Russell leads Mercedes sweep of Austrian GP practice

George Russell topped Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli in the final practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Russell was adrift of Antonelli’s pace until a last-gasp lap after a car tweak in pit lane. Despite his used softs having completed five laps prior to his final attempt, a blistering purple last sector helped him to a best time of 1m07.096s to overcome his teammate by just 0.038s.

Even that slender gap was exaggerated, however, by Antonelli failing to improve with his final set of soft tires, having lost his first attempt to a mistake at the first turn and then being unable to squeeze any more pace from his used rubber with his following laps. Instead his best time, just fractionally behind Russell, was set on an earlier set of softs that had already been used for a prior fast lap and three laps in total, suggesting the Italian should have more pace in hand.

Lewis Hamilton looked much improved over yesterday's form for Ferrari, the seven-time champion lapping 0.115s off Russell’s pace. Hamilton was quickest in the first sector, comprising the end of the start straight and almost all the flat-out run up to Turn 3, suggesting improved engine performance relative to Friday.

His session wasn’t totally untroubled, however, with the Briton reporting a gearbox problem late in the session after locking his rear axle into Turn 3.

Oscar Piastri was the quickest McLaren, lapping 0.248s off the pace to finish fourth. He was just 0.016s quicker than fifth-placed teammate Lando Norris, who ended the session with the quickest time in the middle split.

Max Verstappen made it six drivers within 0.3s of top spot, the Dutchman getting his Red Bull Racing car to within 0.273s of Russell.

Charles Leclerc locked up and ran off at Turn 3 on his first attempt with his ultimate set of softs, leaving him seventh and 0.356s off the pace, while Isack Hadjar – still complaining about braking inconsistency into Turn 3 despite praising his car’s balance out of the box – struggled on his way to eighth and 0.816s adrift.

Racing Bulls teammates Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10, 0.935s and 1.013s off the pace respectively.

Pierre Gasly was 11th ahead of Haas teammates Oliver Beraman and Esteban Ocon, while Williams duo Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon labored to 17th and 18th.

Cadillac completed a mercifully smooth session, with Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas logging 29 and 24 laps respectively in their upgraded cars, 2.4s and 2.5s off the pace respectively.

Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll propped up the time sheet, 3.3 and 3.5s off the pace.

RESULTS