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Austrian Grand Prix F1 practice: Lewis Hamilton fastest on Friday

Lewis Hamilton continued his record-setting pace to lead the way in second free practice for Formula 1's Austrian Grand Prix

The Mercedes driver repeated his FP1-topping form on Friday afternoon with a 1m05.483s that put him 0.147s clear of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari.

Hamilton's best was half a second quicker than he went in the morning, when he had posted the fastest lap in the 2.68-mile circuit's history.

Vettel prevented a Mercedes one-two by edging Valtteri Bottas by less than a tenth, although the Finn's best effort before switching to long runs was hurt by a mistake in the final sector.

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen kicked off the running with a 1m07.891s, but that was quickly beaten by a tenth by the soft-shod Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Bottas used super-softs to lower the benchmark to a 1m06.690s, then became the first driver to dip below Hamilton's FP1 best with a 1m05.869s.

He and Hamilton traded fastest laps before Hamilton and Vettel both failed to convert session-best individual sectors into an overall improvement while trying to match Bottas's new best of 1m05.700s.

After pitting for ultra-soft tyres Bottas then set the fastest first and second sectors of the session but ran wide at Turn 9 and only managed to improve by 0.001s.

Bottas was lucky to avoid the barriers after sliding through the gravel trap on the exit of Turn 6 and spinning, and Vettel removed him from top spot immediately after with an ultra-soft lap of 1m05.630s.

A couple of minutes later Hamilton capped the flurry of ultra-soft efforts at the end of the opening half an hour with a 1m05.483s that remained unbeaten as drivers switched to race preparation.

Both the Red Bulls outpaced Raikkonen, Max Verstappen beating Daniel Ricciardo to fourth despite missing most of the opening half an hour with a brake problem.

Magnussen jumped to seventh just before the halfway mark, while Fernando Alonso also switched to ultra-softs later than most to claim eighth - though he had a trip through the Turn 6 gravel that caused him to spin in the final 10 minutes.

Nico Hulkenberg returned to the seat of his Renault for FP2 and went ninth-fastest, but team-mate Jolyon Palmer completed just seven laps and spent most of the session in the pitlane as the team worked on his RS17.

Toro Rosso drivers Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniil Kvyat also had their session end prematurely, Sainz after damaging the car running wide at Turn 9 and Kvyat with a brake problem.

Sauber was detached at the foot of the times, Pascal Wehrlein beating a frustrated Marcus Ericsson, who had a spin at Turn 1, a trip through the gravel at the downhill Turn 4 and went off at Turn 9 as well.

FP2 TIMES

Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m05.483s - 30
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m05.630s 0.147s 50
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m05.699s 0.216s 41
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m05.832s 0.349s 33
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m05.873s 0.390s 27
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m06.144s 0.661s 54
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m06.591s 1.108s 43
8 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m06.732s 1.249s 27
9 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m06.735s 1.252s 42
10 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m06.763s 1.280s 52
11 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1m06.849s 1.366s 50
12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Honda 1m06.859s 1.376s 37
13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Renault 1m06.906s 1.423s 34
14 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m07.065s 1.582s 50
15 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso/Renault 1m07.100s 1.617s 24
16 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m07.468s 1.985s 46
17 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m07.509s 2.026s 41
18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m07.623s 2.140s 7
19 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber/Ferrari 1m08.782s 3.299s 49
20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m08.870s 3.387s 51


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