Austrian GP practice and debate

1. Vettel fastest in second practice
2. Hamilton struggling in cool, windy conditions, Button out
3. Many cars lost control under braking
4. Get involved & vote: when was F1's best era? #bbcf1
5. Ferrari boss nearly run over by Massa in FP1

Thanks and bye for now

We're done for the day. That was a pretty satisfactory start to the weekend, with cars off left, right and centre and the Mercedes very much under pressure from the Ferraris, which may be fragile but are at least very quick.

We're back with you tomorrow from 09:30 BST, kicking off with third practice and then qualifying from 13:00.

In the meantime, here's another picture of Keke Rosberg.

Truly, the 1980s were wonderful.

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Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

So, people complain about fuel- and tyre-management. But what won best F1 era in BBC vote? The '80s. Go figure.

It had to be, didn't it? Vote result

The votes are in, and I have to say I'm not wholly surprised that the decade that gave us all THIS...

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... has been named the best F1 era by you, esteemed readers.

A convincing 33.5% voted for the 1980s, with the 1990s second (23.3%) and 2000s in third (21.6%).

Thanks for your votes.

.

Force India on Twitter: A solid day of work at the track today, with the rain mercifully staying away. 95 laps on the board for us this afternoon!

FP2 times

f1

FP2 - 11-20

11 Sainz, 12 Kvyat, 13 Ericsson, 14 Bottas, 15 Massa, 16 Alonso, 17 Ricciardo, 18 Button, 19 Stevens, 20 Merhi

FP2 - top 10

1 Vettel, 2 Rosberg, 3 Raikkonen, 4 Maldonado, 5 Hamilton, 6 Hulkenberg, 7 Grosjean, 8 Verstappen, 9 Nasr, 10 Sainz

Chequered flag

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Jennie Gow

BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

"They've stopped Alonso going out too to prevent his engine getting damaged. We're not sure if that means Button's engine is damaged, but they're certainly looking like they'll have to remove it. More questions than answers at the end of another bad day."

Jennie Gow

Maldonado off at turn three

Pastor Maldonado of Lotus has been one of the stars of this session, up in P4, but he cannot escape without a quick run through the scenery.

He locks up into turn three and rumbles through the gravel before rejoining via an escape road.

Teasing us down at Williams

Williams tell Felipe Massa on the radio: "No fuel saving now, flat out to the end."

Oh to hear those words come Sunday afternoon.

Sauber on Twitter: Only 10 minutes remaining in FP2. Marcus went out for another long-run on supersoft tyres.

Sauber

#bestf1era - 2000s

Your final memory-jogger is for the 2000s.

Giancarlo Fisichella has your year-2000 model...

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While the 2009 McLaren of Lewis Hamilton closes out the noughties.

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Get involved - #bestf1era

Oliver George: For me the current era (2010-2014) of F1 is best: It's on TV, it's developing, it's exciting. It's happening now...

Ahmet Douas: Has to be the screaming Honda V12s in 1991. Its amazing to watch videos of Senna and Berger manually downshifting!

Alessandro Martins: 80s - where drivers made the difference. After this decade, the technology changed everything…

Mercedes on Twitter: With 10mins to run, it's practice starts and pit stop rehearsals on the menu for FP2 dessert...

All over down at McLaren

Jennie Gow

BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

At McLaren: "Game over. Both cars in the garage. They are not telling us much - you can probably assume it's a Honda issue. Nobody left on the pit wall."

Speed trap times

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Force India on Twitter: Both drivers out on longer runs so don't expect times to improve, as the clock marks 15 minutes left.

#bestf1era - 1990s

The 1990s began like this...

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And bowed out looking rather like this...

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Formula 1 on Twitter: Plenty of cars have experienced problems on Spielberg's turns today and Roberto Merhi is the latest

F1

#bestf1era - 1980s

Your reminders for the Eighties are as follows...

The 1980 Ensign driven here by Clay Regazzoni...

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Through to 1989 and an image as iconic as they come: Ayrton Senna's yellow helmet at the wheel of a McLaren.

