Formula 1: Ferrari dominated the tests before the expected sprint race in Austria

Carlos Sainz he had the pleasure of finishing first in the last free practice of the Austrian Grand Prixin which most of the drivers and teams focused on the strategies they will implement in the sprint race, which will start at 11.30 (Fox Sports and Star +) with Max Verstappen in front together with Charles Leclerc, who in this session were third and second, respectively, 50 and 168 thousandths behind the Spaniard who has just won his first Formula 1 race at Silverstone.

After The accidents on Friday in qualifyingit took ten minutes for George Russell to start, while in the other Mercedes garage only two mechanics worked calmly on Lewis Hamilton’s car, which at the end of the activity was only able to do a few laps.

On the track, meanwhile, the domain was already Verstappen, always ahead of Ferrarieven if in reverse order compared to the previous day: 83 thousandths faster than Carlos Sainz and 0.517 faster than Charles Leclerc, who had chosen the medium compound and not the soft one of the Dutch.

Those first fast records of Guanyu Zhou, Mick Schumacher and Lando Norris in a combination of red and yellow tires in which the cars tried to prepare for the Sprint (at 11:30 in Argentina) and the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday at 10.

While Verstappen lowered his time to 1: 08.966 and closing the corners with soft tires in ten laps, Russell, on the same compound and on his first lap, managed to sneak into third place at 274 thousandths. In the communication with the pits, likewise, the English driver showed that he was not entirely happy and complained about the failure of the overtaking button, so he returned to the pits.

With one less workout on the weekend, and the inability to test with full tanks on Fridays, the strategies were different depending on what each team was looking for. This is why it was a test without excellent times and some riders chose to simulate a short race like the one they would have experienced a few hours later.

Thus, for example, Ferrari kept its drivers on track for half an hour with medium tires, although on lap 20 Leclerc complained of an engine problem, while Aston Martin decided that Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll – out of Q1 on Friday – they were testing the different tire compounds to plan what to use in the sprint.

With the current champion also the tire change –he went to the media like all the leaders with the exception of Ferrari-, Alpine confirmed its good practices and qualy on Friday. First, Alonso was encouraged and finished second at 282 thousandths and then Ocon replaced him in that temporary second place.

But with Leclerc on the soft and with less fuelthe Monegasque managed to overtake Verstappen to jump to first place with a time of 1: 08.660, surpassed in just 50 thousandths by teammate Sainz a few minutes later. Discs that no one could download, not even himself.

Meanwhile, 15 minutes from the end of free practice, the Mercedes garage was still working on Hamilton’s car, flattening the floor after adjusting the front and rear right suspensions, in the hope that the seven-time English world champion could get out and run. Y, a minute later, cameras showed him walking the Red Bull Ring track on soft tires. And, without a control lap, he immediately made his fastest lap remaining 740 thousandths of a second behind Sainz.

Finally, no one has improved the records. In short, it was a preparation for what will happen in the sprint race, with Verstappen in the lead, who shares the front row with Leclerc, while Sainz will start from the second row alongside Russell, after the penalty of Checo Pérez. It will also be a test of the track limits on a challenging track like the Red Bull Ring.

Will Red Bull be king at home? The Austrian and Dutch fans are ready to savor a victory for Verstappen, who was superior on Friday. However, Ferrari warned in these free practice that he will fight, mainly because the Austrian team is missing the other driver among the top drivers.

The other unknown is knowing what Mercedes cars were like, after a work against time by the mechanics. In the times of the last test there is material to get excited, with the seventh and ninth place respectively of Russell and Hamilton, despite the seven-time world champion having completed only 14 minutes at the Red Bull Ring.