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Verstappen fastest in Austrian GP practice / Photo: © AFP
Verstappen fastest in Austrian GP practice
Runaway leader and defending double world champion Max Verstappen dominated the only practice session on Friday ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Dutchman, who leads this year's title race by 69 points ahead of Red Bull Racing team-mate Sergio Perez clocked a fastest lap of 1min 05.742sec.
Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were just behind at 0.2sec with Britain's Lewis Hamilton fourth-fastest for Mercedes in 1min 06.21sec after having lead for most of the session.
"The car looks okay," seven-time world champion Hamilton told his team during the hour of driving, still chasing his first victory since 2021.
At the end of the session, the Ferraris changed to soft tyres with Verstappen pulling ahead after opting for medium ones to test a fast lap before qualifying at 1500GMT.
For the second time this year after Baku, a sprint race will take place on Saturday before the Grand Prix on Sunday.
Friday's qualifying sets the starting grid for Sunday, while Saturday's qualifying session sets the grid for the sprint race in the afternoon.
1st free practice session:
Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) 1:05.742 (30 laps), Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Ferrari) 1:05.983 (32), Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) 1:06.012 (33), Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1:06.251 (34), Sergio Pérez (MEX/Red Bull) 1:06.262 (32), Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:06.340 (29), Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas-Ferrari) 1:06.497 (27), Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:06.656 (31), George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) 1:06.696 (28), Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo-Ferrari) 1:06.780 (33), Alexander Albon (THA/Williams-Mercedes) 1:06.794 (23), Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:06.809 (36), Nico Hülkenberg (GER/Haas-Ferrari) 1:06.846 (30), Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo-Ferrari) 1:06.847 (33), Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) 1:06.985 (34), Nyck de Vries (NED/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) 1:07.017 (36), Logan Sargeant (USA/Williams-Mercedes) 1:07.018 (25), Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine-Renault) 1:07.202 (30), Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine-Renault) 1:07.287 (28), Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:07.368 (20)
M. Taylor--BTZ
