Austrian GP: Max Verstappen stamps authority ahead of F1 Qualifying with searing Practice Three pace

F1 championship leader Max Verstappen consolidated his status as favourite for back-to-back poles at the Red Bull Ring by setting a searing pace in final practice for the Austrian GP.

Although Lewis Hamilton had topped Friday's running, the Mercedes driver was expecting a response from Red Bull on Saturday - and that is how it played out in the hour's running of final practice.

Verstappen, who completed the fewest laps of anyone in the session, posted a fastest lap of 1:04.591 to outpace Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas by half a second.

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Hamilton was third-quickest and, although he would have been second but for a track-limits violation at Turn 10 which saw his best lap deleted, even then his deficit would have been four tenths of a second to the lead Red Bull.

"Four tenths around this circuit is a big, big margin," said Sky F1's Karun Chandhok.

Hamilton went into the session on the back of the announcement of a new two-year contract at Mercedes, which will keep him in F1 until the end of the 2023 season. But his challenge to turn the tide against the in-form Verstappen-Red Bull combination this weekend remains a formidable one.

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Pierre Gasly, who qualified sixth last week, was fourth quickest in P3 ahead of the impressive Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi.

Carlos Sainz was sixth in the lead Ferrari, ahead of Sergio Perez whose weekend in the second Red Bull has yet to see the Mexican feature towards the top of the timesheet.

Lando Norris has been a perennial feature in the top 10 this season but finished down in 15th place in this session after several off-track moments. Nonetheless, this was still one place ahead of McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Yuki Tsunoda was involved in the session's most spectacular moment with the AlphaTauri driver going for a wild spin across the grass at Turn Nine.