SPIELBERG • There was a signage outside the Red Bull Ring that declared "Welcome Race Fans" but there were none to be seen, as Formula One revved up for today's Austrian Grand Prix season-opener behind closed doors.

In an ordinary year, about 200,000 fans would be attending the race, squeezed into campsites in the foothills of the picturesque Styrian Alps in southern Austria.

But, earlier this week, there were only cows grazing in a field at the site. There were no tents, no fans and no curious bystanders other than some local cyclists going for a spin along the road outside.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the sport had been implementing strict protocols in a bid to get the campaign back on track.

All participants had to be tested for the Covid-19 disease before flying in to Austria, and will be tested again every five days.

Teams were kept apart from each other both at the track and by staying in separate hotels. They were also operating in "bubbles within bubbles" in various sub-groups to minimise the risk of contagion.

Media presence was kept to a minimum, with a limited number of journalists present.

These were just a couple of the many procedures put in place ahead of all three practice sessions and yesterday's qualifying, where Valtteri Bottas upstaged his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton with a sizzling display to claim pole position.

But before qualifying took place, Formula One made sure that it was announced that all drivers, teams and personnel have tested negative for Covid-19.

Organisers in Spielberg said in a statement that 4,032 personnel had been tested between June 26 and July 2 with no positive results.

Then the action was allowed to unfold, while team members and mechanics remained masked up.​

Bottas outpaced the six-time champion Hamilton with a best lap of 1min 2.939sec and then survived an "off" into the gravel and a spin on his final lap to emerge 0.012 sec clear of his teammate.

It was his third pole at the Austrian GP and the 12th of his career, a feat that followed Hamilton's clean sweep of the practice sessions on Friday and yesterday morning.

"It feels really good - I've missed this feeling," said the Finn.

"The qualifying shakes! It's something special when you push the car to the limit and I've been waiting for a long time, we seem to be in our own league."

Hamilton added: "A great job by Valtteri and it's a great start to the season and I'm happy to be here.

"I think we show year on year that we are the best team, because we are open-minded, keep with the times and nobody is too stubborn to admit they are wrong."

Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull, half a second adrift of the two newly painted "black arrows" cars whose performance delivered a 65th front row lock-out for the team, equalling Ferrari's record.

"I'm happy to be P3," said the Dutchman. "But we have a different tyre, so it's going to be interesting."

Lando Norris was an impressive fourth for McLaren ahead of Alex Albon in the second Red Bull and Sergio Perez, who was sixth in Racing Point's "pink Mercedes".

Charles Leclerc was a disappointed seventh for Ferrari ahead of his future teammate Carlos Sainz in the second McLaren, Lance Stroll in the second Racing Point and Daniel Ricciardo of Renault.

Sebastian Vettel, who is starting his final season with Ferrari, also struggled and did not even make it to Q3. He starts 11th today.

"We thought we had a little bit more in hand, but it seems the others were probably running a little bit more fuel or were more conservative in practice," he said.

"I wasn't so happy with the car, more oversteer in entry than I would like. But we will see, I think tomorrow is a different picture."

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE