Lewis Hamilton took charge of Friday Free Practice for the Austrian Grand Prix after finishing both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 on top of the time sheets.

Free Practice 1

Free Practice got underway under glorious sunshine. With the track still green drivers were slow to get out of their garages but eventually we got some track action.

Hamilton put his Mercedes in the top spot finishing the session with a best time of 1:05.975 with the soft tyre which is the hardest compound available to the drivers this weekend.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was not too far off Hamilton’s time finishing the session 2nd fastest with a best time of 1:06.165 which was just 0.190s off. Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes finished 3rd fastest.

Sebastian Vettel finished 4th fastest for Ferrari with Daniel Ricciardo 5th.

It was not a session without some drama. The green track meant that the drivers did not have to do too much to get out of shape under braking unto T1. Carlos Sainz, Vettel, Raikkonen and Bottas had spins at Turn 1. Elsewhere on track, Verstappen was spat out of Turn 7, and across the gravel trap. He saved his slide just before the barrier but not before clouting the rear right on the tyre wall. He spent some time in the pits while the Red Bull mechanics examined his car for any damage.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP1): Busy morning in Spielberg #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/wcdC7xMrmd

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 7, 2017

Free Practice 2

After a little rain shower, Free Practice 2 was underway a little while later. The little bit of rain did not do much to wash out the rubber laid down during Free Practice 1 but the track once again proved to be very tricky.

There were offs from McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who spun at Turn 6 after spending some time in the garage because of floor damage. Carlos Sainz spun a few times and went off at Turns 9 and 10. Daniil Kvyat, who ended his session early due to a brake problem, also ran a bit too hot into Turn 9 and had to take to the run off area.

The best time of the session was once again set by Lewis Hamilton on the ultra softs. His time of 1:05.483 was just under half a second faster than his FP1 time on the soft compound tyres.

Ferrari looked much closer in FP2 with Sebastian Vettel 0.147s off the pace in 2nd with Valtteri Bottas 3rd fastest for the session.

The two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Ricciardo were 4th and 5th fastest respectively with Raikkonen in the second Ferrari in 6th.

Finishing 7th fastest was Kevin Magnussen in the Haas with Alonso 8th fastest.

Rounding out the top 10 were Nico Hulkenberg in the Renault in 9th and Romain Grojean 10th fastest for the session.

The long run pace was very close between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. The low degradation characteristics of the circuit should make a one stop race the more likely strategy call.

The battle will have to be won on track and with Hamilton being handed a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change Vettel will feel that he, ever so slightly, has the upper hand.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP2)#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #FP2 pic.twitter.com/wZP1U8X51A

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 7, 2017