Verstappen and Norris suffer setbacks as Mercedes dominate disrupted Austrian GP FP1

Mercedes dominated a disrupted opening practice at the Austrian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris suffered early setbacks. Kimi Antonelli topped the timesheets ahead of George Russell, while Norris lost 45 minutes to a hydraulic leak and Verstappen sat in the garage for 20 minutes with an anti-stall issue.

Why it matters:

With the championship battle tightening, lost track time at the Red Bull Ring is costly for Red Bull and McLaren. Antonelli's commanding pace underlines Mercedes' continued resurgence, piling pressure on rivals to fix reliability woes before qualifying.

The details:

• Antonelli led a Mercedes one-two in the 1:07s, with the Italian running almost 1.1 seconds clear of Verstappen after the Dutchman finally got out on track.
• Norris was confined to the McLaren garage for most of the session with a hydraulic leak on his MCL40. He finished seventh and did not run the team's new rear wing.
• Verstappen twice attempted to leave the pits before his crew solved a clutch anti-stall problem. He recovered to finish fourth but complained about a lack of grip from the scorching Pirellis.
• Red Bull also lost track time with rookie Isack Hadjar, whose car needed fluid drained from the power unit before he could debut after a 30-minute delay.
• Haas rookie Ryo Hirakawa overshot his pit box and made contact with a mechanic, who escaped injury. Sergio Perez added to Cadillac's woes when his car stopped at Turn 3, bringing out a late red flag that denied teams their usual end-of-session practice starts.

What's next:

All eyes will be on FP2 to see if McLaren and Red Bull can recover from their troubled starts. With track temperatures hitting 51°C, teams need clean running to dial in setups for both single-lap pace and race simulations ahead of Saturday's qualifying session.