Hamilton 0.2s clear of Verstappen in Styrian GP final practice

The seven-time world champion put his Mercedes to the top of the timesheets for the first time this weekend in Austria with a 1m04.369s during the qualifying simulation runs on the soft tyre.

Hamilton ended FP3 0.204s clear of Verstappen, who had topped both of Friday’s practice sessions at the Red Bull Ring.

Verstappen was hampered by traffic during both of his last flying efforts of FP3 and also saw a slightly faster time deleted for a track limits breach at Turn 10.

It sets up the prospect of a close battle for pole position in qualifying between Mercedes and Red Bull, with Verstappen currently holding a 12-point advantage over Hamilton in the championship.

Valtteri Bottas, who will take a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after a spin in the pitlane during FP3, was third-quickest, 0.463s down on his Mercedes teammate.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished fourth and was over six-tenths down on Hamilton’s benchmark, while AlphaTauri enjoyed a strong session with Yuki Tsunoda fifth-fastest ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly.

Charles Leclerc got within a second of the pace in his Ferrari to take seventh, ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, and the Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel who completed the top-10.

Conditions remained dry throughout a relatively uneventful session that saw a spin for Haas’ Nikita Mazepin and a near-miss in the pitlane between Bottas and Gasly.

Qualifying at Spielberg gets underway at 3pm local time (2pm BST).

Click here for full final practice results for the 2021 F1 Styrian Grand Prix.