Mercedes have arrived in Austria with a raft of aerodynamic improvements - and team boss Toto Wolff is happy with what he has seen so far.

He tells Sky Sports: "Yeah the car looks pretty good you can see there is great stability in the car, now we have to carry it through the weekend.

"If someone else has out performed us then credit to them but we are working really hard on development.

"For us it's important that the technology message is still there: efficiency equals performance and when the whole world moves into greener energy, it needs to stay on a high performance efficiency level."

Image source, Getty Images

Sergey Sirotkin is among the first drivers out for this 90-minute session - along with Romain Grosjean. Sirotkin sat out P1, with Robert Kubica subbing for him.

Earlier (11:44) Matt on Twitter asked if there were any Haas fans... it seems there are, as Shaun Bristow found one:

"To Matt, I found one down by the last corner! Look closely at the back of the hat."

Image source, Shaun Bristow Twitter

Mercedes had the best of first practice, with Lewis Hamilton quickest and Valtteri Bottas - although Red Bull's Max Verstappen was not far behind. Second practice is two minutes away...

Image source, Getty Images

I mentioned before the break (at 11:37) the difficulties of trying to come up with a headline for the first practice report when, as our chief F1 writer Andrew Benson mentioned, it has to be 33 characters.

You haven't let me down, you lovely people.

Cod: “Hamilton is quicker than everyone”. 33 characters.

Inge: The weekends when Verstappen does something significant must be very difficult, headlines-wise.

I'll be honest, Inge, I'm not sorry that there's never been a Grand Prix of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

If you're in the UK, refresh your browser and click on the icon at the top of your screen, you can listen to BBC Radio 5 live sports extra commentary from Jack Nicholls, Jolyon Palmer and Andrew Benson, with pit lane reporting from Jennie Gow.

Image source, Rex Features

On the subject of F1/pop crossovers, my colleague Shajan Miah has just asked if there should be a grid penalty for using autotune.

I certainly think there should be a limit on how much you can use it - I imagine it's the equivalent of replacing engine parts, isn't it?

Phil Murfet: How about ABBA and Alonso? I think you can guess the song!

Like your thinking, Phil.

Bob McFeil: How about Fernando Alonso and The Beach Boys!!!!

The whole office has just shouted 'yes' to that, Bob.

Don't worry, by the way - I've not forgotten surely the greatest F1/pop crossover - Fleetwood Mac's The Chain, used for years as the theme for BBC One's live TV coverage of the sport. Why they never recorded an album with Murray Walker, I'll never know.

Image source, Getty Images

Just a reminder that Raikkonen is at the centre of our debate today. With so much speculation about his future - all of which was flat-batted when he faced a press conference yesterday - I want to know what you think Ferrari should do for next season. Also, what should Raikkonen do?

Although if you want to suggest F1 driver/pop combos as well, that's absolutely fine by me. Get in touch via Twitter, using the hashtag #bbcf1.

Personally, though, I won't rest until we get a duet between Kimi Raikkonen and Taylor Swift. Just think of all that emotion and tension, packed into one song...

Image source, Getty Images

This isn't the first F1 pop crossover of recent times, by the way - Daniel Ricciardo, a lover of heavy metal and rock, appeared on stage with Australian band Parkway Drive in 2016.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Aaaaand welcome back. I don't know what you've been doing in the break between practice sessions (although feel free to tweet in and tell me using the #bbcf1 hashtag), but I've been having a proper listen to the Christina Aguilera/Lewis Hamilton collaboration., external

If you've missed this story, Hamilton sings under the pseudonym XNDA, external on Pipe, which is track 13 on Liberation, Aguilera's first album for five-and-a-half years.

It's fine. It's a low-key track on a low-key album - with none of the vocal acrobatics you often get with Aguilera. Hamilton actually sounds a decent R&B singer - although his collaborator is careful not to stretch his voice too much. 3/5, I'd say.

So, keep an eye on the weather forecast over the next couple of hours. We're going to take a break there - and we'll be back at 13:30 BST for second practice, which starts half-an-hour after that.

In the meantime, have a read of Jolyon Palmer's latest BBC column - plenty of fine analysis on Valtteri Bottas' bad luck this season, and Kimi Raikkonen's future at Ferrari.

See you in a bit.

Image source, Getty Images

Very dark skies over the track at Spielberg, but the rain just about held off. Interesting weather forecast for the afternoon, though.

Very good start to the weekend for Mercedes, that. Red Bull take third and fifth, with Ferrari - having their customary bang average Friday - fourth and sixth.

"What will the headline be on the BBC Sport website?" asks BBC Radio 5 live sports extra commentator Jack Nicholls.

"Hamilton quickest," replies chief F1 writer Andrew Benson. There then follows a discussion about the restrictions on headline lengths on the website.

"It’ll be 33 characters. Anyone who likes to complain about the headlines, bear that in mind."

The restriction on short headlines - the ones that appear on digitext on your TV - is actually 39 characters, but you get the point. Oh, it's fun trying to come up with those.

'Hamilton quickest', for those of you counting, is 17 characters (you have to include the space), so there is scope to expand it a bit.

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

"No one out there is really improving any more. They're all on used tyres now."

Last few seconds of P1 - it's a one-two for Mercedes unless someone can do something spectacular...