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Gearbox problem for Vettel

Sebastian Vettel, currently top of the order, is informed of a gearbox problem over the team radio and is told to return to the pits.

"Anything I can do on the track?" the four-time champion asks.

"Negative, just slow down and box," comes the reply.

That is his second issue of the day having stopped with a similar issue just four laps into FP1.

F1

Jennie Gow

BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

More problems for Jenson Button and Honda...

Jennie Gow

Top six and gaps

1 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1:09.600

2 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) +0.011s

3 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +0.260s

4 Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) +0.314s

5 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.537s

6 Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) +0.667s

#bestf1era - 1970s

Into the 1970s we go, which began with cars sporting rear- and front-wing elements of a style that would become commonplace as the decade wore on. Here's Jochen Rindt, world champion in 1970, at the wheel of his Lotus.

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By 1979, ground-effect aerodynamics were all the rage, as demonstrated here by Gilles Villeneuve in his Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix.

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Kimi Raikkonen team radio

Team: "Headwind into Turn eight has changed direction."

Get involved - #bestf1era

Richard Geary: 1960s racing meant RACING. Drivers were racing in F1, F2, Saloon & sports cars at the same meeting. Magic Days.

Terry C: 1967 - No ads, 4-wheel drifts, no aero, nose-to tail, late braking, overtaking, suspension, tyres last. Just like real cars.

Barry Dunne: Has to be the '80s and early '90s. More teams, more drivers, more drama, less predictable.

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More McLaren bother

Jenson Button has pulled into the pits, reporting a loss of power in the Honda engine. He's out the car and his session looks done after 17 laps.

The Briton is down in 18th at present, ahead of only the Manors, and is 2.3secs off the pace.

Team-mate Fernando Alonso is four tenths better off in 16th in the McLaren sporting the new nose cone.

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Sainz escapes at turn five

Carlos Sainz has done a rare thing today. He's gone off track and actually found some gravel to bounce through.

Who left that there?

The Spaniard was bouncing through the kitty litter and on course for a tap into the barriers, but an escape road came to his aid at the last minute, his car gripping to the asphalt and turning sharply away from the tyre barrier.

F1

Ferrari back on top, Lotus looking strong

This session is proving very much that Mercedes have a big fight on their hands this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton is all at sea - he just cannot get the car nailed down through the corners.

Team-mate Nico Rosberg looks better, but he is still being run close by the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, who is currently fastest on a 1:09.600.

Meanwhile, Lotus look good, as they did in Canada, and currently have Pastor Maldonado in fourth on a 1:09.9.

AP

Mercedes on Twitter: Another wobble from Lewis: this time at T9. Not quite hooking it up yet but there's still time...

Rosberg into P1, Hamilton struggling

Nico Rosberg has gone top with a 1:09.611, a quarter of a second up on Kimi Raikkonen, both set on the super-soft tyre.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, has had a run of very scruffy laps since switching to the supersoft.

He's twice lost it through the final turn and also into turn one.

Very, very ragged from the championship leader.

Sauber on Twitter: Off we go again. First run on supersoft tyres for Marcus, Felipe following soon.

Sauber

Get involved - #bestf1era

Richey Clarke: The last turbo era. Over 1100bhp, H pattern G box. Minimal downforce. How they kept them on the circuit I'll never know.

Russ Hawker: Has to be the 1980s. Prost, Senna, Piquet, Mansell, Lauda, Rosberg.

Martijn vd Graaf: No doubt, the Prost/Senna battles where legendary. And not only on the track. F1's greatest drivers.

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Mercedes to do supersoft runs

Right, this should be telling. Let's see where Mercedes come out relative to Ferrari when they post a lap on the quicker rubber.

Manor on Twitter: Red rubber boots up next for Will.

Manor F1

Raikkonen fastest on supersofts

P1 goes to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who sets a 1:09.860 on his first run on the Pirelli supersofts.

The Finn is the first man on to the red-walled rubber and it seems him go 0.277 quicker than Hamilton.

