F1: Hamilton completes Austrian practice sweep

Bottas pips Hamilton for pole at Austrian F1 GP

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Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during practice, as F1 resumes at the Austrian Grand Prix in Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Styria in Austria on Saturday

IMAGE: Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during practice, as F1 resumes at the Austrian Grand Prix in Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Styria in Austria on Saturday. Photograph: Mark Thompson/Pool via Reuters

Finland's Valtteri Bottas put Mercedes on pole position for the season-opening Austrian Formula One Grand Prix with six-time world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton alongside on the front row.

 

The front row lockout was a record-equalling 65th for champions Mercedes.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, winner of the past two Austrian Grands Prix, qualified third with McLaren's Lando Norris starting fourth.

Williams' Nicholas Latifi after a crash during practice the Austrian Grand Prix at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria  

IMAGE: Williams' Nicholas Latifi after a crash during practice the Austrian Grand Prix at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. Photograph: Leonhard Foeger/Pool/Reuters

Earlier, six-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton completed a sweep of Austrian Grand Prix practice on Saturday, with his Mercedes team again one-two on the timesheets while Canadian rookie Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams.

Hamilton, who led team-mate Valtteri Bottas in both of Friday's sessions, resumed his position at the top with a fastest effort of one minute 04.130 seconds around the Red Bull Ring.

Bottas was 0.147 slower on a sunny day, with Mercedes given a boost overnight when stewards rejected a Red Bull protest against the champions' new Dual Axis Steering (DAS) system.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who will be chasing a hat-trick of Austrian wins on Sunday, was third fastest -- but 0.413 slower than Hamilton -- with Mexican Sergio Perez fourth for Racing Point whose pink car is a 2019 Mercedes lookalike.

"We've made progress with the car overnight, I think it's more representative of where we're at," said Red Bull boss Christian Horner, whose team have never started on pole at their home circuit.

"Mercedes look very strong."

Latifi, the only newcomer on the grid this season, brought out the red flags when he speared into the tyre wall at turn one and spun.

The Canadian reported he was fine but the car's medical light came on and his session was ended.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who started on pole at the Red Bull Ring last year, was fifth fastest and ahead of Verstappen's teammate Alexander Albon with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in seventh place.

Ferrari have acknowledged design issues with their car but will not have performance upgrades ready until the third round in Hungary.

Leclerc said on Friday they were losing speed in the corners.

"The balance was quite good but the overall grip of the car -- I guess it’s not only one thing, it’s also the full package that we need to upgrade," he said.

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