Nico Rosberg emerged quickest in Friday practice for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.
Mercedes once again showcased its power advantage over the field as Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton headed the times in both 90 minute sessions, held in contrasting weather conditions.
It was Rosberg who clocked the fastest time of the day with a 1:07.373s effort on ultra-soft tyres in opening practice.
Team-mate Hamilton had dominated the early FP1 running before being usurped by Rosberg on the softer rubber by 0.357s.
Rosberg edged Hamilton in the afternoon session which was hit by a heavy rain shower just five minutes in.
The weather restricted any meaningful running for almost 40 minutes due to the tricky track conditions.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third fastest overall as he endured an eventful day that began with a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
The issue forced the Maranello squad to abandon its evaluation run of the revised Halo head protection device.
The four-time world champion then suffered an uncharacteristic spin at Turn 2 in the final minutes of second practice.
Kimi Raikkonen’s personal best set in first practice was good enough to secure the fourth fastest time, just 0.2s adrift of his team-mate.
Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo was fifth although the Australian was hit by loss of power in the latter stages of the afternoon outing.
A late run on a drying track in FP2 saw Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg claim sixth overall ahead of Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz, who also posted his personal best in the session.
Max Verstappen was another driver to encounter a challenging day as the Red Bull driver made two mistakes in FP1 that saw him run wide over the revised kerbs at the venue.
The teenager suffered damage to his front wing and steering in the incidents, but recovered to end the day eighth quickest.
Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10, with the latter’s time arriving in first practice.
Jenson Button was the top McLaren runner in 11th position as the Brit pipped his double world champion team-mate Fernando Alonso.
Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday at 2200 AEST.
Result: Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix Practice 1
Position | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:07.373s | 37 | |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:07.730s | +0.357s | 34 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:08.022s | +0.649s | 28 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:08.222s | +0.849s | 31 |
5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1:08.528s | +1.155s | 34 |
6 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1:08.803s | +1.430s | 34 |
7 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1:08.824s | +1.451s | 39 |
8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1:08.962s | +1.589s | 21 |
9 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1:08.990s | +1.617s | 32 |
10 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1:08.998s | +1.625s | 40 |
11 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1:09.078s | +1.705s | 34 |
12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1:09.280s | +1.907s | 43 |
13 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1:09.365s | +1.992s | 31 |
14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1:09.567s | +2.194s | 30 |
15 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1:09.707s | +2.334s | 24 |
16 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1:09.775s | +2.402s | 34 |
17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:09.851s | +2.478s | 28 |
18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:09.929s | +2.556s | 35 |
19 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | 1:10.110s | +2.737s | 20 |
20 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:10.314s | +2.941s | 26 |
21 | Rio Haryanto | Manor/Mercedes | 1:10.493s | +3.120s | 21 |
22 | Alfonso Celis | Force India/Mercedes | 1:10.860s | +3.487s | 37 |
Result: Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix Practice 2
Position | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:07.967s | – | 25 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:07.986s | +0.019s | 19 |
3 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1:08.580s | +0.613s | 28 |
4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:08.589s | +0.622s | 25 |
5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1:08.649s | +0.682s | 30 |
6 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1:08.713s | +0.746s | 32 |
7 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1:08.761s | +0.794s | 20 |
8 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:08.820s | +0.853s | 23 |
9 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1:08.941s | +0.974s | 24 |
10 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1:08.994s | +1.027s | 30 |
11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1:09.075s | +1.108s | 26 |
12 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1:09.184s | +1.217s | 17 |
13 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1:09.207s | +1.240s | 26 |
14 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1:09.226s | +1.259s | 32 |
15 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1:09.525s | +1.558s | 19 |
16 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:10.020s | +2.053s | 23 |
17 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1:10.034s | +2.067s | 20 |
18 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | 1:10.138s | +2.171s | 16 |
19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:10.140s | +2.173s | 19 |
20 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1:10.400s | +2.433s | 31 |
21 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:10.444s | +2.477s | 22 |
22 | Rio Haryanto | Manor/Mercedes | 1:11.328s | +3.361s | 25 |