Verstappen rules Austrian Grand Prix practice

Max Verstappen has dominated Austria’s sole practice session for Red Bull Racing ahead of qualifying later today.

Verstappen left his fastest lap until the final seconds of the hour-long session, setting a time of 1m05.742s to beat Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz by 0.241s.

The Dutchman set his time on the medium tire, whereas most of the rest of the field, including Sainz, used a set of softs in the closing stages of the session. The gap between the soft and medium compounds was around 0.4s at this circuit last season. If that difference in performance were to be replicated this weekend, it would suggest Verstappen has a formidable 0.6s advantage over the rest of the grid.