Mercedes drivers again 1-2 in Austrian GP practice 2

Sandbagging Lewis Hamilton, who notably set his best time on Pirelli's soft tire compound (the hardest tire for this weekend) rather than the quicker supersofts and ultrasofts, was just a tenth up on Bottas, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel their nearest challenger in third. That is how superior the latest Aldo Costa designed Mercedes, with new chassis and engine upgrades, is to everyone else.

Next up were the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, followed by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and the Haas duo of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen. Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly and McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne completed the top 10.

Quotes

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: "It's been a good day so far — pretty straightforward with no real issues. There are not many corners here in Austria; it's a very fast track and it's very close between all the tires. The harder tire seems to be the better for me. It's really great to see the updates; the guys at the factory have been working so hard to bring quality components.

"The car feels better in certain areas around the track which is already a step forward from last week. The car felt immediately better coming out of the garage in FP1 and also at the start at FP2. It got a little worse during the afternoon session and we will try to figure out why in the debrief. But the car does feel good overall, so I'm sure we can rectify it. I'm going to keep pushing, trying to maximize a bit more out of it."

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel: "We can always improve, but today I'm happy The car was pretty good, so we'll see what we can do tomorrow. On this track it is true that the curbs can be "aggressive" somehow, but today we didn't have any issues and hopefully we won't have problems tomorrow and in the race. We did a lot of laps, which is good, and usually on Saturday we can make a good step forward, so we should be well prepared for tomorrow and for Sunday.''

Kimi Raikkonen: "It was a normal Friday session. Obviously, we have some work to do to find the right set-up for tomorrow, like at any other race. It's hard to judge our performance compared to other teams, because we don't know what the other were doing, but in general it was not too bad. Tomorrow we'll see where we are".

Red Bull

Max Verstappen: "Today was a bit average. I sustained a bit of damage to the floor in FP2, running most of the session with that wasn't ideal. I think it was sustained from vibration from the inside curbs, not the big sausage ones. This compromised the feel of the car so resulted in a bit of a flat day. We need to work on the set-up as I feel we lacked a bit of speed through the corners, we know we are down on the straights so we need to make up for it where we can. This may have been a result of the balance not feeling quite right, we will look into the data this evening because at the moment I am not overly happy.

"The addition of a third DRS zone should help us come race day so if I can get the car where I want it then we should have fun. If the feeling is there with the car I think the tires will work and everything should come easier. The curbs are quite aggressive but they have been like that for the last few years so it's not a surprise, they are the same for everyone so you need to avoid them. Of course they can damage the front wing but if a wall was there you would be in it, so you need to stay off them."

Daniel Ricciardo: "It was pretty fun out there. It's a quick lap round here but enjoyable for the minute and few seconds it lasts. The short lap also makes the times very close. I think this morning we may have been a little stronger than this afternoon and we still have a bit of time to find. We changed a few things between sessions but I think we can find a happy medium between the two set-ups. This morning I felt better on the soft tire than the ultra and this afternoon I did a better time on the supersoft than the ultrasoft.

"I understand Lewis was quickest on the soft. It's surprising but the tires are all very close, so it's going to be really interesting to see which strategy people go with tomorrow in Qualifying. I keep being asked about the curbs; I actually damaged a bit of the front wing this morning on a curb, but I think they are a good thing. It's our job to stay off them and at least it's a track limit. Some of these modern circuits that don't have walls don't really have a limit, I don't think this is a bad alternative and at least it has an impact. It's going to be really interesting to see which strategy people go with tomorrow in Qualifying."

Force India

Esteban Ocon: "We were expecting some rain today so it's quite a relief to have two dry sessions. We completed lots of laps and just worked through the program. It was all pretty normal, trying the test items, improving the set-up and understanding the tires. The morning pace was solid with P8, but second practice was a bit more challenging. We haven't found the best balance for the car yet so we need to improve for tomorrow."

Sergio Perez: "I don't think we really showed our true speed today, especially in second practice when our run was affected by the red flag. The sessions went to plan, but I'm not yet comfortable with the car balance. That's where we need to work tonight to see if we can find something in the data to improve things before qualifying. If we can find a couple of tenths it will make a massive difference on this short track. Of course, we think it's going to be much hotter tomorrow and the higher temperatures will impact on car balance again. We will have a lot of work to do in final practice to get on top of things."

