On Track

Sprint report by Aramco: Austrian GP

Lance will start 12th for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix after gaining places in the Sprint, while Sebastian was unlucky not to make up more ground after contact with another car.

Lance and Sebastian completed 87 laps between them in the morning's Free Practice Two.

They then both gained places in the afternoon's Sprint from their grid positions, but Sebastian is unfortunate not to be starting higher up the grid for the Grand Prix after a collision with Alex Albon.

Lance

Lance narrowly missed out on the top 10 in the final practice session of the weekend. With 43 laps on the board, he finished in 11th with a time of 1.09.525 after long runs on the Medium and Soft compounds of tyres.

Starting the Sprint on the Soft tyre, Lance was up into 15th by the end of the first lap following issues on the grid for two cars and a collision that took place ahead.

From there, he held position behind Sebastian and Albon for much of the Sprint. When contact between the latter pair occurred, Lance gained a position and then was able to keep close to the Williams in front for the remainder of the afternoon.

Lance crossed the line in 14th, less than a second behind Albon, but gained a position as the Williams driver had been awarded a five-second penalty for forcing another car off the circuit earlier in the event.

He will start 12th for the Grand Prix as [Valtteri] Bottas has been relegated to the back of the grid due to a power unit penalty.

"We had a good Sprint today. On the Soft compound, we were able to make up some initial positions but then got stuck in a DRS train.

"It is difficult to make progress given how close the midfield is and the way the Softs dropped off towards the end.

"We will gain a position on the grid for tomorrow's Grand Prix due to Bottas's penalty, so that is one place closer to the points.

"We are understanding more about this new package as well, especially after a strong practice session earlier today."

Sebastian

Sebastian had a productive FP2, completing 44 laps after focusing mainly on Medium and Soft tyre runs and posted a best time of 1.09.602 to finish 13th in the session ahead of the Sprint.

Utilising his Soft tyres against Medium-shod rivals, Sebastian made a strong start to the Sprint and was up to 14th from the back by the end of the opening lap.

He kept within DRS range of [Daniel] Ricciardo early on, before the McLaren driver passed Albon, who had been issued a five-second penalty that would be added to his Sprint finishing time.

Austrian GP

Qualifying report by Aramco

Lance and Sebastian qualified 17th and 20th respectively for Saturday's Sprint after a challenging session in Austria.

Read more

Albon and Sebastian then fought closely as the Sprint approached its halfway point. Sebastian moved around the outside of Turn Six and had nosed ahead when Albon made wheel-to-wheel contact with him.

This pitched Sebastian into a spin and into the gravel, from which he was able to continue. He had, however, dropped to the rear of the field.

Unable to make up the lengthy gap, and with significant damage to the car after the contact, Sebastian retired on the penultimate lap.

He was classified in 19th but will start 18th for the Grand Prix following Bottas's penalty.

"I think Albon was a bit optimistic when we were fighting in Turn Six and slid into me, which cost us the chance to bank a decent grid position for tomorrow.

"I made it out of the gravel, but the car had some damage. It means I will start tomorrow's race almost where we started today.

"It is a shame because we made some good progress in the early laps, and I think starting on the Softs was the right decision.

"There is still a long race ahead of us and we will try our best to move up the order tomorrow."

Mike Krack, Team Principal

"Lance managed his Sprint very well. Like Sebastian, he was one of the few runners to start on the Soft compound, and he looked after those tyres, chasing down Albon and both McLarens.

"He finished 14th on the road but gained a position due to Albon's five-second penalty. That puts him in a solid position for tomorrow.

"Sebastian made a good start and was able to quickly catch Albon. He made a fair move around the outside of Albon into Turn Six, but Alex ran wide and his front-right tyre rubbed against Sebastian's left-rear, spinning him into the gravel.

"Sebastian was able to continue, but we could see his car had suffered some bodywork damage, and we felt the safe thing to do was retire him.

"From our grid positions today, we showed we can make progress, and we feel we can once again challenge the cars ahead in tomorrow's Grand Prix."