Mercedes-AMG completed a clean sweep of all three practice sessions at the Austrian Grand Prix, as once again Lewis Hamilton shaded teammate Valtteri Bottas on the stopwatch at the Red Bull Ring.
With the final one-hour hit-out used to prepare for this afternoon’s qualifying session, Hamilton continued his strong Friday practice form into FP3 and showed he will be a genuine contender for pole position. The Briton posted a fastest time of 1:04.130, edging Bottas by 0.147 seconds.
Defending Austrian Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen clawed back some of the deficit to the Mercedes’ from FP2, lapping third-fastest in his Red Bull Racing Honda.
Sergio Pérez continued to show good pace in the Racing Point Mercedes, lapping fourth-fastest and one-tenth of a second faster than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The trio’s teammates – Alexander Albon (Red Bull), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) and Lance Stroll (Racing Point) – completed the top eight, with all three covered by just two-tenths of a second.
Pierre Gasly had his most competitive showing in the AlfaTauri Honda, placing ninth-fastest ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris. Hot on their heels were the two factory Renaults of Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo, with Norris’ teammate Carlos Sainz thirteenth-fastest.
The session was interrupted just before the halfway point by a heavy accident for Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi. The Canadian ran wide over the sausage kerbs at the exit of Turn 1, lost the back end of his car and hit the barriers. The impact damaged the FW43’s front wing, but was severe enough to trigger the G-force light and force Latifi to take lift back to the circuit medical centre for assessment.
| FORMULA 1 ROLEX GROβER PREIS VON ÖSTERREICH 2020 – FREE PRACTICE SESSION 3 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver | Team / Entry | Time | Gap | Laps | ||||
| 1. | Lewis Hamilton |  |
 |
Mercedes-AMG F1 Team W11 |  |
1:04.130 | 21 | |
| 2. | Valtteri Bottas |  |
|
Mercedes-AMG F1 Team W11 | |
1:04.277 | + 0.147 | 22 |
| 3. | Max Verstappen |  |
 |
Red Bull Racing RB16 |  |
1:04.413 | + 0.283 | 20 |
| 4. | Sergio Pérez |  |
 |
Racing Point F1 Team RP20 | |
1:04.605 | + 0.475 | 19 |
| 5. | Charles Leclerc |  |
 |
Scuderia Ferrari SF1000 |  |
1:04.703 | + 0.573 | 19 |
| 6. | Alexander Albon |  |
|
Red Bull Racing RB16 | |
1:04.725 | + 0.595 | 22 |
| 7. | Sebastian Vettel |  |
|
Scuderia Ferrari SF1000 | |
1:04.851 | + 0.721 | 20 |
| 8. | Lance Stroll |  |
|
Racing Point F1 Team RP20 | |
1:04.918 | + 0.788 | 18 |
| 9. | Pierre Gasly |  |
 |
Scuderia AlfaTauri AT01 | |
1:04.949 | + 0.819 | 19 |
| 10. | Lando Norris | |
 |
McLaren F1 Team MCL35 |  |
1:04.950 | + 0.820 | 22 |
| 11. | Esteban Ocon | |
 |
Renault F1 Team R.S.20 | |
1:05.037 | + 0.907 | 11 |
| 12. | Daniel Ricciardo |  |
|
Renault F1 Team R.S.20 | |
1:05.088 | + 0.958 | 13 |
| 13. | Carlos Sainz Jr. |  |
|
McLaren F1 Team MCL35 | |
1:05.177 | + 1.047 | 24 |
| 14. | Daniil Kvyat |  |
|
Scuderia AlfaTauri AT01 | |
1:05.290 | + 1.160 | 24 |
| 15. | Romain Grosjean | |
 |
Haas F1 Team VF-20 | |
1:05.363 | + 1.233 | 18 |
| 16. | George Russell | |
 |
Williams Racing FW43 | |
1:05.565 | + 1.435 | 21 |
| 17. | Kevin Magnussen |  |
|
Haas F1 Team VF-20 | |
1:05.648 | + 1.518 | 18 |
| 18. | Antonio Giovinazzi |  |
 |
Alfa Romeo Racing C39 | |
1:05.654 | + 1.524 | 16 |
| 19. | Kimi Räikkönen | |
|
Alfa Romeo Racing C39 | |
1:05.773 | + 1.643 | 19 |
| 20. | Nicholas Latifi | |
|
Williams Racing FW43 | |
1:07.049 | + 2.919 | 6 |
Image via Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Richard Bailey
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