On his latest attempt, Raikkonen got it badly wrong through the final two turns, running up onto the kerbs and off the circuit. He continues on his way.

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Alonso's first new-nose lap

Alonso does a 1:11.5 in his McLaren, which is sporting a revised nose section. That lap briefly put him in the top 10 but he's back down to 13th now - 1.6secs off the pace.

Toro Rosso team radio

Carlos Sainz: I don't know what happened at turn one, as soon as I hit the brakes I locked the tyre. The tyres are really weird."

Sainz has gone off twice at turn one inside the first half-hour of this session.

#bestf1era - 1960s

Into the 1960s and cars are now becoming smaller, lower and lighter beasts, as demonstrated here by the Lotus of Innes Ireland at the 1960 British Grand Prix.

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By 1969 the benefits of aerodynamic downforce were being explored by designers, resulting in some wonderfully wild designs, as demonstrated here by Graham Hill's Lotus.

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Toro Rosso team radio

Max Verstappen: "I've got a headache."

Williams drivers on track

No panic. Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas are out and straight into the top 10.

As you were.

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#bestf1era - the 1950s

As we're asking you to vote for the best F1 era today, we thought we'd jog a few memories with a look at some of the cars that bookended the decades.

We start with the 1950s.

F1's first world champion Giuseppe Farina kicks us off with his 1950 Alfa Romeo, seen here at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone - the very first F1 race.

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By the end of the decade the cars were constantly being being refined, note the higher cockpit sides on Tony Brooks's 1959 Ferrari, seen here on the streets of Monaco.

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Turn one claiming more victims

We've just seen Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz go straight on at turn one for the second time in just a few minutes.

Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg have also had similar moments, in addition to the numerous incidents in FP1.

This track is testing these guys.

McLaren on Twitter: Those upgrades on @alo_oficial's car include the all-new nose.

McLaren

Hamilton quickest

Lewis Hamilton tops the timesheets for the first time today.

He's done a 1:10.137 to eclipse Kimi Raikkonen's erstwhile benchmark by 0.161secs.

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Where are the Williams boys?

Ten minutes gone and we have 18 cars on the board. The Williams cars are the only absentees.

Problems? Or just keeping their powder dry?

EPA

Times tumbling already

It's not taken long to better the times set in opening free practice.

Nico Rosberg set the quickest time with a 1:10.4 this morning.

Less than 10 minutes into FP2 that mark has been eclipsed by the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who does a 1:10.298.

Rosberg has just improved on his morning time and is in second, 0.070secs behind Raikkonen.

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Sauber F1 Team on Twitter: It's still dry, so we head out with soft tyres on both #C34

Sauber

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"According to Jennie Gow on 5 live, Alonso now has the new nose on the car. We'll update you when we know more..."

Mercedes on Twitter:Rain droplets beginning to fall: will there be a mad rush to grab a little dry FP3 running? We're about to find out!

Green light

Second free practice is under way.

Red Bull on Twitter: Getting that Friday feeling, Red Bull style!

Red Bull

McLaren may not be able to run upgrade

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"McLaren have a big update for their car in Austria but it is not yet clear whether they will be able to run it. It has emerged that there has been a complication to do with the crash test, which was passed earlier this week, and McLaren are currently in conversation with governing body the FIA over how to resolve the issue.

"There will be more details later when the situation has been clarified. But it is another blow on a weekend that has already seen Fernando Alonso receive a 20-place grid penalty for using a fifth example of three parts of the engine and may also see Jenson Button hit with a grid penalty, too."

Groundhogs in Canada, Ferrari team bosses in Austria

The intrepid Canada groundhog was a big talking point after Montreal, but in Austria this morning a rather more sentient being was to be found stumbling into the path of F1 cars.

Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene was the man in question, and you can see and read about it here.

David Prowse is fuming.

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Force India on Twitter: The weather has taken a turn for the worse here in Spielberg... are we going to have a wet FP2?

Force India

Get involved - #bestf1era

Mihail Nesterovich: It's got to be mid and late 90s for me - Schumacher vs Newey Cars!

