Hamilton reveals reason for Ferrari's lack of pace on the opening day in Spielberg

Ferrari endured a difficult opening day at the Austrian Grand Prix as the Scuderia struggled to match the pace of its rivals during Friday practice, despite collecting valuable data and giving reserve driver Dino Beganovic another opportunity to impress behind the wheel of the SF-25.

With Charles Leclerc sitting out the opening practice session, Beganovic stepped into the Monegasque's car for FP1 and delivered another composed performance in only his latest Formula 1 outing.

The young Swede finished ninth fastest after completing Ferrari's extensive test programme, while Lewis Hamilton placed fifth despite battling an inconsistent car and suffering a costly lock-up that left a flat spot on one of his tyres.

Hamilton appeared to be pushing hard throughout the opening session in an attempt to close the gap to the frontrunning Mercedes drivers, but Ferrari was unable to find the pace needed to challenge at the very front.

The seven-time World Champion completed FP1 with a best lap of 1:08.461, before improving to a 1:07.611 in FP2, a time that once again left him fifth on the timesheets. However, Ferrari's overall performance failed to improve significantly during the afternoon, with the team left searching for answers as to where it could find the missing lap time.

Reflecting on the opening day, Hamilton admitted the conditions had made an already demanding circuit even more challenging.

"I’d say it was a solid but challenging start to the weekend, with the high temperatures making an already demanding circuit even tougher.

"The car felt quite positive straight out of the box, but this track is pretty unforgiving, so that even a small balance issue costs you a lot of lap time. We’ve definitely got some work to do to find the right setup and balance and unlock some performance.

"It’s all about staying focused, understanding where we’re losing out and seeing what we can do ahead of tomorrow."

Leclerc returned to the cockpit for FP2 after missing the morning session and immediately faced the same difficulties as his team-mate. Despite improving throughout the session, the Ferrari driver could only manage the eighth-fastest lap with a time of 1:07.855, finishing a couple of tenths behind Hamilton.

Although the result was disappointing, Leclerc believed Ferrari had gathered important information that could help improve the car overnight.

"We gathered quite a lot of data today, which gives us useful insight into the areas of our car which we can still work on improving tonight. We were not as competitive as we would have liked to be right now, and our focus is on taking steps forward in refining our performance so that we can challenge our competitors tomorrow."

While Ferrari's race drivers were left searching for improvements, Beganovic could reflect positively on another successful Formula 1 appearance. The Ferrari Academy driver completed the team's programme without incident, setting a best lap of 1:09.054 to finish ninth and once again demonstrating his growing confidence at the highest level.

"It’s always an amazing feeling to drive a Formula 1 car, especially a Ferrari. The session was very good in general, and I am happy with how it went.

"At the start of the session, we ran some different tests, to gather as much data as possible for the team. We had a solid run on the Medium tyres, and then went out on Softs. The general balance of the car felt good and I felt I was back into the rhythm straight away, after my last FP1 in Barcelona.

"A big thank you to Scuderia Ferrari for the trust and this opportunity. I hope to have the chance to get behind the wheel again soon."