Solid start for Red Bull Racing in Austrian GP

But it was world champions Mercedes who set the pace at the Red Bull Ring

By Toby Lock

Published 3rd Jul 2020, 11:38 BST

Updated 3rd Jul 2020, 11:42 BST

A spin towards the end of the session did not slow Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen down as he set the third fastest time in F1's first free practice session of the season in Austria.

The Dutchman swapped ends at Turn 1 with around 15 minutes remaining of FP1 but recovered to set a 1:05.418, narrowly ahead of Carlos Sainz's McLaren in fourth spot.

The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas led the way, with Hamilton's time of 1:04.815 the quickest of the session, 0.356s ahead of his team-mate.

Alex Albon was just under three tenths of a second behind Verstappen in the second Red Bull, setting the seventh fastest time of 1:05.701, behind Sergio Perez in fifth and Lando Norris in sixth.

The second session gets underway at 2pm (UK time).