General
Where does Verstappen lose it compared to Bottas? "Six km/h difference."
- GPblog.com
Max Verstappen was six tenths short of Valtteri Bottas' best time in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. Because Lewis Hamilton drove a time that was only one hundredth slower than his teammate, it is safe to say that the Mercedes just has the better car here. But where exactly did they make the difference?
Anthony Davidson and Karun Chandhok at Sky Sports F1 compare the onboard images of the fastest laps of both Bottas and Verstappen. This shows that both Red Bull Racing and Honda still have some work to do.
"We saw a difference of six kilometres per hour and that was during the whole lap [at the end of straights]. Verstappen then goes a little further over the kerbstones. He's trying to make up for that time there."
Mercedes stable through fast bends
"Verstappen hitting the apex well here, but I think the Mercedes just gave the drivers a little more confidence, especially at the front, through turns six and seven. Max really has to lean on that front, waiting for the understeer to decrease. That's where the Mercedes has really won time."
The conclusion is that the Mercedes was a bit faster on the straights, but the most time gain was made by the fast corners in the second and last sector. The RB16 simply had a less well balanced car there.