George Russell followed up his victory in Canada with a fast start to the Austrian Grand Prix weekend as the Mercedes driver topped first practice ahead of Max Verstappen.

Russell and Verstappen, first and second in Montreal two weeks ago, were split by 0.065s at the Red Bull Ring, with Russell fastest with a 1:05.542.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri was third for McLaren, just seven tenths of a second faster than stand-in teammate Alex Dunne, the Irish youngster who replaced Lando Norris for the session.

“I want to say a massive thank you,” Dunne said on team radio afterwards. “You made a little boy’s dream come true and this was definitely the best day of my life.”

Dunne is the Formula 2 leader and was the first Irish driver in 22 years to take part in a grand prix weekend

Norris, 22 points behind Piastri after 10 of 24 races, will be back for the second session — his first time on track since he collided with his Australian teammate in Canada.

Austria has the shortest lap of the year in terms of time and all but 20th-placed Haas driver Oliver Bearman were within a second of Russell.

Pierre Gasly was fifth for Alpine with Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto sixth for Sauber and Alex Albon seventh for Williams ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz.

Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton was ninth as Ferrari had a difficult start to their preparations with both cars in the garage during the session with mechanics working on floor and gearbox.

Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc sat out the session with Swedish reserve Dino Beganovic getting some track time and finishing 18th.

Isack Hadjar made it seven different teams in the top 10 with the 10th fastest lap for Racing Bulls.

Fernando Alonso had a big spin in his Aston Martin but kept the car out of the barriers.