Nico Rosberg smashes the lap record at the Red Bull Ring in FP1

In the first practice session in Austria, Nico Rosbrg set the pace ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel in session which saw Rosberg smashing the circuit lap record for the Red Bull Ring in the process.

Rosberg’s time of 1:07.373 beat Michael Schumacher’s best time from the first qualifying session in 2003 by over half a second and was more than a second quicker than last year’s pole position time.

Although the Red Bull Ring only has nine corners, it proved to be a tricky challenge for several drivers during the 90-minute session. Max Verstappen twice damaged his car against the new kerbs at the exit of Turn 5 and exit of Turn 8. The bright yellow kerbs sit beyond the normal red and white kerbs and are there to act as a deterrent for drivers attempting to steal a tenth or two by either running wide at Turn 5 and 8 or cutting the apex at Turn 7.

But Verstappen was unperturbed by the warning and in the first half of the session lost a front wing endplate as he clouted the yellow kerbs on the exit of Turn 8. During a lull in the session he used his team radio to register a very public complaint, saying: “I think those yellow kerbs on the high-speed corners are really dangerous.”

When he rejoined the track for a quick lap on super-soft tyres he hit the kerbs on the exit of Turn 5, again shedding a front wing endplate before damaging his front right suspension as he rejoined at speed over the second section of kerbing on the outside of the corner. From that point on he was just a passenger and ended up beached in the gravel trap beyond Turn 6.

Vertsappen wasn’t the only driver to make mistakes. Twenty five minutes into the session Hamilton spun on the exit of Turn 3, briefly entering the gravel before ending up on the edge of the circuit. Romain Grosjean was following him into the corner and had to swerve to miss him, leaving his Haas pointing towards the barrier. He managed to recover to the track without damage and went on to finish the session 11th fastest.

Rosberg took a trip through the gravel at Turn 3 with 30 minutes remaining before Daniel Ricciardo crossed the gravel on the exit of Turn 6 towards the end of the session. Both drivers were able to rejoin with no major damage.

Two incidents will be investigated by the stewards after the session. Marcus Ericsson strayed over the pit lane entrance line just as Ricciardo passed him around the outside at Turn 8, forcing the Red Bull to run wide. Onboard footage showed Ericsson lost the rear of his Sauber in the corner, pushing him wide just at the wrong moment. Pascal Wehrlein is also under investigation for failing to stay above minimum lap time under a Virtual Safety Car period, which was deployed to clear Verstappen’s stricken Red Bull.

But it was Nico Rosberg who was fastest with a lap time of 1:07.373 ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton in second place who was 0.357 seconds behind him and ahead of Sebastian Vettel in third place who was 0.649 seconds behind Rosberg.

Kimi Raikkonen finished the session in fourth place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in sixth place, Felipe Massa in seventh place, Max Verstappen in eighth place, Daniil Kvyat in ninth place and Valtteri Bottas who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Romain Grosjean ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in twelfth place, Jenson Button in thirteenth place, Fernando Alonso in fourteenth place and Kevin Magnussen in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Pascal Wehrlein ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Jolyon Palmer in seventeenth place, Marcus Ericsson in eighteenth place, Esteban Gutierrez in nineteenth place, Felipe Nasr in twentieth place, Rio Haryanto in twenty-first place and Alfonso Celis in twenty-second place.

The classification of FP1 for the Austrian GP is as follows:-

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:07.373
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.357s
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.649s
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.849s
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.155s
6. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.430s
7. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.451s
8. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.589s
9. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1.617s
10. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.625s
11. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.705s
12. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.907s
13. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.992s
14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 2.194s
15. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 2.334s
16. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 2.402s
17. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 2.478s
18. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.556s
19. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 2.737s
20. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.941s
21. Rio Haryanto, MRT Racing, 3.120s
22. Alfonso Celis, Force India-Mercedes, 3.487s

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa