F1 Styrian GP: Hamilton 0.2s clear of Verstappen in final practice
The seven-time world champion put his Mercedes to the top of the timesheets for the first time this weekend in Austria with a 1m04.🐎369s during the qualifying simulation runs on the soft tyre.
Hamiltღon ended FP3 0.204s clear of Verstappen, who had topped both of Friday’s pra🏅ctice sessions at the Red Bull Ring.
Verstappen was hampered by trℱaffic during both of his last flying efforts of FP3 and also saw a slightly faster time deleted for a track limits breach at Turn 10.
It෴ sets up the prospect of a close battle for pole position in qualifying between Mercedes and Red Bull, with Verstappen 🌸currently holding a 12-point advantage over Hamilton in the championship.
Valtteri Boꦛtta💛s, who will take a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after a spin in the pitlane during FP3, was third-quickest, 0.463s down on his Mercedes teammate.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished fourth and was over six-tenths down on 🔜Hamilton’s benchmark, while AlphaTauri enjoyed a strong session with Yuki Tsunoda fifth-fastest ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly.
Charles Leclerc got within a second of the pace in his Ferrari to take seventh, ahead🐠 of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, and the Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel who completed the top-10.
Conditions remained dry throughout a r♐elatively uneventful session that saw a spin for Haas’ Nikita Mazepin and a near-miss in the pitlane between Bottas and Gasly.
Qualifying at Spielberg gets underway at 3pm ▨local 🤡time (2pm BST).
Click here for full final practice results for the 2021 F1 Styrian Grand Prix.
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