Kevin O'Brien: V10 magic of 96/97 was unbeatable.

Stu Cudmore: 1985-1994 Mansell, Prost, Senna, Piquet / Williams, Lotus, Ferrari, McLaren.

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Senna era 'worse than now' - Massa

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"A high proportion of fans - among them Mark Webber, no less - seem to think there is some kind of major problem with F1 at the moment. But Williams driver Felipe Massa has cautioned against viewing the past with rose-tinted spectacles. The Brazilian said that the 20-year anniversary of Ayrton Senna's death last year prompted him to watch some old races from the legend's era and the result was not pretty.

"'I was watching most of the races he did, it was a lot worse than how it is now,' Massa said. 'The difference in the qualifying was maybe 1.5 seconds to the third place, they (Senna and McLaren team-mate Alain Prost) were lapping the third place every race. So the difference was a lot bigger than it is now. But when you speak to the people everybody says the past is amazing.

"'So go back and watch, and then compare to now. This is something that people need to do, not looking in the past without remembering so well, and just saying the past was amazing. The past looks more interesting also, because the tracks were a lot worse, they were a lot more bumpy, so when you see the cars driving with the bumps it looks more difficult. But now everything is more for our world, everything is more safe, the tracks are different.'"

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Yep, the 1980s could definitely be dodgy on occasion

Get involved - #bestf1era

We're loving your contributions to today's debate.

It's giving us a great excuse to trawl through the archives, where gems such as Graham Hill's 1969 Gold Leaf Lotus - resplendent with silly wings - do lurk.

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Alonso's 20-place penalty confirmed; Ricciardo gets 10

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

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"We finally have some certainty on some of the penalties some of the drivers are facing this weekend.

"The FIA has put out a statement listing the new engine elements being used, which reveals that Fernando Alonso is using a fifth engine, turbo and MGU-H and Daniel Ricciardo a new engine. As each is a fifth element, that means Alonso gets one 10-place penalty and two five-place penalties (20 places in all) and Ricciardo one 10-place penalty. As Alonso is likely to qualify somewhere between 12th and 16th, that will almost certainly mean he will get a drive-through penalty at the start of the race in addition to dropping to the back of the grid - according to the sliding scale of extra punishments for unserved grid drops.

"Ricciardo's punishment also depends on where he qualifies. If he's in the top 10, it'll be just the grid drop. If he's lower than that it's a five-second penalty if it's up to five unserved grid places or a 10-second penalty if it's between six and 10. There is no news yet on possible penalties for their team-mates, Jenson Button and Daniil Kvyat."

Welcome back

Hello. Ready for some more of the F1 cars?

Me too. Thirty minutes and they will be with us again for FP2.

We'll bring you all the action and analysis as Nico Rosberg bids to top the timesheets once again.

All that, plus more gems from the picture vaults as we ponder what was F1's greatest era.

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Julie Andrews, earlier today

Bye for now

AP

Right, we're out of here for an hour or so.

That was a pretty lively session, with locked brakes aplenty and high-profile failures for both Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

Most crucial of all, Nico Rosberg appeared to have the legs on Lewis Hamilton, who was more than a little curt with his team over the radio at the end of that session.

Please join us at 12:30 BST for the build up to FP2, which begins a 13:00.

Andrew Benson's FP1 report is now on the site.

FP1 times

F1

Williams on Twitter: After 26 laps for Bottas he then has a pitstop practice to focus on, as the boys swarm his car...

Williams

Lap leaders

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Max Verstappen put up the most laps in that session, with 38 for Toro Rosso.

Sergio Perez of Force India completed 37, ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg, both with 36.

At the other end of the scale, Sebastian Vettel managed just four laps in the Ferrari before his gearbox issue struck.

Lotus on Twitter: FP1 done for Jolyon Palmer.

P14 for the Brit, stepping in for Grosjean for the fourth time in FP1 this season.

