Hamilton: Red Bull are throwing some good punches

Fresh from an epic victory over Hamilton in France on Sunday, Verstappen came out bobbing and weaving today, with the RB16B in his hands he was untouchable, topping both FP1 and FP2 by a handy margin in both instances.

The efforts did not go unnoticed by Hamilton who said in his team's Friday report: "Red Bull are throwing some good punches at the moment so we've just got to have our guard up and make sure we're ready for the return."

At the end of a near-perfect day in the Spielberg hillside, the Mercedes driver was fourth fastest, nearly four-tenths of a second shy of the benchmark time set by Max.

Where the Mercedes W12 is as a package, in Austria, is anyone's guess right now, as it appears to have highs and lows that the team are not always able to predict, proving challenging for their drivers as they try eke out more performance to match their rivals.

Despite the early flurry of good jabs from Max on Friday, Hamilton was unperturbed when summing up: "Overall, a work in progress - it's been a beautiful day, a few drops of rain at the start of the second session but the track is awesome.

"We're a little bit down, particularly over a single lap but, generally, the car felt relatively solid. I'm happy with where we've got the car to, I've been working hard all week trying to figure out where I want the car and I hope the hard work starts paying off soon," he added.

Hamilton triumphed at last year's Styrian Grand Prix over Verstappen, with Bottas having won at the same venue a week earlier, under the Austrian Grand Prix guise; both drivers winning the respective races from pole position. In other words a happy hunting ground then.

But the balance of power has since shifted and as Hamilton alludes to, there is work to be done by the World Champs between now and qualifying, and of course, for Sunday's race too. Finding half a second or so for their drivers would be a good start.

Team boss Toto Wolff gave his perspective to journalists during the Friday team principal' press conference at Red Bull Ring: "I think hunter, definitely. I think we were good in France, but we were wrong with how the race went. In terms of race speed, we were good."

As for his team's chances after today's performance, Wolff explained: "It can swing either way, depending on the circuit. France should have been more in our favour, Austria less so, but that said, the championship is long. There are at least 15 races to go.

"It will be about who can make the fewest mistakes. Who can optimize the strategy and collect points? DNFs can play a role but certainly, at the moment, we are chasing," insisted Wolff.