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Austrian GP
F1 Austrian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2
Live updates from Friday practice at the Red Bull Ring
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Gasly is another to have a time deleted for a Turn 9 transgression. That would have moved him up from fifth to fourth, ahead of Hamilton.
Only three drivers in the top 10 currently (Tsunoda, Gasly and Vettel) have set their times on mediums, with the rest all using the Silverstone prototype tyre. Bottas though has just put on a set of mediums for his second run as he seeks to knock Verstappen off top spot.
Perez was languishing down in 13th after the early runs, but he now moves up to P4 with a 1m05.958s, albeit still two tenths down on Verstappen.
Now Gasly moves up to second on the mediums - that's a very good lap from the AlphaTauri driver, who posts a 1m05.866s.
And we have a new name at the top of the leaderboard. Bottas takes over from Verstappen with a 1m05.602s, putting him a shade over a tenth clear.
Alonso is the first man to put the soft tyres to use and moves up to fourth on a 1m05.917s. George Russell, who also sat out FP1 for Roy Nissany, has also put on a set of the C5 soft tyres which weren't used last week.
Leclerc has already had one laptime deleted for running wide at Turn 9, and now has a huge oversteer moment on corner entry that he does well to save - remember Daniel Ricciardo had a shunt there last year in the Renault. The car slews sideways, but he just prevents it from going into the gravel and rejoins without any damage beyond maybe a flat-spot.
The top men are now all on mediums and Hamilton uses them to briefly move up to second behind Bottas - but it's all change as Verstappen then goes top and Raikkonen flies up to third, pushing Hamilton back to fourth.
Both Alfas are going well here - Raikkonen's team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi has gone fifth quickest.
The short lap means things chop and change quickly at the Red Bull Ring. Perez winds up a good lap to go second, with Ocon now in third. Verstappen's benchmark time is now a 1m05.239s - will he get into the 1m04s on the softs?
Vettel, Tsunoda and Stroll are now all on the softs and occupy positions second through to fourth - Gasly briefly held fourth, but has another lap docked for track limits at Turn 10.
This is an encouraging showing from Tsunoda, for whom this will be the first time he is racing at a track where he has already completed a full grand prix distance. Can he keep it going and enjoy a clean weekend?
Perez, it should be noted, also set his time on the soft - yet sits almost three tenths behind his team-mate's benchmark on the medium.
That benchmark though has now been beaten by Bottas - the first man into the 1m04s bracket with an 04.712s.
Stroll had an eventful morning of it earlier with his pair of spins, but he's enjoying a much better time in FP2 and now goes second on a 1m05.139s. One suspects that he may not stay there for long though, as Verstappen is on an outlap with soft tyres attached to his Red Bull.
Gasly update: after his second track limits deletion, he pops up with a time 0.023s behind Tsunoda. That's shaping into a nice little inter-team battle.
Hamilton now goes quickest on a 1m04.523, almost two tenths clear of Bottas. What can Verstappen do?
Neither of the McLarens are in the top 10 at the moment, although they're only just on the fringes outside it. Lando Norris is P11, having started off his session on the hard tyres, and is just over a thousandth of a second ahead of Ricciardo.
Rain
It's only a 1m04.740s from Verstappen, who stays third as his car grounds alarmingly over the Turn 9 kerb. Meanwhile, Vettel is reporting over the radio that it's starting to drizzle.
Norris now improves to a 1m05.466s which puts him P8 ahead of Perez and Ocon. Ahead of him are both Mercedes, Verstappen, the Astons and the AlphaTauris.
Sainz has had two consecutive laps deleted for track limits at Turn 10. Naughty step.
Now Raikkonen has had two consecutive laps deleted for track limits at Turn 10. Is there room on the naughty step for one more?
Meanwhile Hamilton has had a big lock-up on his left-front into Turn 3 (we detest calling the left-hand uphill sweep of Turn 2 a corner, but alas) and has to use the run-off area.
Quote
Alonso and Raikkonen are the two most experienced drivers on the grid, but the two-time world champion isn't happy with his 2008 title-winning counterpart for baulking him at Turn 10.
"I don't f****** believe it," he mutters over the radio.
"I don't f****** believe it," he mutters over the radio.
Verstappen meanwhile has come back out again on a set of mediums.
The Dutchman complains to his team over the radio about the lack of grip, but he's advised to keep going and treat it as a learning exercise in case conditions are similarly slippery on Sunday.
Hamilton and Bottas are also having a run on the medium tyres - which, remember, was the soft last week.
Haas drivers have often been found frequenting the run-off areas this year, but this time it's Schumacher who has a moment at Turn 3 with a mid-corner snap of oversteer picking up the throttle that forces him to countersteer and run wide beyond the kerb.
Slow-mo camera shots are doing a great job of picking up the rain spots. Drivers are earning their money at the moment.
Crash
And there goes Hamilton into the Turn 4 gravel!
No damage done, Hamilton just locks the right-front wheel into the downhill right-hander and goes straight on.
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We've got a shade under 10 minutes left in the session, and a few drivers are switching to softs for a late quali sim. Will we see any improvements?
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An official warning has appeared on the timing screens that the track is slippery. Hamilton could have told them that.
Alonso is up in P8, showing no signs of being affected by missing FP1 earlier on. Team-mate Ocon meanwhile is down in P12, with Norris, Giovinazzi and Perez between them.
As we head into the deciding minutes of the session, it's a familiar scene from 2020 as the Mercedes cars head Verstappen. All are currently running on mediums, and Verstappen was fastest of the trio last time around from Hamilton and Bottas.
Crash
Whoops - that's a moment for Norris, who runs a little wide over the kerb at Turn 1 and spins across to the grass on the inside. Asked what the damage was from his engineer, he responds: "Talent."
Checkered flag
That's the end of the session - no changes at the top, so it's Hamilton from Bottas and Verstappen your top three.
An encouraging day for Aston Martin ends with Stroll fourth and Vettel fifth, while AlphaTauri are also running in Noah's Ark formation with Tsunoda P6 and Gasly P7.
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