Max second in Austria FP1

Published on 27 June 2025 by Misha van der Kroon

Max Verstappen kicked off the Grand Prix weekend in Austria with the second-fastest time. With a 1:05.607, the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver finished six hundredths behind George Russell. Oscar Piastri placed his McLaren in third. Alexander Dunne, who took Lando Norris’ seat in the McLaren, and Pierre Gasly completed the top five. Max’s teammate at Oracle Red Bull Racing, Yuki Tsunoda, ended the session in seventeenth place.

After Thursday’s hailstorms, the sun broke through just in time for the first free practice session in Austria. With an air temperature of 24 degrees and a track temperature of 42 degrees, it is warm at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Several teams introduced updates to their cars, including Red Bull Racing for Verstappen’s car. Lando Norris has to hand over his McLaren to Alexander Dunne for the session, and Charles Leclerc sees Dino Beganovic step into his Ferrari.

It is immediately busy on track as the lights go green. Verstappen heads out on a set of medium tyres but runs wide as he has to avoid a Williams. Even so, Max sets the third-fastest time behind Russell and Sainz before returning to the pits. By the time he comes back out, he has dropped to P12. On his next flying lap, Verstappen goes wide again and tells his team over the radio that he has little response from the front end and that the car is hard to steer. On a next attempt, Verstappen improves his time to second, two tenths behind Russell, who leads the session with a 1:06.537. Antonelli soon pushes Verstappen down to third. The Ferrari and McLaren drivers are cautious in the first part of the session and don’t push hard. Piastri is the first to pick up the pace and moves up to P4 behind Verstappen after 25 minutes.

Around the halfway point, the track becomes quieter as most drivers return to the pits. After a while, Verstappen heads back out on a set of soft tyres. Bortoleto sets the second-fastest time behind Russell. Max starts a flying lap but has to abort it when a yellow flag is waved. Alonso spins at Turn 10 and Hadjar is also driving slowly. Shortly after, the green flag returns and the session resumes. By now, many drivers have switched to soft tyres, and the times begin to drop.

Russell remains at the top with a 1:05.542, followed by Gasly and Bortoleto. Piastri improves and moves up to second. Verstappen, who has dropped to fifteenth, improves his time to a 1:05.607, climbing back up to second place behind George Russell and ahead of Oscar Piastri.

With 21 minutes to go, another yellow flag is waved, this time due to Ocon going off at Turn 1. Fortunately, it doesn’t last long, and the green flag is soon waved again. Dunne, who has spent the first part of the session collecting data for the team, starts pushing. With the help of a slipstream, he clocks a 1:05.766 and moves up to fourth, just behind the McLaren of Piastri.

With just over 10 minutes left, both Russell and Piastri report raindrops falling in Turns 3 and 4. Hamilton, who has been relatively quiet during the session, puts in a lap good enough for ninth.

Many drivers have by then switched from soft to medium tyres, and although the rain doesn’t intensify and the sun starts to shine again, no further improvements are made. The session ends with Russell on top, followed by Verstappen and Piastri. Alexander Dunne finishes in P4, and Pierre Gasly completes the top five.

Contest GP Austria: win a by Max Verstappen signed Red Bull Racing 2025 cap!

Results first free practice Austria: