Austria – Free Practice 3: Two Hundredths Between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton

For this final dress rehearsal before qualifying, the drivers had a slightly warmer track than yesterday, as the air temperature was 21°C but the track climbed to 31°C, thanks to the sun that decided to make an appearance in the Austrian Alps.

At the start of the session, the drivers were not rushing onto the track, except for Fernando Alonso, who was significantly delayed yesterday due to issues with his McLaren, and Kimi Räikkönen. The Ferrari driver quickly put in laps, posting a time of 1:04.937, which was already faster than his best time yesterday. However, Sebastian Vettel soon surpassed him by just 17 thousandths, before Lewis Hamilton reclaimed his place at the top of the timesheet.

In front of an audience fully supportive of their cause, the Red Bull drivers were the last to complete their first timed lap after 25 minutes. However, on his sixth lap, the Dutchman went off wide inside the circuit, at the same spot where he had spun out yesterday morning.

Twenty minutes before the session, the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers set the stopwatch ablaze. While Kimi Räikkönen was once again the first to take action, it was his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, who emerged victorious with a time of 1:04:070, setting a new track record.

In the meantime, the infamous external vibrators continue to claim victims among front wings. Once again, Stoffel Vandoorne damaged his, just like Brendon Hartley. The New Zealander is therefore forced to revert to the old specification as there are no more available.

Shock in the orange stands with eight minutes to go in the session, their hero, Max Verstappen, is forced to park by the side of the track at the exit of turn 4 as his engine suddenly shuts off! Let’s hope for the young driver that it’s not a major problem, with only two hours to go before the start of qualifying.

In the process, it’s Charles Leclerc’s Sauber that is also forced to pull off due to a problem with its Ferrari engine. It’s all the more unfortunate that the Monégasque looked in good shape once again this weekend, with the 10th fastest time in this last session.

Far from these considerations, Lewis Hamilton managed to improve his time but fell short by only 29 thousandths of the benchmark set by Sebastian Vettel, promising very tight qualifications.

From our special correspondent in Austria