Conditions during FP1 for the Austrian Grand Prix proved to be very, very tough indeed – as proved by the number of spins and off-track excursions in the session.
People just couldn’t keep their cars on track. It was hilarious, there were cars spinning every minute (OK, slight exaggeration) and drivers were really struggling out there.
Even top drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel suffered incidents, although that didn’t stop the former from setting a new track record at the Red Bull Ring.
Yep, another record (not the official one though) was smashed by these new F1 2017 cars, with Hamilton putting in a 1:05.975.
What made that lap even more impressive was that the Mercedes driver was on soft tyres. He beat his own record set during qualifying last year, which was a 1:06.228.
It was set during a rare clean lap of the Red Bull Ring, with loads of drivers going off. Kimi Raikkonen spun in the very early minutes of the session, badly flat-spotting his tyres.
Vettel soon joined him facing the wrong way and Max Verstappen even brushed the barriers at Turn 7/8 section – by the way, they’ve re-numbered the corners, so there’s 10 now, not eight.
Running wide at the final two corners even caused Romain Grosjean’s front-left tyre to puncture, and his Haas spewed sparks as he made his way back to the pits.
Those yellow kerbs are lethal, guys.
The Toro Rosso drivers also got caught up in the action, with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniil Kvyat both suffering a few spins and offs in FP1.
Williams rookie Lance Stroll, fresh from his Baku podium, also did the same. Pretty much everyone went off at some point, conditions were so tricky.
It was fun to watch though, we’ll see if the chaos continues in FP2.
