – in-front of Ferrari’s 12th-placed Charles Leclerc.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon was 13th and ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris who ended 14th and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen who was placed 15th.

Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean held 16th, in-front of Williams Racing reserve Jack Aitken who was 17th and debuted in his first-ever Free Practice 1 session in-place of regular George Russell who returns to his FW43 in second practice coming up.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s reserve Robert Kubica who also ran in FP1 taking Antonio Giovinazzi’s seat for the 90 minutes, was 18th and ahead of the aforementioned Latifi who was 19th and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who brought up the rear.

Magnussen only completed three laps and was forced to investigate a battery issue in his Ferrari-powered VF-20 racer for the majority of the session.

You can read the full Formula 1 Grosser Preis Der Steiermark (Styrian Grand Prix) 2020 Free Practice One Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1046/austria/practice-1.html

You can read this weekend’s Formula 1 Pirelli Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2020 preview at the following link: #F1 @Rolex Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2020 Preview. #StyrianGP.