Red Bull driver Max Verstappen set the pace during first practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, placing ahead of Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc across a busy hour of running around the Red Bull Ring.

Following its first appearance of the season in Azerbaijan, F1’s Sprint format is back in play at the Spielberg venue and promises another action-packed weekend of racing – with more points and prizes on offer than usual.

Under the revised 2023 schedule, drivers and teams have one practice session to get their cars in order for qualifying, which takes place later on Friday, with Saturday set aside for the Sprint Shootout and Sprint itself, followed by the Grand Prix itself on Sunday.

Just over 10 minutes in, it was Verstappen who topped the times with a 1m 06.598s on hard tyres, half a tenth clear of Alonso (mediums) and a further tenth ahead of Hamilton (hards), with the hard-shod Sergio Perez – who missed Thursday’s media duties through illness – also in the leading group.

After several phases of improvements on the mediums and hards, which included a 1m 06.416s from Hamilton that saw the seven-time world champion briefly take over at the sharp end, a late flurry of runs on softs sent the timesheets into a frenzy.

However, while most of the field swapped to softs in the closing stages, including the Mercedes machines and the upgraded Ferraris (sporting a new front wing and floor edges), the Red Bulls opted against using the red-marked rubber and used mediums instead.

Despite the tyre performance offset, it could not stop Verstappen – who has won six of the eight races held so far this season – leading the way, with his 1m 05.742s some two-and-a-half tenths quicker than Sainz and Leclerc.