Spielberg, FP3: Mercedes set the pace in final practice in Austria
Verstappen 3rd, Perez 4th
Lewis Hamilton made it a clean sweep of fastest laps in practice as he led another Mercedes one-two in the final session before qualifying.
The defending champion beat team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 0.147s, while Max Verstappen took place, just under there tenhs of a second behind the lead Mercedes.
Hamilton and Bottas held sway in the first phase of running on medium tyres, with Hamilton setting a time of 1:05.140s.
The session was then suspended for almost 10 minutes when Williams’ Nicholas Latifi lost the rear of his Williams at the exit of Turn 1. He tried to regain control but then his FW43 pitched the other way and he slapped the barriers with the nose of his car. The Canadian rookie was quickly out of his car but then was some delay as his Williams was recovered.
When the session resumed Ferrari moved to soft rubber to spark the start of qualifying simulations, with Charles Leclerc setting a time of 1:04.703 to finish ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
However, the Mercedes duo put on soft tyres they swiftly moved back ot the top of the timesheet, with Hamilton posting the session’s quickest lap, a tour of 1:04.130.
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was one of the last of the expected front-runners to complete a qualifying run but his lap of 1:04.413 was good enough to earn him third place almost two tenths ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez who edged Leclerc out to fifth with a late lap of 1:04.605 to continue his team’s impressive start to the new season.
Alex Albon then put the second Red Bull in P6 ahead of Vettel. Lance Stroll took eighth in the second Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly slotting his AlphaTauri in ninth ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.