Lewis Hamilton showed Mercedes can take the fight to Red Bull by leading final practice at the Styrian Grand Prix.
As teams prepared for qualifying, the world champion turned it up in his W12 posting a 1m04.369s to finish two-tenths clear of Max Verstappen in Spielberg.
The noticeable change came on the straights, as Red Bull’s advantage in the first two sectors disappeared while Hamilton was able to just about match Verstappen through the final two corners.
Whether this is a sign there is still more to come from Honda in qualifying is unclear, but a tantalising battle is in prospect.
Both their respective teammates are also in the picture with Valtteri Bottas four-tenths back from Hamilton in third and Sergio Perez building his way up to fourth.
In the midfield, AlphaTauri impressed in fifth and sixth as Yuki Tsunoda led Pierre Gasly by almost a tenth-and-a-half.
After focusing on tyres throughout Friday, Charles Leclerc showed Ferrari’s hand in seventh. With Fernando Alonso and the two Aston Martins rounding out the top 10.
Antonio Giovinazzi was 11th, four-tenths clear of teammate Kimi Raikkonen, as Alfa Romeo try all they can to put themselves into the Q3 picture.
‘Mr Saturday’ George Russell is in contention to continue his Q2 run after finishing 14th, while Mick Schumacher is also looking to avoid early elimination from 16th.
Their problem, McLaren had a very subdued final practice with Daniel Ricciardo 17th and Lando Norris 19th, and will no doubt leap up the standings come qualifying.
Nikita Mazepin completed the standings for Haas after having a spin at Turn 1.
Full results from Practice 3 can be seen below:
