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Formula 1 in the live ticker: Sebastian Vettel has new parts in Austria at the start
11.00 clock: Let's go! On time the first free practice is started. Max Verstappen is the first driver to drive his car to the Red Bull Ring.
10:57 am: On Friday morning there was a discussion with Pirelli, which is about using the 2018 tires instead of the current tires. However, it was agreed that nothing should be changed.
10.50 am: Actually, the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg should meet the Ferraris because it goes much straight ahead. Is that an advantage over the Mercedes cars? "The straights should accommodate us with the trend of the last races," says Sebastian Vettel. "It's all in the class, even if it's not that long."
Formula 1: Ferrari tests new parts in the first free practice
10.36 clock: The update package that Ferrari had tried in France is only partially in use again in Austria. Front and rear wings and the brake vents are also in Spielberg back while the new subfloor was discarded. Some new parts are also in GP number nine again. "We'll try it out on Friday," says Vettel.
10.15: Welcome to the live ticker of FOCUS Online. Today is the first free practice at the Grand Prix of Austria on the program. From 11.00 clock it starts!
"In the end, the Germans always win," Gary Lineker once said about football. Coined to Formula 1, this bon mot also applies - at least to German cars. Eight races, eight wins - this is the balance of the Mercedes team in the 2019 season. Lewis Hamilton won six times, and twice the Finn Valtteri Bottas was on top of the podium.
Among the defeated so far include Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari, who were with two second and five third places even less often on the podium than Mercedes could win races. In Austria, the "Scuderia" now gets new parts and starts the ninth attempt to victory. Can Hamilton and Bottas be defeated this time?