F1 Austrian GP: Max Verstappen quickest from upgraded Ferrari pair in sole practice
The reigning world champion left it late to top the timesheets as he pไosted a 1m05.742s in his dominant Red Bul🤡l RB19.
Verstappen clocked his best lap on medium tyres but was still 0.241s ahead of Carlos Sainz, and 0.270s clear of Charles Leclerc, both of whom were running🍸 the faster soft tyres on their upgraded Ferraris.
Lewis Hamilton spent much of the session at the top of the ꦅorder having set the early benchmark on hard tyres, but the Mercedes driver ended up half a second behind Verstappen during the qualify🔥ing simulation runs.
Sergio Perez, who skipped Thursday’s m🐈edia day after becoming unwell, was well enough to drive as he finished fifth, 0.520s off his Red Bull tꦯeammate on the same compound.
Sixth place went the way of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who pipped🐬 Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and♍ teammate Fernando Alonso.
George Russell struggled to match the pace of his Mercedes teammate as he took ninth, ahead of Zhou Guanyu, who roun🐓ded out the top-10 for Alfa Romeo.
Lando Norris failed to get a soft t♎yre run in at the end of the session as he finished slowest of all in 20th, despite running McLaren’s heavily-upgraded MCL60.
Q𝕴ualifying for Sunday's grand prix is🧜 up next and takes place at 4pm UK time.
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