Lewis Hamilton & Valtteri Bottas gave the upgraded Mercedes W09 the perfect birth as the only driver sub-1m05s in first practice at the Austrian GP.
Appearing to run higher engine modes based on the speed traps, the world champion would post a 1m04.839s, a tenth clear of his Finnish teammate as both Silver Arrows used the Ultrasoft tyres.
Ferrari and Red Bull weren't too far back though as Max Verstappen with within a quarter of a second of Hamilton in third and Sebastian Vettel, who was involved in an unsafe release with Stoffel Vandoorne during the session, a tenth behind in fourth.
Daniel Ricciardo was unhappy with his car in fifth, making suspension changes late on and also lost some track time after hitting one of the yellow baguette kerbs that line the exit of various corners around the Red Bull Ring.
Kimi Raikkonen similarly struggled in his Ferrari in sixth, six-tenths behind his teammate.
Overcast but dry conditions prevailed as the drivers got to grips with the technical challenge of the Spielberg track with the theme throughout being a series of lock-ups at Turns 1, 3 and 4 and drivers having to avoid the damaging yellow kerbs, particularly at the final two corners.
Verstappen had one of the more notable moments, spinning his Red Bull on the exit of Turn 4 after just touching the gravel on the outside, while Vandoorne's session was ended early by his front wing failing on one side following a particularly nasty kerb strike at Turn 10.
Otherwise, the first practice followed much the usual pattern of drivers and teams testing their upgrades, getting a feel for the set-up and trialling the different tyre compounds.
In the midfield, Romain Grosjean did what he did last weekend in France by putting Haas in the 'best of the rest' position in seventh.
He would lead Esteban Ocon in the Force India as Charles Leclerc again impressed in the Sauber in P9. Pierre Gasly made it four different teams in the four what would be points paying position in 10th for Toro Rosso.
Marcus Ericsson backed up Sauber's strong pace in 11th, while Kevin Magnussen was still P12 despite missing out on the final 30 minutes or so having had a slow puncture caused by a damaged floor on his Haas.
Renault again had a steady start to the weekend with Carlos Sainz only 13th and Nico Hulkenberg 15th.
Nearing the back, Lance Stroll was 16th but complained of a downshift problem towards the end of the session in his Williams. Robert Kubica made a second practice appearance of the season in the other car but brought up the timesheets as he focused on important development work.
McLaren's struggles also continued with Vandoorne's broken wing and unsafe release into the path of Vettel already mentioned, he was 18th just one place behind teammate Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard also focused on upgrades.
