Perez tops first practice for Styrian GP

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Sergio Perez was the fastest man in first practice for the Styrian Grand Prix, a single week after the cars raced on the same circuit for the Austrian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was a close second, followed by the Mercedes duo.

After showing glimpses of solid speed last weekend, the Racing Points were again on it, with Lance Stroll now 5th fastest, half a second slower than his team mate, but ahead of the second Red Bull of Alexander Albon.

On the updates front, Verstappen was testing a new rear-wing for the session while Honda also brought reliability upgrades for their engine after the team suffered a double DNF in last week's Austrian Grand Prix. Ferrari also featured (minor) upgrades with a modified front wing, but as they had predicted, it wouldn't be a game changer. The scarlet cars finished the session 10th and 12th.

Carlos Sainz (also with aero upgrades on his car), Pierre Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo were all faster than 10th placed Vettel, and also faster than their respective team mates that didn't make it into the top 10.

Overall, the session was largely incident free, apart from a small stoppage as Nicholas Latifi's Williams came to a halt with a gearbox issue.

Slowest of the session was Kevin Magnussen who only managed a few installation laps due to problems with the car's battery. With Grosjean also only 16th, it appears to be seen whether Haas can bounce back from their dismal Austrian Grand Prix result of last week.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
111Sergio PerezRacing Point Bwt Mercedes1:04.867-32
233Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Honda1:04.963+0.096s31
377Valtteri BottasMercedes1:05.089+0.222s31
444Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:05.120+0.253s29
518Lance StrollRacing Point Bwt Mercedes1:05.396+0.529s36
623Alexander AlbonRed Bull Racing Honda1:05.483+0.616s28
755Carlos SainzMcLaren Renault1:05.602+0.735s40
810Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri Honda1:05.698+0.831s27
93Daniel RicciardoRenault1:05.769+0.902s31
105Sebastian VettelFerrari1:05.770+0.903s25
1126Daniil KvyatAlphaTauri Honda1:05.815+0.948s28
1216Charles LeclercFerrari1:05.837+0.970s28
1331Esteban OconRenault1:05.874+1.007s35
144Lando NorrisMcLaren Renault1:05.908+1.041s25
157Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing Ferrari1:06.441+1.574s23
168Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:06.446+1.579s31
1740Jack AitkenWilliams Mercedes1:06.768+1.901s35
1888Robert KubicaAlfa Romeo Racing Ferrari1:06.797+1.930s31
196Nicholas LatifiWilliams Mercedes1:09.598+4.731s6
2020Kevin MagnussenHaas Ferrari--3