F1 Austrian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying
Live updates from free practice and qualifying for the F1 Austrian Grand Prix
Live Standings
Summary
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Norris, another driver in orange but not the right kind for this crowd, goes top with a 1m04.748s.
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.
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.
And Ocon is shuffled out again - improvements from Russell, Tsunoda and Leclerc mean the Alpine driver is pushed back to P17. That's exactly where he qualified this time last week.
Ricciardo will be one relieved driver as he has a lap time deleted for track limits right at the end of Q1, but his earlier lap sees him scrape by in P15 fractionally ahead of Raikkonen.
Perez has the freedom of the Red Bull Ring, well he does drive for the home team after all, as he begins his first timed lap as the only driver on the track.
"I think we lacked the tow there," Perez says over team radio as he pits. He's not wrong.
The Perez qualifying show ends as the rest of the Q2 contenders come out, almost in unison.
Verstappen tops Q2 from Hamilton and Bottas, as Russell makes it into Q3 for the first time as a Williams driver. Ferrari's decision to stick with the mediums doesn't work out with Sainz P11 and Leclerc P12.
The incident involving Vettel and Alonso will be investigated after qualifying but that looks fairly clear-cut. Alonso had to totally back out to avoid the Aston Martin.
