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Formula 1 Austrian GP

F1 Austrian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying

Live updates from free practice and qualifying for the F1 Austrian Grand Prix

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT02

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Checkered flag
Ocon, who dropped out in Q1 last weekend, moves up to P13 with his final lap but he won't be comfortable with the final laps coming up.

The track falls silent as all the drivers pit ahead of the final runs. We'd guess the top six are safe for Q2, but from Giovinazzi in P7 down just over a second splits the pack.

Leclerc has lost his best lap for track limits at Turn 9 so the Ferrari driver drops back to P10.
Right, lap times from everyone are in now with six minutes of Q1 to go. Impressive pace from Norris up to P2 and Alonso up to P3. Latifi, Ocon and Gasly the ones in danger at the moment.
A somewhat delayed start to Q1 for both Alpine and Williams, with its drivers starting their first quick laps now. Perhaps trying to save tyres ahead of Q2?

Gasly has his first lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 9, so he will definitely need another go at it in Q1.

Stopwatch
Lap times aplenty now, as Verstappen goes fastest with a 1m04.249s - three-tenths clear of Hamilton and Bottas.
Stopwatch

Norris, another driver in orange but not the right kind for this crowd, goes top with a 1m04.748s.

Here comes the rest of the F1 pack after allowing the Haas pair their own mini-Q1 battle. Verstappen gets huge cheers before starting his first push lap.

Quote

F1's new-ish teams-to-FIA radio transmission pops up, as Mercedes checks with race director Michael Masi to make sure the FP3 etiquette was correct after overnight changes. Masi says "100%", referring to no dawdling between Turns 9 and 10.

As is customary this year at the start of Q1 both Haas drivers take to the track first, with Mazepin leading out team-mate Schumacher.
Green flag

Here we go then, Q1 ready and rocking in front of some very excited fans – mostly painted in orange so we think we know who they want to get pole position.

 
Also, just before we get going, let us wish Sebastian Vettel a very happy 34th birthday! Pole might be a bit of a stretch today but what a birthday present that would be.

It is also worth noting the last four F1 pole positions for races at the Red Bull Ring have been taken by four different drivers - including the pair of Styrian GPs - so the form guide remains far from certain.

Verstappen appeared dominant over a single lap in FP3, half a second faster than Bottas his nearest challenger, but it is worth noting that Hamilton had his best lap deleted for track limits and the Mercedes driver still has the fastest lap in practice from FP2.

Don't necessarily assume we'll need a copy and paste job from last Saturday's qualifying as there's still a few unknowns to be figured out. Pirelli has gone one step softer with its tyres this weekend, meaning the C5 tyre is set to impact crunch time in quali.
 
Of course that was bound to happen for the second leg of the Austrian double-header, but what happened last weekend counts for very little over the next hour-and-a-bit. Q1 of qualifying begins in just under 20 minutes.

Hello one and all! So, Saturday afternoon, qualifying at the Red Bull Ring, in glorious sunny conditions - anyone else got a sense of deja vu?

That's all for now. We'll be back for qualifying, which is due to get underway at 3pm local time.
Verstappen puts Red Bull back on top in final practice for the Austrian GP. Here is the full FP3 report.
Completing the order outside of the top 10 were:
Stroll
Tsunoda
Ocon
Russell
Norris
Ricciardo
Raikkonen
Schumacher
Latifi
Mazepin
The top 10 in FP3 are:
Verstappen
Bottas
Hamilton
Gasly
Giovinazzi
Sainz
Perez
Alonso
Leclerc
Vettel
Checkered flag
The chequered flag is out and Max Verstappen heads into qualifying as the driver to beat after topping FP3 with a 1m04.591s.
Looks like that's it for the session in terms of headline grabbing laps with just two minutes to go.
Hamilton being told he's braking too early into Turn 3 and carrying too much speed into the apex. That's costing him around half of his gap to Verstappen.
Just five minutes to go. Hamilton goes onto another lap.
Alonso jumps up to seventh, while Giovinazzi has put his Alfa Romeo into fifth behind Gasly.
Bottas is Verstappen's closest challenger, but he's over half a second adrift.
Had Hamilton's last lap stood, he would have still been over four tenths off Verstappen. That's a bit of a worry for Mercedes.
But Hamilton has had that lap deleted. He drops back to third as Verstappen improves to a 1m04.591s.
Hamilton does improves to a 1m04.994s. Just 0.053s between Hamilton and Verstappen now.
Hamilton goes onto a lap and is just 0.016s off in sector one.
Perez jumps up from 17th to fifth on that lap, but is 0.548s off team-mate Verstappen at the top of the timesheets.
Into the final 10 minutes of FP3 now. Perez is on a quick lap on soft tyres.
Ferrari has found a little more time, Sainz up to third ahead of Leclerc as the Aston Martin pair sit fifth and sixth - Vettel ahead of Stroll.
Norris never got his McLaren settled into the final corner and shot off onto the run-off area.
Norris has gone off at the last corner as he was on a good lap.
Mazepin has been off at Turn 4 but has found his way out of the gravel and back on track at Turn 5.

By: Jake Boxall-Legge

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