F1 News
Analysis | Mercedes top the session, but Honda hold back on engine power
As soon as Lewis Hamilton posted a picture of himself inside the Mercedes simulator to his Instagram story, it became clear Mercedes were searching hard for gains ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix. Mercedes and Hamilton himself confirmed this news during the Thursday press conferences. You know it's serious when Hamilton steps into a simulator which the British champion has previously admitted to disliking.
Max Verstappen is on the brink of taking control of the 2021 World Championship. The Dutchman has an 18 point lead. In relation to closing gaps, have Mercedes been able to find real gains around the Red Bull Ring? And are the track conditions favouring the German team this weekend?
The Red Bull Racing driver won last week's race by over 30 seconds and even had time to slow down for a burnout underneath the chequered flag. It was clear Mercedes needed to find performance improvements during the week to have a realistic hope of winning the Austrian Grand Prix.
Best Sector comparisons
View this post on Instagram
56% of Hamilton's total 0.217-second advantage over Verstappen occurs in the first sector of the circuit. The first sector consists of the home straight, a right turn followed by another long straight. Perhaps one of the most basic of sectors across the whole of the 2021 Formula 1 schedule.
Having this much of an advantage in this sector suggests Mercedes were running with their engines turned up more than Red Bull and their Honda engine. This should be taken into account over the rest of the lap, and Mercedes won't have this advantage during qualifying and the race.
Sector two holds the most complex series of turns. This includes the tricky turn three with the gradient increasing mid-corner and turn four is close to the gravel trap. In this sector, Hamilton finds the least time over Verstappen. With the engine modes taken into account, Red Bull are likely to be ahead here if everything else is replicated. Hamilton's simulator work is likely to have focused on this part of the track as Mercedes look to better balance their car in the corners.
Hamilton also finds time in the final sector, but this is a sector holding two medium-length straights. Last week, Honda were able to showcase the power of their engine with fewer reliability concerns. This is likely to be the case again.
Compared to last week
Conditions in Spielberg were a few degrees cooler than last week, which will make a significant difference. The track temperature was down at 29c during this session, a drop of around 15c from last week. During the long runs, the drivers reported rain on their team radios though it was never wet enough to change from the slicks to the intermediates. This makes a comparison to last week difficult to make.
Though it is worth noting Hamilton recorded purple times in sectors two and three during last week's second free practice session. Daniel Ricciardo, in a Mercedes powered car, set the fastest first sector time. Verstappen was marginally quicker than Hamilton in S1 this time last week. Further supplying evidence that Mercedes ran with more power this weekend.
During the French Grand Prix, Verstappen was able to gain on Hamilton on the long straight. And in Azerbaijan, Sergio Perez managed to stay ahead of Hamilton with the extra power on the home straight. This is clearly an area where Mercedes are looking to improve upon. Whether it's entirely down to engine power or rear wing balance, it remains to be seen.