Sergio Perez has concluded the opening practice session of the Styrian Grand Prix weekend as the fastest driver, less than a tenth of a second ahead of Max Verstappen.

The Racing Point driver missed out on a podium finish last weekend at the Red Bull Ring, and will be aiming for further success during the second weekend at the Austrian venue.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, F1 remains in Austria for the second round of the season before heading to Hungary next weekend.

Perez used the soft tyre for his fastest lap, as did Red Bull's Verstappen. Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton in third and fourth respectively both used the medium compound on their hot laps.

The second Racing point of Lance Stroll followed in fifth place, over half a second down on his teammate. Alexander Albon was sixth for Red Bull, having set his fastest lap on the medium tyre.

Following its podium result last Sunday, McLaren started the new race weekend with the seventh-best lap time in practice one, courtesy of Carlos Sainz.

The Spaniard headed Pierre Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo, while Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top ten for Ferrari.

One red flag was deployed during the session after Nicholas Latifi stopped on the side of the track after Turn 4 with a mechanical problem.

Kevin Magnussen failed to set a lap time during the session as a battery issue put him on the sidelines for the 90 minutes, with Haas confirming towards the end of the session that it had changed the energy store in the Dane's power unit.

There were two reserve drivers on the circuit during the session, with Robert Kubica fulfilling duties for Alfa Romeo in place of Antonio GIovinazzi.

Jack Aitken made his FP1 debut with Williams, ending the session in 17th ahead of Kubica and Latifi.