The German driver topped the timesheets. Lewis Hamilton finished second, close to his teammate.
Nico Rosberg finished as the fastest man of the first free practice of the Austrian Grand Prix, taking part at Red Bull Ring. Lewis Hamilton completed the Mercedes 1-2, followed by Alonso -the first non-Mercedes driver- and Massa.
With the Red Bull Ring being an addition to the calendar, the track activity would be more intense than usual. The two Mercedes drivers were leading the timesheets in the early stages of the practice, with Hamilton in first place and Rosberg in second.
Rosberg took the lead from his teammate. Button went second, with Hamilton being relegated to third. Magnussen was fourth and Raikkonen fifth. In the closing stages of the session, light rain started falling for a couple of minutes, but the track didn’t get wet.
Vettel suffered a double spin at the main straight, but the German driver could control the car and it suffered no damage. Hamilton went second, Alonso was third and Massa fourth just before the rain started to fall again and the activity stopped.
The rain was not strong enough and when it stopped, the most part of the drivers returned to the track. Although the position didn’t change, they had enough time to learn the track. Rosberg finished in first place in this practice.
Results:
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Team | Nation | Laps | Time | Gap | |
| 1 | 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | GBR | 19 | 1:11,295 | ||
| 2 | 44 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | GER | 32 | 1:11,435 | 0,140 | |
| 3 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | SPA | 23 | 1:11,606 | 0,311 | |
| 4 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams – Mercedes | BRA | 27 | 1:11,756 | 0,461 | |
| 5 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren – Mercedes | GBR | 33 | 1:11,839 | 0,544 | |
| 6 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Force India – Mercedes | MEX | 33 | 1:12,009 | 0,714 | |
| 7 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India – Mercedes | GER | 20 | 1:12,072 | 0,777 | |
| 8 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams – Mercedes | FIN | 21 | 1:12,114 | 0,819 | |
| 9 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | R | McLaren – Mercedes | DAN | 36 | 1:12,313 | 1,018 |
| 10 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso – Renault | FRA | 30 | 1:12,364 | 1,069 | |
| 11 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | FIN | 21 | 1:12,365 | 1,070 | |
| 12 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | R | Toro Rosso – Renault | RUS | 35 | 1:12,372 | 1,077 |
| 13 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing – Renault | AUS | 28 | 1:12,57 | 1,275 | |
| 14 | 21 | Esteban Gutiérrez | Sauber – Ferrari | MEX | 29 | 1:12,988 | 1,689 | |
| 15 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing – Renault | GER | 25 | 1:13,168 | 1,693 | |
| 16 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus – Renault | FRA | 28 | 1:13,642 | 1,873 | |
| 17 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus – Renault | VEN | 27 | 1:13,738 | 2,347 | |
| 18 | 17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia – Ferrari | FRA | 26 | 1:13,857 | 2,443 | |
| 19 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia – Ferrari | GBR | 28 | 1:14,611 | 2,562 | |
| 20 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham – Renault | JAP | 24 | 1:14,691 | 3,316 | |
| 21 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber – Ferrari | GER | 9 | 1:17,501 | 3,396 | |
| 22 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | R | Caterham – Renault | SWE | 8 | 6,206 |