Hamilton fastest in second practice, Bottas and several others spin
80% of BBC poll say Vettel should have been disqualified from Azerbaijan GP
Hamilton fastest, Vettel 4th in first practice
Several cars spin, including Raikkonen and Vettel
Get involved via #bbcf1: should Vettel have been disqualified?
Jennie Gow
BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter
Alonso is now in his car, they just turned the engine over and it still sounds horrible.
I think the guys are a little bit demotivated, they want to know what's happening in the future as well. Things are challenging for them.
Most drivers have done an installation lap so far.
Notable absentees so far are McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas.
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
Honda has brought an upgraded engine to Austria for McLaren to use. It’s the same spec as the one Fernando Alonso used in Baku on Friday. How much of a difference will it make? Alonso was realistic.
“There are more things to come,” he said. “This is a small step, a small different version of what we had until now. But there are not big changes in it. We tried it in Baku. If it was powerful enough to fight for the top five we would have kept it in the car there. But it is always welcome.
"It is difficult season so far for the Honda guys and slowly we can improve but it can take time. Hopefully this is the first step of many.”
Image source, Getty ImagesA couple of reserve drivers in action in this session that we should make you aware of.
Sergey Sirotkin is in the Renault in place of Nico Hulkenberg, while Alfonso Celis takes over Sergio Perez's Force India.
FP1 is under way.
Yesterday was a good, meaty news day in F1.
Vettel and Hamilton's (slightly awkward) news conference, confirmation from our very own Andrew Benson that Silverstone is set to end its British Grand Prix contract after the 2019 race, and we also had Renault announcing a second test for Robert Kubica as speculation over a comeback intensifies.
We'd love your views on these developments. Get in touch via #bbcf1
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
Image source, Getty ImagesFrom the outside, the impression is that Mercedes have made a step forward in the last two races and edged clear of Ferrari, particularly on qualifying performance - gaps that were measured in hundredths are suddenly being measured in several 10ths, or even seconds in the case of Baku.
The circumstances of the two races make it difficult to be definitive but Lewis Hamilton said that certainly Mercedes were understanding the car more. “We’re constantly learning about these tyres,” he said, “so I think we definitely made a big step, I think it was going into Montreal and from there we are continuing to learned weekend-in, weekend-out.”
But Sebastian Vettel played down any sense that Ferrari were losing touch. “I know what was going on in the last two races,” he said. “They were very different. The tracks are different. But if you take Canada: we actually had good pace in the race. The car was damaged and obviously my race looked very different to Lewis’, he could control the race from the front. Then in Baku in qualifying, we just didn’t get it together. The gap was artificially big. I’m not sitting here thinking that we are (going to be) 1.1s behind in quali here.
"Come Sunday I think the pace was very similar. Overall it’s probably fair to say that Mercedes had the upper hand Saturday and Sunday but the difference was small.”
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Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
Image source, Getty Images“I don’t feel any tension,” Lewis Hamilton said as he sat near Sebastian Vettel - Haas’ Kevin Magnussen the gooseberry in between - in the official pre-race news conference on Thursday in Austria.
Well, it didn't look that way.
Perhaps it was wariness. Or reluctance. Or a general wish for the questions to be over. But it certainly appeared an uncomfortable experience for Hamilton and Vettel as they were cross-examined on the events of Baku two weeks before.
Vettel, it turned out, had reached out to Hamilton after he had deliberately driven into the Englishman’s car, and ultimately apologised. The key line was Vettel’s: “Am I proud of it? No. Can I take it back? No. Do I regret it? Yes.” Hamilton said he was keen to “move on”.
Whether this is the last of it remains to be seen.
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Like a race track situated in the middle of a lid of a box of chocolates sold in an Alpine tourist shop, the Red Bull Ring is the most picturesque of grand prix circuits.
It slaloms around a verdant wooded hillside in the Styrian mountains, rising gently up towards snow peaks before descending again.
It is on the same site - and uses some of the same track - as the magnificent old Osterreichring, which hosted F1 in the 1970s and 1980s. But the new version is not only considerably shorter but also nowhere near as grand.
The Osterreichring was an awe-inspiring combination of brutally fast corners, the names of which still resonate in motorsport folklore - Glatz Kurve, Texaco Schikane and, most of all, the Bosch Kurve. It was up there with Spa and Suzuka as one of the world's great tests of man and machine.
Read more from Andrew Benson here.
Image source, .One F1 fan has already won big this weekend after getting Fernando Alonso to dawb his name across an impressively large cut-out of the two-time champion ...
[wait for the seamless segue...]
... but who will be the big winner at the Red Bull Ring come Sunday afternoon?
Well, first practice for the Austrian Grand Prix will be getting under way shortly, so there may be some hints to be gleaned from that.
Good morning.
Image source, McLaren on Twitter