F1: Verstappen tops final practice for Austrian GP
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen turned a lap of 1m04.591s to top the final practice session for the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring Saturday morning in his Honda.
The two Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were 2nd and 3rd, 0.538s and 0.686s behind respectively.
Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly was an impressive fourth, ahead of an equally impressive Antonio Giovinazzi who is driving for his job with Alfa Romeo next year. Gasly was 0.689s behind Verstappen while Giovinazzi was 0.75s back.
Carlos Sainz Jr, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top-10.
McLaren had a disappointing session with Lando Norris in 15th and Daniel Ricciardo in 16th. Norris had an off-track moment which cost him his second set of tires, while Ricciardo is just… massively off the pace by the looks of things.
Qualifying is up next in two hours. What can Mercedes do? Do they have more engine mods to use later, or will Verstappen and Red Bull sit on pole again?
Practice 3 Results
| POS | DRIVER | NAT. | TEAM | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing | 1m04.591s | +0.000s |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1m05.129s | +0.538 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1m05.277s | +0.686 |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1m05.280s | +0.689 |
| 5 | Antonio Giovinazzi | GBR | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1m05.345s | +0.754 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1m05.347s | +0.756 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Red Bull Racing | 1m05.396s | +0.805 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | CHI | Alpine F1 Team | 1m05.434s | +0.843 |
| 9 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1m05.484s | +0.893 |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Cognizant | 1m05.542s | +0.951 |
| 11 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Cognizant | 1m05.546s | +0.955 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | JPN | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1m05.561s | +0.970 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Alpine F1 Team | 1m05.674s | +1.083 |
| 14 | George Russell | ISR | Williams Racing | 1m05.694s | +1.103 |
| 15 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 1m05.700s | +1.109 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 1m05.725s | +1.134 |
| 17 | Kimi Raikkonen | FIN | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1m05.747s | +1.156 |
| 18 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1m06.078s | +1.487 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | 1m06.105s | +1.514 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | RUS | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1m06.289s | +1.698 |
.