Lando Norris replacement stuns on F1 debut as George Russell takes early Austrian GP honours

George Russell maintained his front-running form from Canada to post the fastest lap in first practice for the Austrian Grand Prix on a day when Alex Dunne delivered a superb performance on his F1 debut with McLaren.

Canadian Grand Prix winner Russell was consistently quick around the Red Bull Ring in his Mercedes, on hard tyres initially and later the softs, pipping Max Verstappen by 0.065s with a leading time of 1:05.542s.

At McLaren, F2 championship leader Dunne became the first Irishman in 22 years to step behind the wheel of an F1 car over a grand prix weekend since Ralph Firman competed for Jordan in 2003. The junior driver replaced Lando Norris for FP1.

Dunne's opening laps were initially experimental before he was eventually unleashed, posting a stunning time of 1:05.766s to finish fourth quickest, 0.224s behind Russell, and 0.069s behind team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Dunne delivers

The first significant sighter lap came from Kimi Antonelli of 1:08.309s. Naturally, it was a time that did not last long, as first Russell, then Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, each took significant chunks out of it.

On the hard tyres, Russell then posted a 1:06.537s during a phase which saw Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari sport aero rakes on the rear of the car, which is also carrying a new floor in the Scuderia's bid to propel the seven-time F1 champion and team-mate Charles Leclerc into the fight for race wins.

Dunne's early laps also saw him running with a front aero rake, aiding the team in its bid to obtain more information on its recently introduced new front wing, utilising a set of soft tyres in the process.

Russell then lowered his leading time to 1:06.139s, and after a brief period out front for Williams' Carlos Sainz on medium rubber, a run out on the softs for Russell saw him resume top spot with a 1:05.776s.

At that stage, Ferrari had both cars in the garage after Hamilton reported an issue with the gearbox, whilst reserve Dino Beganovic, in for Leclerc for FP1, was forced to have the floor removed from his SF-25.

Russell, meanwhile, continued to set the pace on the softs that was quickly becoming the tyre of choice, with his next hot lap a 1:05.542s, and which ultimately proved to be the best overall, albeit 1.2s shy of last year's pole position time from Verstappen.

In the background, Dunne conducted several build-up laps on the hard tyres before he later switched to the soft, again building up speed before slotting himself into the impressive fourth on the timesheet which he held through to the conclusion.

It was not until there were 10 minutes left on the clock that a back-on-track Lewis Hamiltin finally set a more representative lap time of 1:06.099s, finishing ninth quickest.

In between Dunne and Hamilton were Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Gabriel Bortoleto for Stake, Williams' Alex Albon and team-mate Sainz, whose time of 1:06.017s was the only one on the mediums of the 20 drivers on track.

Racing Bull's Isack Hadjar completed the top 10 followed by Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes, 0.588s adrift of team-mate Russell.

Fernando Alonso, who endured a 270-degree spin on the approach to and out of the final corner at one stage in his Aston Martin, finished 14th and 0.628s down.

As for Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, he suffered a lock-up into Turn 3 early on, leading him to complain about the brakes being "really poor. The Japanese driver was 17th, 0.720s down.

Beganovic finished 18th ahead of Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman, the latter 1.196s off the pace.