Lotus

FP1 top 10

1 Rosberg 1:10.401, 2 Hamilton +0.3s, 3 Raikkonen +0.6s, 4 Bottas +1.1s, 5 Nasr +1.2s, 6 Kvyat +1.2s, 7 Ricciardo +1.3s, 8 Verstappen +1.4s, 9 Massa +1.4, 10 Perez +1.5

Hamilton getting tetchy

Lewis Hamilton has just responded pretty irritably to being asked to make some changes in the cockpit.

"How many changes do you guys want me to do, can I just focus on driving?" comes the reply from the championship leader.

Chequered flag

Get involved - #bbcf1

George Taylor: Maurizio should re-watch the Green Cross Code on crossing an active road. Or pit lane!

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David Prowse there, in the second-best acting gig he ever got.

Toro Rosso team radio

Max Verstappen: "It's undriveable, seriously. So much understeer at Turn Eight."

Jennie Gow

BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

Vettel in the garage...

Jennie Gow

Vettel stopped out on track earlier with what has been diagnosed with a gearbox problem. We won't be seeing him on track until FP2.

Get involved - #bestf1era

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Johnny Servoz Gavin at the wheel of a 1967 Matra

Cynical Human: 1967 was the peak of car design for mechanical grip and no aero. Great cars, great drivers and great circuits.

Ash: The 80s-90s were the best eras. Senna-Prost battles, Schumacher and Ferrari, and Murray Walker with the facts.

Michael Brown: Schumacher/Hakkinen. Everything was all out, very little conservation.

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Palmer running well

A quick check on Jolyon Palmer's progress for you.

The Lotus test driver - in for Romain Grosjean for this session - is running in 10th place, one tenth and two place ahead of regular driver Pastor Maldonado.

Fuel-saving 'an art' - Hulkenberg

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"The Canadian Grand Prix has reignited the debate about the state of F1, with many fans objecting to the requirement on the drivers in Montreal to save fuel during the race. We've addressed this issue in a major feature this week already. Many fans are comparing F1 unfavourably with the world endurance championship, there being a growing belief that the drivers in sportscars are flat out for longer than those in F1.

"When it comes to tyre usage, that is certainly true, but there is a lot of misinformation going around about this when it comes to fuel-saving - as Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, who won Le Mans on his debut last weekend, explains.

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"'To do lift and coast in Formula 1 is quite easy - you just left off and coast down. The difficulty is to do it efficiently and to lose as little lap time as possible. When you do it your braking point varies, so it's quite difficult for us to judge, you know, where the actual braking point has moved. To get close to that target, I think that's the art, that's what makes it difficult. In WEC we also have quite a bit of lift and coast. They have different fuel regulations, they're even tighter than here in F1, so fuel management is quite crucial there.'"

Catching JB unawares

No no no, Jenson Button.

If someone takes you by surprise with a camera, the standard procedure (as I have perfected over the years) is to half-close your eyes, slacken your jaw to give your mouth a lovely 'lolling' look, and generally try and look as ugly as possible.

This is far too flattering.

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Top 10 check

Just under 25 minutes to go. Not a lot of change in the order.

Nico Rosberg leads the way on a 1:10.401, with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton 0.308secs back.

Then it's Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso and Sergio Perez of Force India. Carlo Sainz rounds out the current top six in the second Toro Rosso.

Get involved - #bestf1era

Peter Guenter: Surely the Schumi/Hill era. Those battles were legendary! The entire '90s basically.

Liam Geraghty: 1998-2001 Hakkinen v Schumacher. Some titanic tussles and wonderful overtaking moves.

Lukas Redl: For me it would be 2000-2008 when F1 was on the edge, cars were difficult to drive, drivers were making mistakes.

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Honda on Twitter: After some great work by the McLaren Honda engineers Alonso has made it back out on track for FP1.

Honda F1

Button locks up too

F1

Jenson Button has joined Lewis Hamilton in locking a tyre into turn one.

The 2009 champion tries to carry on but the tyre is flat-spotted and excessive vibration forces the McLaren man into the pits.

Big lock-up for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has closed to within three tenths of Nico Rosberg's quickest time, but he's pushing hard to even manage that.

