Austrian GP: Hamilton leads Verstappen in FP1

The three-time world champion used soft tyres, the hardest of the three compounds available this weekend, to clock a 1m05.975s.

That was just over two tenths faster than the circuit's previous fastest lap, which Hamilton set in the second part of qualifying last year.

It also put him three tenths clear of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who used supersoft tyres to leapfrog Valtteri Bottas late on and deny Mercedes a one-two.

Verstappen had set the session's first benchmark, a 1m08.429s, and that early effort on softs kept him on top until the Mercedes drivers emerged on ultrasofts 25 minutes into the session.

Bottas won that initial civil war on a 1m06.845s, before Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel joined the fight on the half-hour mark.

Vettel recovered from a spin after hitting the inside kerb at Turn 1 to edge Bottas with a 1m06.826s, but moments later Hamilton lapped three tenths quicker than his Baku aggressor on a 1m06.526s.

After a mid-session lull, Bottas bolted on supersoft tyres to jump to first on a 1m06.345s, before Hamilton set a series of fast laps on soft tyres.

He claimed top spot from Bottas with a 1m06.329s then improved again to his session-best 1m05.975s.

Verstappen improved twice in the final 10 minutes to jump to third and then second, ahead of Bottas, and had posted the fastest first sector of the session before a spin at Turn 3 in the final minute.

He had also clipped the wall on the outside of the Turn 6 gravel trap half an hour into the session after a sideways moment, causing light damage to his right-rear wheel.

Bottas suffered a late spin and wound up third fastest, 0.370s slower than Hamilton after failing to improve on his supersoft lap, with Vettel a further tenth back in fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo failed to match Verstappen's pace and was 0.6s behind Hamilton in sixth, just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who also spun at Turn 1, and Stoffel Vandoorne, who used ultrasoft tyres to star in his McLaren.

Force India reserve driver Alfonso Celis Jr substituted for Sergio Perez to take part in his first practice session of the season.

The Mexican was 1.7s slower than teammate Esteban Ocon and wound up 18th fastest, ahead of the two Saubers.

Sergey Sirotkin also replaced a 2017 regular, driving Nico Hulkenberg's Renault for his third appearance of the year.

The Russian reserve was 17th quickest, 0.9s slower than Jolyon Palmer in the sister RS17.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	37	1'05.975
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	22	1'06.165	0.190
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	34	1'06.345	0.370
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	27	1'06.424	0.449
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	31	1'06.620	0.645
6	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	24	1'06.848	0.873
7	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda	30	1'07.283	1.308
8	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Renault	30	1'07.437	1.462
9	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	28	1'07.510	1.535
10	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	39	1'07.511	1.536
11	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	29	1'07.550	1.575
12	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	30	1'07.594	1.619
13	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Renault	31	1'07.633	1.658
14	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	30	1'07.649	1.674
15	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	34	1'08.041	2.066
16	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	20	1'08.074	2.099
17	Sergey Sirotkin	Renault	Renault	26	1'08.586	2.611
18	Alfonso Celis Jr.	Force India	Mercedes	15	1'09.280	3.305
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Ferrari	28	1'09.323	3.348
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	12	1'10.853	4.878