Seven months after the 2019 campaign ended, the new coronavirus-delayed season began under cloudy skies at the Red Bull Ring, with little action in the first third of the 90-minute session.
Most of the cars remained in their garages after the field completed the initial installation laps, although McLaren drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, along with Bottas, set the pace early.
But the trio joined the rest in the pits after 20 minutes when a wet track was declared after a light rain.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel drove the field back a few laps in the intermission, but drivers quickly concluded that the track was not wet enough to use ribbed rubber.
Shortly after the first third of the session was completed, Hamilton established his first fast laps on the hard rubber Pirelli, improving on three successive laps to soon claim first place with 1m06.994s.
Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez seemed ready to depose Hamilton soon after, but his RP20 started smoking around his flying lap and he had to abandon his effort in order to fix the problem.
Hamilton continued to improve the fastest time, briefly interrupted by Lance Stroll before the Racing Point driver had his time eliminated due to a violation of the track limits at the exit from the penultimate corner.
A flurry of action in the middle of the session led Renault’s Sainz, Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo to enjoy brief spells first, with Perez then taking first place as soon as he returned to the track to headline a brief Racing Point 1 -2 with 1m06.052s.
But as the session approached the hour mark, Mercedes cars returned to the fray after a long time waiting in their garages, with Bottas improving Perez’s best improved from 1m05.773s to 1m05.486s in the softs.
Hamilton then made his first effort on the red-walled soft tires to retake first with 1m04.968s, attacking the curbs at the fast chicane exit of turn 7/8 and the final with seeming enthusiasm.
The world champion improved the fastest time to 1m04.816s with 27 minutes remaining, which remained as the session until the end: Bottas was 0.3s past due.
Max Verstappen took third place after turning his Red Bull out of the first corner, missing the rear as he passed the apex, echoing the several turns he and teammate Alex Albon had in winter testing. .
But he quickly got going again and used his softs to bring the order up and finish 0.6 seconds slower than Hamilton.
Sainz, Pérez and Norris finished in positions four and six, with Albon and Ricciardo following them.
Kevin Magnussen ranked ninth for Haas, with Charles Leclerc completing the top 10 on medium tires, 1.1 seconds slower than Hamilton in what was a low-key session for Ferrari.
Stroll finished 11th ahead of Vettel, with Esteban Ocon 13th for Renault, but got out of his car shortly after he dumped a bargeboard body part while racing down the main straight 20 minutes to go, requiring a brief car. virtual security to recover.
Several drivers, including Perez, had blockages in the narrow hill up to the right of Turn 3, but it was Turn 1 that seemed to be causing the most problems, with Kimi Raikkonen (15th for Alfa Romeo) looking up and running towards there. Two occasions.
Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) turned in front of George Russell in the late corner late, which the Williams driver did well to avoid, and the pair finished P16 and P17.
Romain Grosjean pulled out the back of the field for Haas with just six laps on the board as he missed most of the session after reporting a brake problem in the early stages, although he did show up for a final tour in the later stages. moments.
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