Title leader Kimi Antonelli led George Russell to a Mercedes one-two in the first practice session of the Austrian Grand Prix.
Antonelli was 0.040 seconds quicker than Russell, setting a time of 1:07.796.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished 0.117 seconds off the pace in third, while Max Verstappen who broke down twice in the pit-lane in the early moments of practice crossed the line in fourth.
Lewis Hamilton’s bid to capitalise on his first Ferrari victory suffered a dent after he finished a distant fifth.
Hamilton delivered an unstoppable performance in Barcelona a fortnight ago to claim his maiden triumph for the Italian giants and appeared to stake his claim as a genuine title contender.
However, the 41-year-old was no match for Mercedes in the first running of the weekend in the Styrian Mountains after he lapped 0.665 seconds slower than Antonelli.
Lando Norris missed a large chunk of the session with a hydraulic leak and completed only nine laps. The world champion finished seventh in the order.
Hamilton raised hope of muscling his way into Mercedes’ intra-team championship fight with a dominant win last time out.
But the seven-time world champion, despite being armed with an engine upgrade here, has work to do with Ferrari trailing their rivals.
Mercedes has won six of the first seven races, with Antonelli taking five consecutive wins to establish a strong lead at the summit of the standings.
For Russell, the Englishman will be keen to land his first triumph since the season opener in Australia and reduce the deficit to Antonelli ahead of his home race at Silverstone a week on Sunday.
Elsewhere, Arvid Lindblad finished sixth for Racing Bulls, a spot clear of Norris, with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto eighth.
A late red flag was caused by Sergio Pérez who stopped on the track in his Cadillac with minutes left on the clock. The second practice session gets under way at 4 p.m. BST.
PA contributed to this report.
