Max after Friday practice at Spielberg: 'The car feels good'

Published on 02 July 2021 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen finished the first day of the Austrian Grand Prix in third place. Lewis Hamilton was quickest in the second free practice session, followed by Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas. The two Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll completed the top five.

“Mercedes looks very quick on the soft tyre. Our run on the softs wasn’t perfect, but I felt good in the car”, explained Max after Friday practice.

“We don’t really have any issues, we just need to find a bit more speed on the softs. We’re looking good on the mediums and in the long runs, which is ultimately the most important.”

Looking ahead to qualifying on Saturday, Max said: “It will be close. Mercedes are stronger and we’ll see that in qualifying. The most important thing will be to keep the softer compound alive in the race, which will be a challenge.”

Similar to the morning session, the temperatures are mild in the Styrian hills with the air temp unable to break through the 20 degree barrier and the track temps only just higher than 30 degrees

At the start of the session, the drivers are keen to get the miles in with a 60% rain forecast. Like FP1, Max is on the pace from the start and clocks the fastest lap on his first timed effort.

After a quick visit to the pits to swap the prototype Pirelli tyres the Italian manufacturer has given the teams to trial, the Dutchman heads out on a set of mediums and is once again the benchmark with another quick lap.

At the halfway mark, the lap times start to seriously tumble as qualifying simulations on the soft Pirellis are undertaken. Both Mercedes appear to utilise the extra grip best with Hamilton clocking the fastest lap of the day with Bottas nearly two tenths off the pace of his team mate.

Max also completes a run on the soft Pirellis but is unable to spoil the Mercs' position at the top of the charts, with the Red Bull Racer having the settle for third.

In the final third of the session there are some pockets of rain hovering over the Red Bull Ring. “Stay out as long as you can keep it between the white lines. We might get similar conditions on Sunday, so we can learn a bit”, says Max’ engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

In the end, the rain does not persevere and the drivers continue to lap the circuit on slicks. Nevertheless, laptimes are not bettered, meaning Mercedes is fastest on Friday, ahead of Max.

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Results second free practice Austria: