F1 Austrian GP LIVE: FP1 begins as Norris, Hadjar and Verstappen suffer reliability woes

A standout performance right now is Beganovic in P6, just ahead of Hamilton. Or he was. As we type, Hamilton reverses the positions. Whatever, it remains an impressive showing from the Ferrari rookie. 

1m07.796s for Antonelli moves him around 0.7s clear of his previous benchmark. Russell goes 0.119s slower, but Mercedes has an advantage of around one second to the next fastest driver - Max Verstappen. 

Purple sectors from Antonelli with Russell slower, but not by much. 

Out come the Mercedes duo on soft tyres. Verstappen is now complaining about having no grip, with his tyres feeling like they're constantly overheating. 

With temperatures of over 50 °C on the track, this is hardly a surprise. 

The Mercedes drivers are back in the garage, as Hamilton suffers a huge lock-up into Turn 3, locking both fronts and sending smoke signals as he runs massively wide. 

Piastri reports a long brake pedal. That's at least a normal problem! 

So what's happened in the timing screens. Medium and hard tyres are being used, with Antonelli fastest with a 1m08.448s. Russell is second and, after getting out onto the track, Verstappen is third with a 1m09.043s effort, although on soft rubber. 

Another issue to add to the bizarre session, both Williams drivers are suffering with broken or loose mirrors. This must be the strangest FP1 session ever! 

Bad news for Red Bull. The floor needs to come off Verstappen's car. With significant upgrades, this is the last thing that Red Bull needs. Both cars are stuck in the garage. 

In comes Hirakawa again. He stops on the marks this time. All personnel are safe. 

A bizarre one. Hirakawa at Haas has hit one of his mechanics when returning to the pits. He went long in the pit box and struck the team member. Good news is that the mechanic appears to be fine. 

Other than Norris, Hadjar and Verstappen, all 19 other drivers have completed at least an installation lap. Antonelli has set the early pace with a 1m09.119s from Russell. But as ever, as the track rubbers up, the times will fall. 

Now Russell reports a 'weird' throttle feeling compared to last week. What is going on out there?

Verstappen has also now stopped in the pit lane and is being wheeled back. "Every time I release the clutch I get anti-stall," he reports. That could be another lengthy fix. 

Great news for Luke Browning, as unlike in Barcelona, he manages to escape the garage and take to the track. His installation lap is complete. 

The alert that always causes us to chuckle, a 0% chance of rain for FP1. I suspect the bright blue skies made that one slightly obvious. 

Just over five minutes remain before FP1 begins in Austria. The track is a deceptively simple one, with tiny errors carrying a heavy price. Expect plenty of lockups into Turn 3 at the top of the hill, and on the way back down into Turn 4. Those are also the two key overtaking spots to watch on Sunday. 

We're here for the continuing Antonelli prank war with Mercedes. This time, the team struck back against the championship leader! 

A key question on everyone's lips this weekend is, 'Will Mercedes be able to cope with the heat?'

Allow me to explain, the consistent battery issues that have struck the Mercedes-powered teams are thought to have been caused by increased temperatures, most commonly through following another car too closely for too long. 

However, with the 30C+ air temperatures expected across the weekend, this will provide a serious test for the systems.