2024 F1 Round 11, Austrian GP FP1: Verstappen Fastest in 1:05.685 Despite Red-Flag Stoppage, Piastri Second and Tsunoda Ninth

Round 11 of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the Austrian Grand Prix, began at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg on the evening of 28 June, Beijing time. In the sprint weekend’s only free practice session, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the times with a 1:05.685 despite suffering a mechanical problem that brought out a red flag. RB driver Yuki Tsunoda finished ninth.

With 28 minutes remaining, Max Verstappen asked over the radio, “Is it an engine failure?” His car then lost power and stopped on the start-finish straight, prompting a red flag. Red Bull told the Dutchman to remain in the cockpit. He cleverly used the slope of the straight to roll backwards for a short distance before marshals helped push the car back to the pit lane through an opening beside the straight. The cause of the problem was not disclosed, but it was resolved within minutes of the car returning to the garage. Verstappen quickly rejoined and set the fastest lap on soft tyres late in the session, pulling well clear of the field.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was second, 0.276 seconds behind, although there was still a clear gap to Max Verstappen. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took third, edging team-mate Carlos Sainz by just 0.073 seconds. Judging by the competitiveness shown by Mercedes and McLaren, however, Ferrari might be slightly on the back foot this weekend. Both Mercedes cars set timed laps on hard tyres. Lewis Hamilton led for much of the session before finishing fifth. George Russell switched to soft tyres, but encountered a slow-moving Zhou Guanyu at Turn 4 and had to abandon his flying lap, leaving him eighth.

McLaren’s MCL38 attracted attention with its upgraded front wing. Lando Norris set the fastest first sector but locked up under braking at Turn 4 and ran into the gravel, ending the session only 13th. Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez had briefly been close to Max Verstappen’s pace on medium tyres, but fell more than a second behind after switching to softs and finished 12th.

RB arrived with upgrades, but had yet to fully identify the cause of its loss of pace at the previous round in Spain. The team planned to continue testing in Austria, aiming to resolve the issue before the following week’s British Grand Prix. After running wide at Turn 1 early in practice, Yuki Tsunoda reported that the steering column felt “not right”. Around the halfway point, he asked, “Can’t we change the steering wheel now?” The reply was that it could not be changed during the session. His pace on medium tyres was unremarkable, but a late switch to softs brought the ninth-fastest time, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was 0.383 seconds slower in 16th.

The red-flag stoppage of around five minutes significantly affected teams carrying out long runs, particularly Mercedes. Sprint qualifying was scheduled for 22:30 Beijing time (UTC+8) that evening.