Lewis Hamilton has hit back during the second free practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix by finishing fastest on Friday afternoon at the Red Bull Ring.
The Briton posted a fastest lap time of 1:09.542 on the super-soft tire to beat teammate Nico Rosberg into second place, having suffered a reverse result during the first session on Friday.
FP2 saw the drivers head out and post some initial lap times on the prime tire before switching to the super-softs for their qualifying simulations. Even on the harder compound, Hamilton was still on top in the intra-Mercedes battle, while Valtteri Bottas ran well for Williams in third place on the primes.
On the super-softs, Hamilton and Rosberg were dominant once again, but this time Fernando Alonso proved to be their closest challenger. After finishing third in FP1, the Ferrari driver did the same again in FP2, although he was almost a second down on Hamilton at the front.
Bottas continued Williams’ good form by finishing fourth ahead of teammate Felipe Massa. The British team certainly appears to be in with a chance of scoring its first podium finish of the season this weekend, but after his disappointment in Canada, Massa will not be banking on anything until he sees the checkered flag.
Red Bull bounced back from a disappointing first session to finish sixth and eighth, with Sebastian Vettel ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. However, on home turf, it appears that the team will struggle to bother Mercedes at the front of the field.
It may seem to be a regular summation, but once again, Mercedes is the team to beat in Austria.
Three riders remain locked in a tight battle with 17 points separating the leader Cooper Webb from third-place Chase Sexton and these are only a few Supercross numbers to consider entering Seattle.Chase Sexton made a statement in Detroit with his second win of 2023. – Feld Motor Sports
Webb and Tomac won the last four championships with two apiece in alternating years, but they were not one another’s primary rival for most of those seasons. On the average, however, the past four years show an incredible similarity with average points earned of 21.0 for Webb and 21.3 for Tomac. With five wins so far this season, Tomac (23 wins) leads Webb (19) in victories but Webb (43) edges Tomac (41) in podium finishes during this span.
Tomac has won two of the last three Seattle races and those two wins in this stadium are topped only by James Stewart. Fittingly, if Tomac gets a third win this week, he will tie Stewart for second on the all-time wins’ list. Tomac tied Ricky Carmichael for third with 48 wins at Oakland and took sole possession of that spot with his Daytona win.
Sexton still has a lot to say and after winning last week in Detroit, he is speaking up. The Supercross numbers are against him entering Seattle, however, because a points’ deficit this large after Round 10 has been erased only once. In 1983 David Bailey was 47 points behind Bob Hannah, and like Sexton he was also in third place. Bailey took the points’ lead with one race remaining.
The seven points Sexton was penalized last week for jumping in a red cross flag section in Detroit could prove extremely costly.
In fact, it has been a series of mistakes that has cost Sexton the most. In the last two weeks, he lost 10 points with a 10th-place finish to go with his penalty. Erase those, and all three riders hold their fate in their hands.
Plessinger’s heartbreak in Detroit is still fresh, but the upside of his run is that was his best of the season and could turn his fortunes around. Prior to that race, he led only seven laps in three mains. He was up front for 20 laps in Detroit with five of those being the fastest on the track.
Last week’s win by Hunter Lawrence tied him with his brother Jett Lawrence for 17th on the all-time wins’ list. With the focus shifting to 250 West for the next two rounds, Jett has a great opportunity to pull back ahead. The real test will be at the first East / West Showdown in East Rutherford, New Jersey on April 22.
Last Five Seattle Winners
450s 2022: Eli Tomac
2019: Marvin Musquin
2018: Eli Tomac
2017: Marvin Musquin
2014: Ryan Villopoto
