Mixed weather conditions during the practice sessions kicked off the Austrian Grand Prix. Heavy rain during the opening minutes of FP2 compromised the Sauber F1 Team's programme. However, Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr were able to cover a decent mileage in order to collect information about the new tarmac in respect of the tyre behaviour.

Marcus Ericsson: "It was a decent day. It's Friday, so we needed to run as many laps as possible in both practice sessions. The track is quite different with the new surface as well as the new kerbs. There was a lot to learn today. We were able to test three different compounds – the soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres. It was good to see the steps between them. FP2 was not ideal with the rain interrupting our programme. Nevertheless, we gathered some data today, and I am sure we can optimise things for tomorrow."

Felipe Nasr: "In FP1 we were able to cover a decent mileage. I was able to see how the car behaves on the new surface on soft and supersoft tyres. It was important to understand the new tarmac and how much it is affecting the tyres. In terms of the car set-up, I am satisfied with the balance so far. I ran the practice engine, so I am sure there is more to come when I go back to the race engine from tomorrow on. In FP2 the heavy rain compromised our programme as we could not do high-fuel runs as planned. It is a bit of an unknown for us, but other teams were compromised as well. We will have a busy FP3 session ahead of us."

Check out our Friday gallery, here.