Spanish
Sports writing, June 28 (EFE).- The English Lando Norris (McLaren) set the best time this Saturday, ahead of his teammate, the Australian Oscar Piastri -leader of the championship-, in the last free practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, the eleventh of the F1 World Championship, at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg; where the Spaniards Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Carlos Sainz (Williams) set the twelfth and fifteenth times, respectively; and the Argentinian Franco Colapinto (Alpine), the nineteenth.
In the best of his 21 laps, Norris covered the 4,318 meters of the Styrian track in one minute, four seconds and 324 thousandths, 118 less than Piastri and with 210 of an advantage over the quadruple Dutch world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull); who set the third fastest time and, like the previous ones, completed his fastest lap with the soft tire.
Alonso registered twelfth in the time sheet. The Asturian double world champion did 21 laps; and was nine tenths of a second behind Norris' time, in a test in which everyone set their best times with the soft tire.
Sainz -third on this track last year, his fourth and final season with Ferrari- set the fifteenth fastest time of a session that concluded with 26 degrees Celsius ambient temperature and 41 on the asphalt. He did the same number of laps as his compatriot Alonso and in the best of them, the Madrid driver stopped the clock one second behind Norris; from whom he was -in the best of his 26 laps- one second and 222 thousandths, Colapinto.
Piastri -five-time triumphant this year- leads the World Championship with 198 points, 22 more than Norris; and with 43 over 'Mad Max', third overall and record holder for victories on the circuit owned by his team: five, in total.
The qualifying session, which will determine the starting grid for this Sunday's race - scheduled for 71 laps, to complete a distance of 306 and a half kilometers - will start at four in the afternoon (2:00 PM GMT).