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief operating officer: "It was a busy Friday dominated by cool temperatures and overcast skies, which is not what we expect for the rest of the weekend. Despite a red flag in the afternoon, we had plenty of track time that allowed us to collect information on all the available tire compounds and to run on both high and low fuel.

"The tires are behaving as we were expecting, but we will need to adapt what we learnt to the temperatures we are anticipating for the rest of the weekend. Finding a good balance will be a challenge because this is not an easy track for optimizing car set-up. We have a lot of work ahead of us tonight as the focus shifts to the final changes for FP3 and qualifying. As always, the margins here are very tight [because it's such a short lap] and we will need to maximize all our potential to be at the front of the midfield pack."

Williams

Sergey Sirotkin: "It was a good session, we had a busy program with a lot of things to try. I think we managed quite well. We completed all our planned runs, we tried all the things and we still had a reasonable long run pace which is a positive end to the session. I'm not saying that tomorrows qualifying will match today but we have covered many things and we are happy with the work and the results we are getting. It's nice to be back in the car after missing FP1."

Lance Stroll: "It was another practice day just figuring everything out and getting ourselves in the best shape for going into tomorrow. I think it was a good day where we learnt quite a bit going into qualifying. The curbs have always been something here that us drivers have to watch out for as there are some big yellow ones on all the exits, so we have to know our limits. This morning I had a bit of downshift problem going into third and then we lost radio communication, so I just boxed in case it was something but it was fine as the team was on top of it."

Paddy Lowe, chief technical officer: "It's been a productive day. The weather looked a bit threatening throughout but we have managed to avoid any of the rain that was around in the hills and complete our full program. It was good to have Robert back in the car as it was the first time since the Barcelona test. As always, his feedback is invaluable especially after a few weeks out of the car. Moving onto this afternoon, Sergey was back in his race car and did a good job getting back up to speed having missed time this morning.

"Lance has continued to do a strong job in both sessions working through the program. We had a number of aerodynamic tests running on both cars, based on some results that we learnt last week in France. We trialed new parts on the car that the guys in the factory managed to turn around very quickly in the last few days which is very impressive considering we are in the middle of a triple header. As usual, we have lots to go through tonight and hopefully we can move the car forwards for tomorrow.

Renault

Nico Hulkenberg: "It's been a fairly typical Friday. The balance isn't quite there with the car so we've been tackling that as a priority. We didn't make as much progress as we'd like between FP1 and FP2 and understeer has been our enemy here so far. Fortunately, it's an enemy we know well so we have some good solutions to apply before we head out for qualifying tomorrow."

Carlos Sainz: "We've been working hard today on getting the right set-up with the car and you could see we're not quite there yet. Nevertheless, we have a decent number of laps on the board and we know what we need to improve to get a faster and more balanced car. I think we have the potential so I look forward to tomorrow."

Toro Rosso

Brendon Hartley: "There were no issues on my side during the first day in Austria. We lacked a bit of pace in today's practice sessions, which we will be working on tonight. I haven't been particularly happy with the balance so there's quite a bit of work to do to get the car where I want it to be. I'm confident we'll find a solution and come back stronger tomorrow."

Pierre Gasly: "It was a good first day in Spielberg. I was in the top 10 for both practice sessions and I'm feeling pretty good with the car, hopefully we can keep the momentum for tomorrow! We need to be careful because we were quite fast in Paul Ricard on Friday as well, and then things changed. So I need to make sure we keep improving this time, also because this is a short track and the gap to the others is really tight. I had a bit of a moment in FP2 where the car got damaged, but the guys did a fantastic job to repair it and get me back out before the session ended. It's a positive beginning and I'll work hard with the team tonight to find some more performance for tomorrow."

Toyoharu Tanabe, Honda F1 Technical Director: "This track has a mix of high speed sections and slow corners and today we focused on setting up the PU to suit these features, while gathering as much data as possible. We lost a bit of track time with Gasly's car in the afternoon, but apart from that, it was a straightforward day, as the rain we had expected in FP2 did not materialize. On Pierre's car we ran a "Friday" PU, so we will be changing it overnight for one he used last Sunday in the French GP."

