AUSTRIAN GP – Max Verstappen fastest by a quarter of a second ahead of Carlos Sainz in practice
Max Verstappen was fastest in practice for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix the Red Bull driver was almost a quarter of a second faster than Carlos Sainz. The two time world champion set a 06.742 on the medium tyres once again looking like the driver to beat at the Red Bull Ring where he is looking for his fifth win.
Verstappen went fastest almost immediately, on his first timed lap he was nearly a second faster than Lewis Hamilton’s then fastest time, he then chipped his way down to go two and a half second faster than his first lap. Sainz meanwhile set his fastest time on his final run on soft tyres before Verstappen used the medium tyre to go quicker at the end of the session, and that followed a few build laps for the Dutchman.
Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc was third going three hundreds off the Spaniard, but Ferrari looked to struggle to stop the pace of the Red Bull. However, it is likely that Sainz could have been quicker if he did another soft run at the end of the session, however being a sprint weekend it is likely that he saved the soft for qualifying.
Verstappen has dominated the season so far seven wins in nine races and has only been beaten by his teammate Sergio Perez. Leclerc was at one stage fastest but was soon beaten by Verstappen.
Hamilton, meanwhile, used his sole soft tyre run to do a 06.251 half a second off Verstappen. The Mercedes driver goes into this weekend believing the team are on the way back to the front and can challenge both Ferrari and Aston Martin, as well as Verstappen, he was two hundredths faster than Sergio Perez.
Perez arrives in Austria under pressure to improve his form after three races in a row without a podium finish.
Kevin Magnussen put his Haas seventh a quarter of a second behind Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin although their was a minor contretemps with Nyck de Vries, who did not understand why the Dane moved over on him on the exit of Lauda (Turn One). Fernando Alonso was nine-tenths off although the Aston Martin who has usually been at the front this season didn’t do a time on the soft tyre.
That put the two-time champion four hundredths ahead of George Russell, the dangers were highlighted by a near miss between Stroll and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, with the Aston Martin driver appearing surprised to find a second car on his rear wing having let an AlphaTauri through moments earlier.
The session was of particular importance, with qualifying to come at 15:00GMT / 17:00CEST on Friday as Spielberg hosts with second Sprint weekend of the 2023, which sees Sprint qualifying and a shortened race take place on Saturday.
Guanyu Zhou was tenth for Alfa Romeo, going a hundredth and a half quicker than Alex Albon. Williams ran an unusual strategy for a sprint weekend, with no technical issues the British-Thai driver spent almost half of the only practice session in the pits, he eventually set a 06.769 putting himself a hundred and a half ahead of Oscar Piastri.
However, despite having a full upgrades Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris was last, over a second and a half off the outright pace. However, the Englishman had got out of the car early and did not complete a final soft tyre lap as the team was spotted tinkering with his front wing.
Nico Hulkenberg put his Haas thirteenth going a thousandth faster than the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas. Yuki Tsunoda was fifteenth he was three hundredths faster than his Alpha Tauri teammate Nyck De Vires. Alpine appeared to struggle Esteban Ocon was eighteenth going eight hundredths faster than teammate Pierre Gasly.