Verstappen: Lewis was faster but his lap time got deleted

The championship leader experienced a near perfect day at the Red Bull Ring, as he looks to build on the 12-point advantage he amassed at Paul Ricard.

Looking back on his day, Verstappen was pleased but warned that Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton certainly had the pace to make this weekend another close one at the front.

"Lewis was faster but his lap time got deleted so it looks a bit different than what is shown at the moment," he said.

"But overall it has been quite good for us. Of course a few things to look into but I'm quite happy where the car is at the moment.

"Clearly it's going to be close. We'll see what the weather will do, but I think overall it will be very tight."

Hamilton finished a few tenths adrift of Verstappen in both sessions, third in FP1 and fourth in FP2, but like teammate Valtteri Bottas in the morning, it seemed like a track limits deletion had hidden his true pace just a little.

Verstappen won at this circuit in both 2018 and 2019, while Hamilton won last year's Styrian Grand Prix after a masterful qualifying performance in the wet allowed him to seal pole position.

The seven-time world champion also won in Austria back in 2016.