Because this is a sprint weekend, and that means this afternoon for the second session, they'll be going into qualifying for the sprint race, this means that first practice is very important. It's no a session where we are going to see experimental stuff on the car.

Verstappen is on the yellow medium tyres as he makes his way around the track in Spielberg.

What time has he set? 1:07.961.

Oh but what's this? The two Mercedes on the hard tyres have moved above Verstappen.

George Russell is at the top with a time of 1:07.932, Lewis Hamilton just 0.029 seconds behind is team-mate.

What tyres have Pirelli selected for this weekend’s trip to Spielberg?

It’s the three softest tyre compounds, of course.

The C3 (white, hard), C4 (yellow, medium) and C5 (red, soft) are the tyres of choice for the Red Bull Ring.

As always, drivers will get eight sets of the soft tyre, three sets of the medium tyre and two sets of the hard tyres. The green intermediates and blue full wets are also on hand if needed.

Image source, Pirelli

It’s time for the only practice session at the Red Bull Ring.

Max Verstappen is the first driver out on track.

On those changes over at Williams, team principal James Vowles said: “We are on a mission to fight our way back to the front and being able to attract experienced, championship-winning talent from other teams demonstrates the huge belief in the journey we are on.“Williams is investing in what it takes to win, and this is just the start as we prepare to welcome more new faces from across the grid in the months ahead.”

Image source, Getty Images

Five teams have upgrades this weekend, and the biggest is on the McLaren, who have a new front wing, which has led to revised front suspension shrouds to optimise the revised airflow coming off the wing.

These are a further refinement of the development direction introduced in Miami, since when the team have been Red Bull’s most consistent challenger. “It is another attempt to improve the low-speed behaviour of the car,” Stella said.

Stella admitted in Spain last weekend that these efforts had slightly compromised the car’s strengths in high-speed corners - at least relatively.On Sunday, Stella said: “We have some work to do now actually in high speed. Now, it is a car that works well in a speed range that 12 months ago was our weakness, but with this generation of cars you gain somewhere and lose a little somewhere else. It is not like we made high-speed worse; we didn’t improve it as much as some other areas and others did. Red Bull are very good in high- and very high-speed.”

The other teams declaring upgrades - and they only have to do so if they are visible - are Mercedes (beam wing), Ferrari (cooling louvres on sidepods), RB (rear corner) and Sauber (beam wing).

Image source, Getty Images

Get in your car, Max! It's almost time for the practice session.

We also have some upgrade news from a few teams.

Image source, Getty Images

Williams have signed former Alpine technical director Matt Harman along with four other senior design engineers as they seek to rebuild the team.

Harman, who resigned from Alpine after the start of the season following a decline in the team’s performance, will become design director.Harman will work under chief technical officer Pat Fry, also recruited from Alpine last year, who is leading the team’s engineering department.

The four other engineers are:

• Juan Molina, who becomes chief aerodynamicist, who was previously principal aerodynamicist at Haas and before that worked at Red Bull
• Fabrice Monade, formerly of Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Sauber, who joins as chief engineer, computing science
• Chief engineer, composites and structures Steve Winstanley, who worked for Red Bull for 14 years
• Richard Frith, Alpine’s former head of performance, who will become head of performance systems.

In addition, Williams have recruited Soren Cheran as chief information and analytics officer, a specialist in artificial intelligence.

Image source, Getty Images

Two further driver slots were firmed up on Thursday as Alpine re-signed Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin confirmed Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence Stroll was staying on.

The biggest question, though, surrounds Max Verstappen’s future, not so much about next year but about 2026. Mercedes are making no secret of their desire to sign him, and it is know that he has mechanisms to leave Red Bull whenever he wants despite a contract that lasts until 2028.

On Thursday, he did not address 2026, but he did say he would stay at Red Bull next year. Asked if he would confirm his presence in 2025, he said: "I think I’ve said this before. I mean naturally of course people are talking, but it’s most important just that we have a very competitive car for the future. We’re working and focusing on next year to try and be competitive again."

Asked if he could yet decide to leave for next season, he said: "I don’t think that’s how Formula 1 works – where then suddenly you can say: ‘Well, bye guys’. It’s not how it works. I have a long contract with the team, I’m very happy where I’m at and, like I said before, we’re focusing also already on next year with things we can implement on the car. So, I guess that should say enough of where I’m driving next year."

And asked to confirm it absolutely in a single statement, he said: "OK, yes. And that’s what I said – we’re already working on next year’s car. I think when you’re very focused on that it means that you’re also driving for the team."

Image source, Getty Images

Pierre Gasly has signed a contract extension with Alpine and Lance Stroll has agreed a deal to stay at Aston Martin.

Both drivers will remain until "2025 and beyond", said their teams, who have not revealed the exact length of the contracts.

Frenchman Gasly, 28, said: "I feel very much at home at this great team.

"I’ve been officially here for over 18 months and it has always been the plan to build a long-term project with the team."

Canadian Stroll, 25, has been at Aston Martin - owned by his billionaire father Lawrence - since it rebranded from Racing Point in 2021.

"I’m super happy to have committed to staying with the team," said Stroll, who has scored only 17 points this season.

"It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come in the last five years. We’ve grown so much as a team and there’s still so much more to look forward to."

The third of six sprint weekends this season takes place in Austria, but the format is slightly different to last year's events.

Qualifying for the shorter sprint race will now be held on Friday instead of Saturday, following the only practice session of the weekend.

The 100km sprint will then take place as the first track action on Saturday, before main qualifying for the grand prix in its regular slot later in the day.

Sunday's race also remains unchanged.

Before that it's the only practice session of the weekend, we also have some driver contract news...

Red Bull extend their lead in the constructors’ championship after Max Verstappen won in Spain, taking them to 330 points.

McLaren still have work to do if they want to be second in the teams standings, they are 33 points behind Ferrari.

Alpine move up a spot to seventh after Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly pick up points in Barcelona.

McLaren’s Lando Norris has moved up to second in the drivers’ championship with 150 points, but Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is just two points behind the Brit.

Max Verstappen, after winning seven races so far this season, extends his lead at the top with 219 points.

Lewis Hamilton gained 15 points after he finished on podium in Spain, but remains in eighth place.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda failed to score points last time out but retain ninth and tenth spot, respectively.

Max Verstappen held off Lando Norris to win his third consecutive Spanish Grand Prix.

McLaren's Norris, who started on pole, finished second with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton taking third place to claim his first podium finish since the Mexican Grand Prix last year.

Norris' runners-up spot in Spain has lifted him to second in the drivers' championship, 69 points behind leader Verstappen.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Hello folks. Welcome to the Austrian Grand Prix in scenic Spielberg.

It’s part two of the European triple-header and the third sprint race weekend of the 2024 calendar.

First practice gets under way at 11:30 BST.

Sprint race qualifying goes green at 15:30 BST.

Commentary of both sessions will be available on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and at the top of this live page.

For today’s coverage, we welcome Ben Edwards and former F1 mechanic Marc Priestley.