Haas

Romain Grosjean: "It's been a pretty good day. It's a pretty cool track. I always love coming here. I love the layout in the middle of the mountains, and it's a great atmosphere. The rain held off, which is good. We prefer dry days where we can get good mileage, and it's good for the fans, and ourselves, for everyone. The car has performed very well, so we're happy with where we are. The balance has been pretty good. We've got some more work to do but, generally, it's good and I'm happy with it, but we can make some changes to it to make it even faster. I'm very much looking forward to qualifying tomorrow."

Kevin Magnussen: "It looks like we're going well. It's been a good day in terms of testing and getting things done that we had planned to do. The car has behaved as well as we expected. So far, it's alright – we just need to get it done tomorrow, as well. The track is the same as last year. The car is a little bit different, obviously, but it's been good at many races and it seems like it's good here, as well. We need to get it all together tomorrow and then have a good qualifying session to get a good position for the race and, hopefully, score points on Sunday."

Guenther Steiner, team boss: "It was a good FP1 and FP2 – I think our best one this season. Both drivers did their whole program. There was only a small problem in FP1. We had one tire going down on Kevin's car because a piece of the floor got into it. Otherwise, I'm very happy and I cannot wait for tomorrow."

McLaren

Stoffel Vandoorne: "It was a pretty busy day today. The morning was spent evaluating a number of new parts and ideas, which meant that the real focus was on getting some consistent laps and some good, clean data.

"In the afternoon, I was able to get into more of a rhythm with the car, and, while we didn't really manage to get the balance right, the times weren't too bad. We still need to work hard, as we've seen before that we can look reasonably competitive on a Friday only to drop down the order on Saturdays.

"The most important thing is that we got some good learning done during the sessions, but it's still too early to say where we are in the competitive order…"

Fernando Alonso: "It was a pretty busy day today. The morning was spent evaluating a number of new parts and ideas, which meant that the real focus was on getting some consistent laps and some good, clean data.

"In the afternoon, I was able to get into more of a rhythm with the car, and, while we didn't really manage to get the balance right, the times weren't too bad. We still need to work hard, as we've seen before that we can look reasonably competitive on a Friday only to drop down the order on Saturdays. The most important thing is that we got some good learning done during the sessions, but it's still too early to say where we are in the competitive order…

Eric Boullier, McLaren racing director: "This was one of the most intensive and exacting days of free practice we've undertaken all year. We brought a raft of test components to the circuit this morning in order to evaluate a number of potential future directions for our aerodynamics team to study. That's why Fernando's car was fitted with aero rakes this morning, and why he undertook a number of shorter runs at the start of FP1.

"The afternoon was spent back-to-backing further new parts on both cars as we seek to refine the MCL33 for the races ahead. While these components aren't raceable, they provide an extremely useful dataset for our engineers to study back at the MTC. Stoffel made good progress this afternoon, but Fernando struggled to string a quick-lap together. His task was made more difficult by a couple of component breakages, caused by his running over the yellow 'sausage curbs’ that line some of the corner-exits here.

"We learned today that it's best to avoid those if you want to stay out of trouble…"

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Sauber

Charles Leclerc: "In general, it was a positive day for us. Our pace is quite good and we completed the program we had planned. It was productive for us to test the different tires we have for the weekend. I really enjoy driving on this track, and it is a good experience to complete my first laps in a Formula 1 car here. We are looking at our data and making sure we can have a strong performance during tomorrow's sessions. Let's see what will be possible."

Marcus Ericsson: "We completed a good number of laps and ran on all of the three tire compounds for the weekend. We built on what we learned in France last weekend, with a set-up that suits my driving style well. We were in the midfield today, which is positive. Tonight, we will work on optimizing everything, so that we can have a strong performance tomorrow."

Pirelli

Mario Isola, head of car racing: "The performance gaps between the three compounds here are quite small, as is to be expected on such a short track, where the cars are very close to one another. This means of course that the tiniest detail counts, and the teams have been pushing hard to get the set-up exactly right. The cool conditions and the overnight rain from yesterday have also contributed to quite a high degree of track evolution, with a few drivers going off the line. As is often the case here, some drivers have fallen foul of the curbs as well. Adapting the cars to the track temperature has been a key part of the work today, in conjunction with the usual assessment of tires on both high and low fuel loads in these conditions. With everything so finely-balanced, strategy could make an important difference, so the teams will be studying tonight's data particularly carefully."

Practice 2 Times