#AustrianGP FP2: @Carlossainz55 heads @CharlesLeclerc in @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1

Sainz Austrian GP FP2 – Carlos Sainz lead from team-mate Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two in FP2 at the Austrian GP with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third ahead of the upcoming 100km F1 Sprint to decide the grid for Sunday’s race.

 

 

Sainz held a very narrow margin of 0.050 seconds over Leclerc as the Prancing Horse duo also dominated the lap count, combining to a total of 80 tours of the Red Bull Ring ahead of the Saturday Sprint.

 

Sprint race pole-sitter Verstappen, meanwhile was a further 0.168 adrift of the leading F1-75 entries, but the Dutchman did show promising long run pace, as Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon moved ahead of the second Red Bull RB18 entry of Sergio Perez.

 

It was with 25 minutes left on the clock remaining that the Ferrari’s pushed towards the top of the pile as they put on the faster C5 red side-walled softer compounds.

 

Leclerc hit P1 on a 1:08.660 to go provisionally quickest and would not improve from then onwards, as the Monegasque driver dropped 0.9 seconds on his next few tours to test the durability of the softer rubber.

 

With 18 minutes remaining, Sainz then posted the benchmark with a 1:08.610, which stood as the session’s best and wound up 0.050 seconds in-front of Leclerc.

 

The Spaniard was only two laps off of team-mate Leclerc, 40 v 42, but will start the F1 Sprint in third place. one spot behind his fellow Ferrari-compatriot, with Leclerc eclipsing by title-rival Verstappen in qualifying late on.

 

The reigning world champion was third on the time-sheets, ending up 0.168 adrift of the quickest F1-75 entry as Verstappen ended FP2 at Red Bull’s home circuit with a 1:08.778.

 

Verstappen set the early pace, when the focus was on race pace, although the teams split their programmes between preparing for the upcoming F1 Sprint or tomorrow’s Grand Prix.

 

The Alfa Romeo, Haas F1 Team and Aston Martin entries went out first in the hour-long session and were joined by McLaren’s Lando Norris, who gained an early slipstream from Ferrari’s Leclerc to cross the line with a 1:10.670 on the C4 yellow-marked mediums to initially lead the field.

 

Verstappen did not emerge until five minutes in, with Red Bull focusing on a Sprint Race simulation run by running softs whilst Ferrari ran the mediums.

 

With the advantage of the faster C5 softer tyres, Verstappen’s initial effort was a 1:09.170 to surpass Sainz’s time by 0.3 seconds and Leclerc, then was in third place.

 

Verstappen lowered that to a 1:09.067 to gain four-tenths in-front and after being told to hold fifth gear between turns six and seven, dipped into the 1:08’s, setting a 1:08.966.

 

This put Verstappen 0.2 seconds in-front of Sainz’s best early stint as part of the race simulations, with Leclerc 0.6 seconds adrift even if his stint average was better than his Ferrari team-mate.

 

Mercedes’ George Russell entered the session 11 minutes in following repairs to the floor and his gearbox after his Q3 crash at the last corner, the F1 W13 emerging on the softs to run third fastest as part of the race runs.

 

The Briton sat on a 1:09.240, and 0.3 seconds adrift of Verstappen, whilst splitting the Ferrari duo, who then made a couple of mistakes – Leclerc running off at turn three, and Sainz suffering a lock-up into turn one.

 

As Perez continued to miss out at being near the top the time-sheets, it allowed Alpine’s to get closer as Alonso and Ocon swapped places.

 

It was eventually the double world champion Alonso who ousted his team-mate, putting in a 1:08.832 to hold a narrow 0.16 seconds over Ocon, with Perez sixth on a 1:09.179 effort.

 

The Mexican starts the 100-kilometre F1 Sprint Race from 13th after having his Q3 efforts invalidated for a late track limits infringement in Q2, which stopped AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly from taking part in the final segment for the Sprint Race pole.

 

Mercedes’ Russell, who was the only driver to use the C3 white-branded harder tyres, placed seventh in the classification.

 

The other F1 W13 of Sir Lewis Hamilton was ninth and behind former team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with the seven-time world champion not emerging until just 14 minutes were remaining in the session and was left as a legacy of his Q3 crash.

 

Hamilton only registered one quick flyer on the softs, setting a 1:09.350 to wound up ninth in-front of McLaren’s Norris, with the Briton making up lost time following brake issues to his MCL36 in yesterday’s Q2 segment.

 

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll pipped AlphaTauri’s Gasly to 11th, with Sebastian Vettel 13th – his session included a run over the serrated kerb on the edge of the last turn to lose a chunk of carbon fibre.

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Zhou Guanyu took 14th and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher who ended FP2 15th, Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who was 16th and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who placed a low-17th in the order.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was 18th and in-front of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi who brought up the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2022 Free Practice 2 Results Classification: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1115/austria/practice-2.html

 

You can also see the starting grid for the 100 kilometre F1 Sprint Race right here at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1115/austria/sprint-grid.html

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