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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set an impressive pace in the first training sessions of the Austrian Grand Prix before qualifying for this “sprint” event.
The world championship leader was 0.255 seconds faster than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Mercedes’ George Russell was third, 0.145 seconds behind.
Lewis Hamilton was fourth, 0.207 seconds behind his teammate.
Friday’s classification sets the schedule for a short race on Saturday that defines the starting positions for the grand grand prize.
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was fifth fastest, followed by Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, Fernando Alonso’s Alpine, using the middle tires, while everyone in front marked their times with the soft ones, and the second Red Bull by Sergio Pérez.
Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Yuki Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri completed the top 10.
The session featured two red flags, one while Lando Norris ’McLaren was withdrawn after a breakdown after the fourth corner, and a second due to debris on the track.
It was a tough session for McLaren. In addition to Norris ’reliability issues, which came pretty soon, Daniel Ricciardo also struggled with an oscillating DRS flap, which the team took most of the time to resolve.
Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas, who was 14th fastest, will come off the bottom of the grid as a result of a penalty for using too many engine parts this season.