Austrian GP: Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 in FP1

Hamilton edged teammate Valtteri Bottas by just over a tenth at the Red Bull Ring, as Max Verstappen beat Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel into third place.

Verstappen was the first driver to set a laptime and became an early session spinner when he ran wide exiting Turn 4, dipping his left-side wheels into the gravel and performing a neat 360-degree spin in his Red Bull before continuing.

When the serious running kicked off on supersofts, Mercedes was quick to the hit the front, with Bottas and Hamilton first into the 1m05s and Hamilton assuming control on a 1m05.525s at mid-distance.

Bottas emerged on ultrasofts just before his teammate and reclaimed P1 on a 1m05.354s, but Hamilton hit back immediately with a time three tenths faster.

Vettel then split the Mercedes in his Ferrari and traded P2 with Bottas over a succession of laps before Verstappen set a 1m05.072s on fresh ultrasofts to slot in just 0.045s behind Hamilton.

Mercedes' 1-2 was soon re-established though, as both drivers dipped below the 1m05s-mark – Hamilton on a 1m04.839s and Bottas just over a tenth back.

That remained the lead order, with Verstappen's best enough to keep him a tenth clear of Vettel in the best of the Ferraris.

Daniel Ricciardo beat the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, but was four tenths down on his teammate Verstappen.

Ricciardo had been rapid on the early runs, using soft tyres as others used supersofts and ultrasofts, but then spent quite a lot of time in the garage after checking for damage following a big kerb hit.

He improved but did not make massive progress when he emerged on Pirelli's softest rubber and stayed fifth, three tenths clear of Raikkonen.

Romain Grosjean earned initial best-of-the-rest honours for Haas in seventh, 0.027s faster than Force India's Esteban Ocon, with both drivers only using supersoft tyres.

Sauber's strong form continued with Charles Leclerc ninth, on ultrasofts, while Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly completed the top 10 on supersofts.

Gasly lost a piece of his Toro Rosso's front wing running wide at the fast penultimate corner.

Stoffel Vandoorne damaged his McLaren more significantly, breaking the tip of his nose when he took to the run-off between the two right-handers that end the lap.

Vandoorne wound up 18th, one place behind teammate Fernando Alonso, as McLaren steered clear of the ultrasoft tyre.

The Belgian is under investigation for an unsafe release after Vettel nearly made contact with he McLaren as it entered the pitlane.

McLaren was the slowest team and its drivers were faster only than Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley and Williams reserve Robert Kubica, who was slowest of all and 0.9s behind teammate Lance Stroll as he replaced Sergey Sirotkin for opening practice.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	39	1'04.839
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	39	1'04.966	0.127
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	42	1'05.072	0.233
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	29	1'05.180	0.341
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	22	1'05.483	0.644
6	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	31	1'05.776	0.937
7	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	31	1'06.028	1.189
8	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	40	1'06.055	1.216
9	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	Ferrari	31	1'06.215	1.376
10	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	Honda	36	1'06.394	1.555
11	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	32	1'06.400	1.561
12	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	23	1'06.404	1.565
13	Carlos Sainz	Renault	Renault	29	1'06.427	1.588
14	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	42	1'06.455	1.616
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	35	1'06.479	1.640
16	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	32	1'06.567	1.728
17	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Renault	30	1'06.612	1.773
18	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Renault	30	1'06.698	1.859
19	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	Honda	45	1'06.871	2.032
20	Robert Kubica	Williams	Mercedes	38	1'07.424	2.585