27/06/2025 14:37
George Russell maintained his front-running form from Canada to
post the fastest lap in first practice for the Austrian Grand Prix
on a day when Alex Dunne delivered a superb performance on his F1
debut with McLaren. Canadian Grand Prix winner Russell was
consistently quick around the Red Bull Ring in his Mercedes, on
hard tyres initially and later the softs, pipping Max Verstappen by
0.065s with a leading time of 1:05.542s. At McLaren, F2
championship leader Dunne became the first Irishman in 22 years to
step behind the wheel of an F1 car over a grand prix weekend since
Ralph Firman competed for Jordan in 2003. The junior driver
replaced Lando Norris for FP1. Dunne's opening laps were initially
experimental before he was eventually unleashed, posting a stunning
time of 1:05.766s to finish fourth quickest, 0.224s behind Russell,
and 0.069s behind team-mate Oscar Piastri. Dunne delivers The first
significant sighter lap came from Kimi Antonelli of 1:08.309s.
Naturally, it was a time that did not last long, as first Russell,
then Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, each took significant chunks out
of it. On the hard tyres, Russell then posted a 1:06.537s during a
phase which saw Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari sport aero rakes on the
rear of the car, which is also carrying a new floor in the
Scuderia's bid to propel the seven-time F1 champion and team-mate
Charles Leclerc into the fight for race wins. Dunne's early laps
also saw him running with a front aero rake, aiding the team in its
bid to obtain more information on its recently introduced new front
wing, utilising a set of soft tyres in the process. Russell then
lowered his leading time to 1:06.139s, and after a brief period out
front for Williams' Carlos Sainz on medium rubber, a run out on the
softs for Russell saw him resume top spot with a 1:05.776s. At that
stage, Ferrari had both cars in the garage after Hamilton reported
an issue with the gearbox, whilst reserve Dino Beganovic, in for
Leclerc for FP1, was forced to have the floor removed from his
SF-25. Russell, meanwhile, continued to set the pace on the softs
that was quickly becoming the tyre of choice, with his next hot lap
a 1:05.542s, and which ultimately proved to be the best overall,
albeit 1.2s shy of last year's pole position time from Verstappen.
In the background, Dunne conducted several build-up laps on the
hard tyres before he later switched to the soft, again building up
speed before slotting himself into the impressive fourth on the
timesheet which he held through to the conclusion. It was not until
there were 10 minutes left on the clock that a back-on-track Lewis
Hamiltin finally set a more representative lap time of 1:06.099s,
finishing ninth quickest. In between Dunne and Hamilton were
Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Gabriel Bortoleto for Stake, Williams' Alex
Albon and team-mate Sainz, whose time of 1:06.017s was the only one
on the mediums of the 20 drivers on track. Racing Bull's Isack
Hadjar completed the top 10 followed by Kimi Antonelli in his
Mercedes, 0.588s adrift of team-mate Russell. Fernando Alonso, who
endured a 270-degree spin on the approach to and out of the final
corner at one stage in his Aston Martin, finished 14th and 0.628s
down. As for Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, he suffered a lock-up into
Turn 3 early on, leading him to complain about the brakes being
"really poor. The Japanese driver was 17th, 0.720s down. Beganovic
finished 18th ahead of Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman,
the latter 1.196s off the pace.
