Red Bull’s Max Verstappen laid down an ominous marker ahead of Austrian Grand Prix qualifying by heading the Mercedes drivers by over half a second in the final practice session.
Through the first half of Saturday practice there was no sign of Verstappen, as everyone else used Pirelli’s prototype rear construction for the C4 tyre for the final time before its likely race debut at the British Grand Prix later this month.Once those runs were out of the way, Verstappen exited the pits and immediately went to the top of the times. Several improvements after that meant he ended the session with a 1’04.591 as his best lap.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton got close at times, once within a tenth of a second of Verstappen’s pace, but his fastest lap time was deleted due to a track limits violation and it was team mate Valtteri Bottas who ended practice in second place.
Just 0.003 seconds behind Hamilton in third was AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi went fifth fastest after switching to the C5 tyres following substantial running on the C4 compound – using both the prototype and nominated rear tyres – making him the fastest Ferrari-powered driver by 0.002s.
Carlos Sainz Jnr was sixth for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, another late switcher to the C5 tyre after his focus was on using the C4 for much of the session. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended the session eighth and ninth quickest, respectively.
Leclerc was one of several drivers to have off-track moments which led to the deletion of lap times. Yuki Tsunoda had the most spectacular as he had a half-spin exiting turn nine, McLaren’s Lando Norris ploughed through the grass a corner later and Haas’s Nikita Mazepin went through the gravel at turn five but avoided any damage.
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2021 Austrian Grand Prix third practice result
Third practice visual gaps
Max Verstappen – 1’04.591
+0.538 Valtteri Bottas – 1’05.129
+0.686 Lewis Hamilton – 1’05.277
+0.689 Pierre Gasly – 1’05.280
+0.754 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’05.345
+0.756 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’05.347
+0.805 Sergio Perez – 1’05.396
+0.843 Fernando Alonso – 1’05.434
+0.893 Charles Leclerc – 1’05.484
+0.951 Sebastian Vettel – 1’05.542
+0.955 Lance Stroll – 1’05.546
+0.970 Yuki Tsunoda – 1’05.561
+1.083 Esteban Ocon – 1’05.674
+1.103 George Russell – 1’05.694
+1.109 Lando Norris – 1’05.700
+1.134 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’05.725
+1.156 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’05.747
+1.487 Mick Schumacher – 1’06.078
+1.514 Nicholas Latifi – 1’06.105
+1.698 Nikita Mazepin – 1’06.289
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’05.709 | 1’04.523 | 1’05.277 | +0.754 | 81 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’05.143 | 1’04.740 | 1’04.591 | -0.149 | 85 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’05.445 | 1’04.712 | 1’05.129 | +0.417 | 85 |
| 4 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’06.203 | 1’05.139 | 1’05.546 | +0.407 | 80 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’06.444 | 1’05.268 | 1’05.542 | +0.274 | 86 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’05.726 | 1’05.379 | 1’05.280 | -0.099 | 100 |
| 7 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’05.511 | 1’05.345 | -0.166 | 59 | |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’05.431 | 1’05.620 | 1’05.347 | -0.084 | 98 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’05.474 | 1’05.356 | 1’05.561 | +0.205 | 94 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’05.393 | 1’05.434 | +0.041 | 57 | |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’05.726 | 1’05.516 | 1’05.396 | -0.12 | 88 |
| 12 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’05.409 | 1’05.708 | 1’05.484 | +0.075 | 100 |
| 13 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’05.880 | 1’05.466 | 1’05.700 | +0.234 | 83 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’05.980 | 1’05.527 | 1’05.674 | +0.147 | 86 |
| 15 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’05.586 | 1’05.624 | 1’05.747 | +0.161 | 91 |
| 16 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’05.819 | 1’05.694 | -0.125 | 59 | |
| 17 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’06.181 | 1’05.698 | 1’05.725 | +0.027 | 82 |
| 18 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’06.583 | 1’05.911 | 1’06.078 | +0.167 | 89 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’06.978 | 1’06.014 | 1’06.105 | +0.091 | 89 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’07.316 | 1’06.173 | 1’06.289 | +0.116 | 92 |
| 21 | Guanyu Zhou | Alpine-Renault | 1’06.414 | 28 | |||
| 22 | Callum Ilott | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’06.564 | 23 | |||
| 23 | Roy Nissany | Williams-Mercedes | 1’06.683 | 33 |
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2021 Austrian Grand Prix
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- 2021 Austrian Grand Prix Star Performers
Jelle van der Meer (@)
3rd July 2021, 12:37
Lewis Engineer was now lying about where they lost time to Max. Straights to turn 2 and turn 3 he said, still trying to implying Honda upgraded the engine.
Funny enough Hamilton lost most time in sectors 2 and 3 so through the corners rather than on the straights they are losing time which is either a Mercedes car issue or a Lewis driver issue.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
3rd July 2021, 13:01
@jelle-van-der-meer He wasn’t lying though as on his fast lap Lewis ran wide over the high kerb on the exit of turn 1 which would have cost him time both there & on the run to turn 3 due to carrying less speed. We saw this on the live broadcast, Karun & Paul commented on it & we saw several replays.
It was also noted on Sky’s commentary that Verstappen was faster in the speed traps in sectors 1 & 2 by a couple mph.
But nice to know that you obviously know better & have far more data than the Mercedes engineer’s & former drivers doing commentary on Sky.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
3rd July 2021, 13:39
What former drivers, the same ones who were showed as buffoons by the entire world when Ferrari presented them as their witnesses given their expertise/opinion in a certain situation?! Come on, what they say don’t value 2 cents.
ian dearing
3rd July 2021, 13:20
Without pointing out all your errors there was no mention of T2 during that exchange, and probably not all weekend, it is a nothing bend. And if you had watched all practices surely you would have noticed that its Max getting his foot down earlier coming out of the corners where he is gaining, That’s down to the car and driver, not the engine.
Tom
3rd July 2021, 12:50
bUt MeRcEdEs HaVe ThE bEsT cAr
papaya
3rd July 2021, 13:34
Roses are red, Violet are blue. Mercedes best car, Red Bull wins.
Violet are blue, Roses are red. Hamilton best driver, Verstappen wins.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd July 2021, 13:43
Hamilton’s fp2 time is faster than fp3’s best time, just saying.
John H (@john-h)
3rd July 2021, 13:03
That time from Russell though, I really hope he doesn’t languish for another season at Williams.
Mick
3rd July 2021, 13:52
I’m sure HAM is pleading with Merc to keep BOT.
He knows if RUS comes over he won’t just have competition from Max.
I suspect Merc will keep BOT one more season to placate him.
A shame.if they deny RUS a seat.