He just locked up into turn one, the Mercedes sailing on into the lovely mountainous scenery.

Of course, this being F1 in 2015, it's a big area of Tarmac and he escapes further punishment.

F1

Maldonado quickest through speed trap

F1

Ricciardo's good humour being tested

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"The last race in Canada was quite possibly the first time in his Formula 1 career in which Daniel Ricciardo's famous smile looked like slipping. A frustrating weekend led to him saying the team's upgrades were making no difference and that he was lost in terms of knowing why he could not get the car working for him. With the distance of a fortnight, Ricciardo had developed some perspective, saying that the fact he had won in Canada in 2014 had played its part in his mood.

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"'I probably went in there quite in a way emotional from what happened there a year earlier and probably just hoping for too much,' Ricciardo said. 'So that already probably set the target too high from the start and it sort of spiralled into a poor weekend, for obviously some other reasons as well.

"'We come here now with let's say a fresh approach on it all. I have a new chassis. I think we've got any variables that were maybe there in Canada and ready to have a good weekend. We know the track doesn't really suit everything for our performance right now but hopefully we'll have a good weekend here in front of the home fans.'

"Ricciardo was even sanguine about the likelihood of a grid penalty for taking a fifth engine, which Red Bull duly confirmed later that day. Perhaps that was an influencing factor in Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz making his latest threat to quit the sport."

Get involved - #bestf1era

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Jon Bennett: The '90s for me. Height of tech, great racing, highs and lows. Sums up F1's history in one decade.

Elton Lam: The 1980s. Turbo era. Massive slick tyres. Big grids. Sparks. Senna, Prost, Mansell, Piquet, etc.

Charlie Brown: Enough said...

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Manor F1 Team: "Roberto takes a breather at the 10 lap mark. #FP1"

Manor

Tough times at Red Bull

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz claims his team's uncompetitive form of the past two seasons is draining his "will and motivation" to remain in F1, writes Andrew Benson.

The Austrian has repeatedly threatened to quit the sport if Red Bull cannot get hold of a competitive engine.

"What else has to happen that we will lose our motivation completely?" he told Red Bull's Speed Week magazine.

Red Bull have collected just 54 points from the first seven races after dominating the sport from 2010 to 2013.

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Jennie Gow

BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

Vettel's car wheeled back...

Jennie Gow

Romain Grosjean on Twitter: Watching FP1 from the pitwall this morning. Looking forward to drive the car this afternoon.

Romain Grosjean

Top 10 check

1 Rosberg, 2 Hamilton, 3 Raikkonen, 4 Kvyat, 5 Maldonado, 6 Massa, 7 Perez, 8 Bottas, 9 Verstappen, 10 Ricciardo

Formula 1 on Twitter: No harm done... Massa and Arrivabene share a joke after their near miss in the pit lane.

F1

New trousers for Arrivabene

F1

A bit of a scare in the pit lane for Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene a few moments ago.

The uber-cool Italian hopped down off the pit wall to cross into the garage but did so right in front of the of Felipe Massa, who was pulling away in his Williams.

Fortunately for Arrivabene, Massa was quick on the brakes - as was Arrivabene to be fair.

A glance of a split-second's duration passed between the two men, the look on Arrivabene's face appearing to say: "Yeah, that was pretty dumb. Sorry mate."

F1

Get involved - #bestf1era

Jake Nichol: 1980s-1990s. 4 of the all time greats, immense power, great racing and Murray commentating on it all.

PtheP: Mid 60s to early 70s. Clark, Gurney, Hill, Stewart, Rodriguez, Brabham, McClaren, Rindt, Peterson. Gethin at Monza in '71.

Matthew Taylor: 1990s. Mixture of V8/V10/V12s, good/bad teams/drivers, controversy, Murray & James, 'The Chain'... loved that era.

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Williams running with upgraded aero package

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"Williams had to rely on a spin by Kimi Raikkonen for Valtteri Bottas to get on to the podium at the last race in Canada, and have generally lagged behind Ferrari all year. But the team have some updates in Austria that they hope might enable them to challenge.

