Max Verstappen recovers from stoppage to top only Austrian GP practice

Max Verstappen recovered from a brief on-track stoppage to set the pace in the only practice session at the F1 Austrian Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion appeared to be in trouble when his Red Bull conked out at the bottom of the hill on the run up to Turn 1, but he was able to roll his RB20 back to marshals, who pushed him back into the pitlane under a red flag.

• 2024 F1 Austrian Grand Prix - Friday Practice Results

Whatever the issue was proved to only be minor, as Red Bull were able to send him back out onto the circuit almost straight away.

Verstappen went on to produce the fastest lap of the session with a 1m05.685s on soft tyres, leaving him 0.276s clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

The Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz ended up third and fourth, nearly four tenths behind Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton spent much of FP1 at the top of the leaderboard, with the seven-time world champion only half a second adrift having set his best lap on hard tyres.

Esteban Ocon was sixth for Alpine, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Mercedes’ George Russell, whose fastest time came on hards like teammate Hamilton.

Yuki Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso completed the top-10 order for RB and Aston Martin. 

Sergio Perez could only manage the 12th-best time despite using soft tyres, while Lando Norris had been on for a strong lap before he dipped a wheel into the gravel at the exit of Turn 4. 

Sprint qualifying at the Red Bull Ring takes place at 4.30 local time.