Battle for Austrian pole looks set to be tight

Austrian Grand Prix qualifying
Sky Sports F1, 1pm Saturday

Lewis Hamilton has arguably done his best driving this season in qualifying. Standout efforts in Spain and Canada saw him deny Sebastian Vettel pole position before going on to win the race in each case.

Hamilton had a more straightforward run to pole in Azerbaijan last time, but he looks plenty short enough as a heavy odds-on shot to make it three in a row in Austria this weekend.

The Briton topped both Friday practice sessions, but his day ended early with a technical issue which the team were unable to diagnose straight away.

Indeed, several drivers, including most of the big names, had problems or spins, and it looks dangerous to use the early sessions as a strict formguide.

Although Hamilton's afternoon laptime was the fastest of the day, he was not quickest in any of the three sectors into which the track is divided for timing purposes.

His Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was quickest in the first part of the lap, while Vettel set the benchmark in the second and third sectors.

Bottas also ended his session prematurely after a high-speed trip across the gravel damaged his car's floor.

It was an encouraging day for McLaren, as both cars finished the day in the top ten with their upgraded Honda engines. Fernando Alonso spent much of the afternoon in the garage, however.

Max Verstappen looked set to put his Red Bull at the top of the times in the morning session with a last-lap charge, but spun in turn three. The Dutch teen missed much of the afternoon while brake issues were fixed but still ended up a creditable fourth, just ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Both Red Bulls were within 0.4 seconds of Hamilton's fastest time.

There was a run of four races between Bahrain and Monaco where the polesitter was less than a tenth of a second ahead of the pack, and it could be worth betting that is the case again in qualifying in Austria.

In terms of laptime, the Red Bull Ring is the shortest track on the calendar, and Hamilton's fastest practice lap was already two-and-a-half seconds quicker than last year's pole time. Expect them to go even quicker in what could be a tightly-fought qualifying battle.

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