"Bottas said another podium 'should be our target - if all the updates work as expected should be really close with Ferrari'. What are the updates? 'Aero bits only,' the Finn said. 'The main bits are the floor and rear wing. The numbers look good but always need to prove it works as expected.'"

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Rosberg leads early running

Quick time check for you with just over 25 minutes of the session gone.

The Mercedes of Nico Rosberg is out in front with a best lap of 1:10.401. That's a very useful 1.092secs ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Very early stages of course.

Ferrari team radio

Sebastian Vettel: "Lost drive, I lost drive in fourth gear."

The Ferrari man is parked up down an escape road. Steering wheel is off and the four-time champion climbs out of his car and very probably out of the session.

F1

Get involved - #bestf1era

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As usual we want to pick your brains during practice and today's debate is a nice easy one: what has been the best era of F1?

From race one in 1950 right through to the present day, F1 has witness myriad changes that have shaped and defined the sport decade-by-decade, from the mid-engine revolution of the early 1960s through huge advances in aerodynamics, engines and technology.

But what era, for you, best defines this wonderful sport?

Get in touch using #bestf1era

Hulkenberg basks in Le Mans glory

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

Reuters

"Force India's Nico Hulkenberg had the unusual experience of being the centre of attention on Thursday, after his debut victory at Le Mans last weekend. The German was clearly still riding the wave of euphoria that came with victory at one of motorsport's biggest races. 'Incredible to go there and win at the first attempt,' he said. 'So proud. The feelings I've had the last few days have been crazy.' His fellow F1 drivers were happy to express their admiration - 'massive respect', Sebastian Vettel said - and Hulkenberg even took the winners' trophy from Le Mans into the official news conference, where Fernando Alonso would have been forgiven for eyeing it somewhat jealously.

AFP

"Alonso has made no secret of his wish to race at Le Mans one day, and he came very close to securing a deal to partner Hulkenberg in that very car, only for Honda to reject it. 'I was 99.9% deal done this year with him in the the car,' Alonso said. 'Hopefully I can do it in the near future and, if not, when I finish F1 definitely it is one race I would like to do. Winning in Monte Carlo in F1, 24 Hours Le Mans and Indy 500 are the most prestigious three races and hopefully one day I can race there.'

"Alonso said he had had no frustration from knowing it could have been him on the podium, too. 'When I knew in December it was not possible I stop thinking about it,' Alonso said. 'I'm super-happy for him. He deserved it because he has a great talent and in F1 he did not have the luck to be in the right place.'"

Manor on Twitter: Installation lap, tyres off and tightly wrapped. Here's our tyre man Bruce in action...

Manor F1

Testing times at McLaren

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

f1

"Oh dear. That's not the start McLaren and Fernando Alonso wanted. His car fitted with the old nose, to get some baseline data before trying the revised short nose, the Spaniard has an engine problem and coasts down the pit lane with the car switched off.

"Alonso has talked about this being a 'testing weekend'. Testing, of course, has two meanings. And this is not the one Alonso was referring to."

If I had a pound...

...for every time I'd written about a McLaren conking out in the opening minutes of a practice session this season.

I'd have £4.

We've just seen the McLaren of Fernando Alonso rolling down the pit lane, no sound from the engine, with a gaggle of mechanics running along behind.

More engine bother? We'll find out soon enough.

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Ferrari 'realistic' over chances this weekend

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"Can Ferrari take the fight to Mercedes this weekend? BBC F1 analyst Allan McNish believes so - he says he saw enough in Canada to believe that the engine upgrade that was introduced on the red cars there would have put Sebastian Vettel in a position to challenge for the front row had he not had his engine problems in qualifying. And as the Red Bull Ring has similar characteristics, the same goes for here. Vettel himself was keeping expectations in check, though.

AFP

"'We also have to be realistic [in] challenging the Mercedes.,' Vettel said. 'We know that first of all we need to have a flawless weekend, and maybe hoping for them to have a little bit of a struggle. In normal circumstances it is quite difficult to beat them as they are still the favourites going in and there is still quite a big gap.'"

