Hamilton wings way to top spot

Lewis Hamilton’s maiden visit to the Red Bull Ring culminated with the Briton emerging top dog in practice yesterday.

Situated in the Styrian mountains, the circuit — owned by billionaire energy drinks magnate Dietrich Mateschitz — is an old-school track complemented by modern-day facilities following a €75 million revamp.

Hamilton, however, conceded a fortnight ago his knowledge of the circuit was such he did not even know the direction of turn one.

But come the conclusion to the two 90-minute sessions it was the 29-year-old who led the way with a time of one minute 09.542secs, just 1.2secs slower than Michael Schumacher’s race lap record set in 2003.

Hamilton finished 0.377secs faster than team-mate Nico Rosberg as the duo resumed their battle for this season’s world title.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was again third best but only just from Williams duo Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

Reigning four-times champion Sebastian Vettel and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, winner last time out in Canada to end Mercedes’ dominant start to the campaign of six successive victories, were sixth and eighth quickest on the timesheet.