Sir Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two in second practice for the Austrian Grand Prix after going almost two tenths faster than his teammate Valtteri Bottas. The seven-time champion set his fastest time on the soft tyre which put him fastest midway through the session.
Hamilton was two one-hundredths faster than his title rival Max Verstappen who was third fastest. The Englishman is looking to stop Red Bull stealing momentum in the championship after they took victory in the previous four races. The gap between the two championship rivals was 0.217 of a second.
Hamilton set his fastest time during his qualifying simulation, going fastest in the second and third sectors. When Verstappen tried to respond he clattered the kerb at Rindt, sending sparks flying as he dragged the plank along the kerb, following that the teams switched to long runs.
Both Mercedes and Red Bull appear to be easily matched going into qualifying. Hamilton also nearly crashing when the conditions started to change. Bottas’s race run appeared to be faster than Verstappen as well, however, the Dutchman did lock up and went into the gravel at Schlossgold.
Mercedes power also appears to have the upper hand, Aston Martin put in a strong afternoon with Lance Stroll going fourth fastest going over a tenth ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Last weekend, Hamilton said he believed that Red Bull had about a two-tenths advantage while accepting that Mercedes had closed the gap slightly he still believes the gap remains unchanged.
He also says that his lack of pace in FP1 was because of planned changes after returning to the UK to do simulator work. Hamilton told reporters “I think we’ve made some small progress today but I think they still have two tenths, or maybe it’s a tenth and a half. We’ve definitely made some small steps forward but not enough to close that two-tenths.”
The pace of Mercedes has also upped up Verstappen who believed it would be tight. The Dutchman adding, “They definitely have improved a bit, but we’ll see tomorrow in qualifying. They seemed quite quick on that soft compound. I think from our side it wasn’t perfect on that run but nevertheless, I felt good in the car.”
However, Stroll was four tenths off Verstappen, but it appears that the team has made a step forward and could re-enter the midfield battle this weekend. Vettel was almost nine-tenths ahead of the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda, the Japanese driver just over two hundredths faster than his teammate Pierre Gasly.
Fernando Alonso was eighth fastest, but the two-time champion looked to be frustrated when he came across traffic when trying to go for his fastest lap. Lando Norris was ninth, the McLaren driver had a spin late in the session as he exited Castrol Edge, losing the rear of his car.
Sergio Perez was eleventh fastest, the last driver within a second of Hamilton, the Red Bull driver going a hundredth faster than his former teammate Esteban Ocon. This weekend appearing as it will be another difficult one for Ferrari, Carlos Sainz only managing thirteenth over a second off the pace.
Kimi Raikkonen spilt the two Ferrari’s along with Daniel Ricciardo, the McLaren was a hundred ahead of Charles Leclerc. The Monacan also had a spin at Rindt but managed to keep his Ferrari out of the wall.
Leclerc had a massive snap of oversteer going through the corner after he had turned in wide from the outside kerbs on approach and gone suddenly sideways, something he described as a “scary one” over his team radio.
Behind the top three in the final order after the soft tyre runs came Aston pair Stroll and Vettel, then the AlphaTauri duo Tsunoda and Gasly. George Russell was seventeenth fastest going nine tenths faster than Mick Schumacher, with Nicolas Latifi over a tenth and a half ahead of Nikita Mazepin.
Related
- AUSTRIAN GP – Max Verstappen fastest in first practice two tenths ahead of Charles Leclerc
- F1 Today – Austrian Prixview – 01/07/2021
- Prixview – Styrian & Austrian Grands Prix