Green light

The lights go green and the first practice session is under way.

Here's your playground, boys:

F1

Allan McNish

BBC Radio 5 live analyst

"Williams have brought a number of new upgrades here."

Palmer in for Lotus

Just to mark your card for one personnel change in the upcoming session.

British driver Jolyon Palmer will be at the wheel of the Lotus for his fourth FP1 outing of the season. He replaces regular driver Romain Grosjean.

This is the first of five successive FP1 outings for the reigning GP2 champion, who is certainly getting some invaluable F1 mileage under his belt in 2015.

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More on Alonso's woes

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"A bit more info on the penalty that Fernando Alonso will get for Honda changing various parts of his engine. We still don't have an absolute answer, but Honda said this morning that they have changed the internal combustion engine and the energy store - so that's at least 15 places on the grid - and the company say they may yet change more. Honda will only know their approach with Jenson Button, who is likely also to have a penalty, after he has run in practice."

Lotus on Twitter: It feels quite humid & rained first thing but the sun is attempting to come out!

Lotus

McLaren running major upgrade in Austria

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"Huge grid penalty notwithstanding, there will be a lot of focus on Fernando Alonso's McLaren this weekend. The team have a major aerodynamic upgrade package here, with a shorter nose and revised front and rear wings, and the team is expecting a marked step forward in performance. There is only one, though, and it's Alonso's turn to get it, after Jenson Button had the privilege back in China in April, when there was only one new floor."

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McLaren on Twitter: Good morning from a damp (but drying) Friday in Austria. Set up is in full swing ahead of FP1.

McLaren

Alonso facing hefty grid penalty

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"This will be a weekend dominated by penalties for several drivers, with Fernando Alonso already looking at at least a 15- or 20-place grid penalty, McLaren team-mate Jenson Button waiting to see whether he will face a second weekend of grid penalties after McLaren assess his situation following his running on Friday, and Red Bull are also to change the engines in both cars, taking Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat onto their fifth engine, and therefore penalties for each, the extent of which - as with McLaren - is not yet clear.

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"The reason for this rash of engine changes? The Red Bull Ring is a track that rewards power and on which a good chassis, such as Red Bull and McLaren have, makes less of a difference because the corners are generally short. So it make sense to take the hit in Austria, where they expect a difficult weekend anyway, that at other tracks on which the cars should go better."

Raindrops on noses

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Good news for all fans of excitement. It's been raining overnight.

Let's face it, a bit of rain does make things better, doesn't it? It certainly provided the only real moment of drama in Canada last time out (groundhogs aside), when Lewis Hamilton aquaplaned off in practice.

Esteemed BBC weatherman Ian Fergusson has been on Twitter this morning stating that the mountains to the north of the circuit "will offer fair shelter against most showers".

However, he says that while there should be a lot of dry running today "a few showers" are possible.

Red Bull on Twitter: Good morning from the Red Bull Ring! Back on home turf, ready for the track action to begin.

Red Bull Racing

A dramatic setting

Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

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"The Red Bull Ring is in a spectacular location that, in terms of verdant magnificence, is unmatched in F1 even by Spa. But while the Styrian mountains are easy on the eye, this kind of landscape brings with it the inevitability of changeable weather. And that's what Formula 1 faces this weekend.

"It rained overnight, and there is the chance of showers for the rest of Friday and into Saturday, although the race should be dry. If it does rain through first and second practice, wet weather will inevitably limit running. But a spot of rain always livens things up and this track is a tricky little place at the best of times so action should not be in short supply."

High five?

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Good morning all. Welcome along to round eight of F1 2015.

For many a year this would have been the halfway point of the campaign, but in this brave new world of 20-race seasons it feels like we're still just warming up.

Although with a handful of wins under his belt already, Lewis Hamilton would probably says he is fully warmed up and in the swing of things.

The Mercedes man is aiming for victory number five of the year this weekend and with it an increased championship lead.

But first, he and 19 other men need to do some practice. They're heading out at 09:00 BST