Austrian GP: George Russell leads Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton in practice three to secure thrilling qualifying F1 News

George Russell made late pace from his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli for the top final practice at the Austrian Grand Prix.

World championship leader Antonelli topped both of Friday’s practice sessions at the Red Bull Ring and looked set to further separate himself from his rivals for much of Saturday’s session, before the script was flipped when his closest title challengers came alive in the closing stages.

First, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton closed to within a tenth of Antonelli, then Russell, who had been in the lead for most of the session, delivered a 1:07.096s lap to clear his team-mate by 0.038s and set up a potentially impressive qualifying contest later on Saturday.

Antonelli leads Hamilton by 41 points at the top of the standings, with Russell a further nine points back in third. The 19-year-old Italian claimed the first five wins of his career before Hamilton claimed his first victory for Ferrari last time out in Barcelona.

Oscar Piastri was nearly a quarter of a second off the pace in fourth as he overtook his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, with Max Verstappen just behind in sixth as Red Bull continued to try to make the most of the major upgrade package brought to their team’s home race.

Charles Leclerc once again struggled to match his Ferrari team-mate Hamilton as he finished more than three tenths clear of Russell in seventh.

Max Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Issac Hajjar was eight-tenths off the pace, while Racing Bulls duo Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten.

Where did Russell’s late pace come from?

Russell backed up his status as pre-season title favorite by winning the opening race in Australia, but has since been surprisingly outclassed by his teenage teammates.

Antonelli’s stunning streak and pace of victory have seemed to undermine Russell’s confidence at times, and it played out once again on Saturday in Austria.

After the first qualifying simulation of the session on soft tyres, Antonelli was four tenths clear of Russell at the top of the timesheets, with the Brit ahead of only the McLarens and Ferraris.

Russell returned to the garage at this point to make reasonably significant adjustments to his front suspension before putting the final push on a new set of soft tires.

The initial result was a slight improvement that still left him around two tenths behind Antonelli, who surprisingly failed to improve on his previous time.

Meanwhile, Hamilton suddenly found a large chunk of Antonelli closing to within 0.77 seconds and asserting himself as perhaps the biggest threat to Mercedes’ pole position.

The seven-time world champion’s sudden rise has raised questions about whether Ferrari will field the upgraded engine for the first time this weekend.

Then, after further setup in the pit lane, Russell returned to the now worn tires and set the best lap of the session, finally appearing to relax in the cockpit.

talking Sky Sports F1 Immediately after the session, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said he believed his team had now optimized their car’s setup.

“It’s always good to be on top of the timesheet,” says Wolfe.

“I think the car is probably as good as it gets. It was shaking but now the changes have made it a bit better.

“Now it’s off the gloves to qualify.”

Sky Sports F1 live Austrian GP schedule

Saturday 27 June
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Austrian GP Qualifying Build-up*
3pm: Austrian GP Qualifying*
5pm: Ted’s qualifying notebook

Sunday 28 June
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: F2 feature race
10.50am: Porsche Supercup
12.30pm: Austrian GP Build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: Austrian Grand Prix*
4pm: Austrian GP Reaction: Checkered flag
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

*Also on Sky Sports main events

Formula 1’s European season continues this weekend with the Austrian Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime