Brendan Lines July 10, 2020 09:15pm
Sergio Perez flaunted Racing Point’s burgeoning speed in FP1 for the Styrian Grand Prix going fastest in a session that had all the hallmarks of a testing day as teams looked for reliability over outright pace.
There was plenty of flow-vis paint and aero rakes on display early in the session as teams began testing a raft of new updates.
As the weather forecast in the Styrian Hills looks bleak for Saturday, times from FP2 later tonight may be counted towards qualifying if weather is inclement, which could potentially mix up the grid for Sunday.
Sergio Perez Racing Point – Image: Racingpointf1.com
Notably, Ferrari brought forward its new front wing, floor and diffuser this week, ahead of its original ETA slated for Hungary next week, but drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc are yet to reap any reward finishing 10th and 12th just under a second slower than Perez.
Red Bull however benefited from its rear-wing upgrades improving its middle sector pace as Max Verstappen was second fastest just point-two of a second adrift.
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Alex Albon struggled with understeer on his car setup managing sixth fastest.
Last weeks winner Valtteri Bottas and his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton appeared to be treading lightly after the Red Bull Ring curbs sent shockwaves through their gearboxes last week, went 3rd and 4th fastest.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz racked up 39 laps testing the MCL35 pace on long runs with the hard (C1) and softs (C4) tyres, Sainz went seventh fastest while Lando Norris finished 14th.
The session was red-flagged mid way through after Williams’ Nicholas Latifi’s gearbox lost drive.
At the resumption, Perez lifted the pace being the first driver to get into the 1:04s, as the rest of the field was happy to lap in the 1:05s testing their pace on the longer runs.
Daniel Ricciardo also ran long on the hard (C1) and medium (C2) his pace over one-lap was enough to finish 9th, while teammate Esteban Ocon was 13th on the same tyres.
Robert Kubica in his first run back with Alfa Romeo was 18th while Kimi Raikkonen went 15th testing over long runs.
Alpha Tauri were the quiet achievers strictly running the mediums (C2) on both cars with Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kyvat finishing 9th and 11th respectively.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen had his car in bit across the garage all session with a battery problem, Romain Grosjean lugged his VF-20 around on the hard (C1) and medium (C2) tyres in 16th.
Williams’ Jack Aitken impressed in 17th in his first full practice session.
FP2 for the Styrian GP begins 10:30pm tonight.
FP1 Results:
| POS | DRIVER | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:04.867 | 32 | ||
| 2 | 1:04.963 | +0.096s | 31 | |
| 3 | 1:05.089 | +0.222s | 31 | |
| 4 | 1:05.120 | +0.253s | 29 | |
| 5 | 1:05.396 | +0.529s | 36 | |
| 6 | 1:05.483 | +0.616s | 28 | |
| 7 | 1:05.602 | +0.735s | 40 | |
| 8 | 1:05.698 | +0.831s | 27 | |
| 9 | 1:05.769 | +0.902s | 31 | |
| 10 | 1:05.770 | +0.903s | 25 | |
| 11 | 1:05.815 | +0.948s | 28 | |
| 12 | 1:05.837 | +0.970s | 28 | |
| 13 | 1:05.874 | +1.007s | 35 | |
| 14 | 1:05.908 | +1.041s | 25 | |
| 15 | 1:06.441 | +1.574s | 23 | |
| 16 | 1:06.446 | +1.579s | 31 | |
| 17 | 1:06.768 | +1.901s | 35 | |
| 18 | 1:06.797 | +1.930s | 31 | |
| 19 | 1:09.598 | +4.731s | 6 | |
| 20 |
Grandprixnet.com 