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The 2023 F1 Austrian GP FP1 session ended with Max Verstappen putting together a lap time that was a quarter of a second quicker than anybody else on the grid.
To further accentuate the kind of dominance that the Red Bull driver had over the rest, his lap time was on medium tires as compared to everybody else doing their lap time on soft tires. Verstappen was followed by Carlos Sainz in P2 and Charles Leclerc in P3 as Ferrari showed promising pace as well.
Having said that, with only an hour of practice running in the rearview mirror, what have we learned as we head to the first qualifying session? Let's take a look.
2023 F1 Austrian GP FP1: What did we learn?
#1 Red Bull and Max Verstappen are clear of the rest of the field
Although the hints were there from the start of the session, it only became clear by the end that Red Bull and Max Verstappen hold all the spades for the 2023 F1 Austrian GP. The team and the driver ran one step harder tire compounds and continued to be competitive throughout the session.
What was, however an exclamation mark in all of this was Verstappen's lap in the dying stages of the session. Going almost a quarter of a second faster than the Ferrari of Sainz on a step harder compound is just a clear indication that teams might not be able to pull off any kind of upset unless the weather throws a wrench in the plans.
#2 It's hard to paint a clear picture of the chasing pack
Behind Red Bull, Mercedes in the hands of Lewis Hamilton, Aston Martin with Fernando Alonso, and Ferrari all look decently balanced. There does not seem to be any conclusive leader among these three teams at the moment. What is interesting is the somewhat lengthy stint on the hard tire by Charles Leclerc for 20-plus laps that saw him put together consistent times and focus on race pace.
While the one-lap pace could come down to the drivers, there's more to it than meets the eye at the moment. The race pace is a question mark, and so is the manner in which these cars react to the wet weather. There are still a lot of question marks at the 2023 F1 Austrian GP from P2 to P4 in the pecking order as Max Verstappen continues to reign supreme.
#3 Haas might be struggling this weekend
Haas tends to do well at the F1 Austrian GP. The team has had some very impressive results on the track in the last few years, but this time around, they might struggle a bit. What was surprising to watch was the team's star qualifier Nico Hulkenberg struggling to put together strong laps even on the soft tire.
The team could be banking on the weather to help turn things around, as the dry weather running did not seem impressive for the American unit.
#4 Williams are strong once again
Williams are coming into the 2023 F1 Austrian GP on the back of their best points-scoring result in Canada. The team tends to do well in the kind of track layouts where low downforce setups are key to cutting down lap times. During the first practice session, it became clear that Both Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant continued to pull the lap times out of the bag in the first sector.
There's certainly a section of the track that works for Williams; the team will be hoping to exploit as best as it can this weekend.
#5 McLaren's upgrades make the team a dark horse at the 2023 F1 Austrian GP
McLaren has brought the first part of its mega upgrade project to the 2023 F1 Austrian GP, and while they do look impressive on paper, the lap times are still a question mark. Both Piastri and Norris looked decent when it came to putting together lap times around the Red Bull ring, but the question remains how these cars will behave when the heat is on?
Can they start edging closer to the front of the midfield towards Alpine? Can they have the race pace that somehow deserted the drivers recently? There are certainly question marks that the team will be looking to answer. The last sprint weekend was fruitful for the team and there is a hope that something similar could be in play this time around as well.
