Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel improved the AMR21 throughout Friday practice ahead of the 2021 BWT Austrian Grand Prix in an encouraging display for Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team.
Completing 128 laps across the two sessions, both drivers also conducted significant running on the prototype Pirelli tyre.
Lance and Sebastian played their part in Pirelli’s evaluation of a new rear tyre planned for the British Grand Prix and dedicated a large part of FP1 to running on the new compound.
As such, the team worked swiftly and efficiently through the planned Friday programme to compensate for the test work.
Despite running at the same circuit as last weekend and collecting plenty of valuable data, Pirelli has brought a range of tyres that are one step softer than at the Styrian Grand Prix.
Lance and Sebastian worked on the Medium and Soft tyre in FP1, setting best lap times of 1.06.203 and 1.06.444 respectively, to end the session 13th and 14th.
In second practice, Lance and Sebastian began the session on the Medium tyre to help further refine the AMR21’s balance.
The pair then switched to a set of new Soft tyres for short runs halfway through the session, lapping in the top five of the timesheets.
Sebastian was first to cross the line and initially moved second-fastest courtesy of a 1.05.268 effort.
Moments later, Lance fired in a 1.05.139 lap time, which proved marginally quicker than Sebastian.
There were few improvements in the remaining twenty minutes of FP2 because spots of rain appeared at the Red Bull Ring, helping Lance and Sebastian end the day fourth and fifth.
Lance
"It has been a good day for us. The morning was a little more eventful for me, but I think we managed to put together plenty of clean laps and we have learned a lot.
"One of the key factors this weekend will be the softer range of tyres that Pirelli has chosen. I think it is a good call because it could mix things up on Sunday and create some strategy variance. In a tight midfield battle, that could be exciting.
"On our side, the car feels good on the softer tyres. All in all, we can be happy with our work today. Now it is about extracting the maximum for qualifying tomorrow."
Austrian Grand Prix
Get ready for this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix with our in-depth preview. Discover the key talking points from the previous weekend. Hear from Lance and Sebastian ahead of the race.
Sebastian
"Firstly, it was very nice to see fans at the track again and that they are keeping safe.
"It was interesting conditions out there today because we have a softer range of tyres this weekend and it was much cooler conditions. There was also some drizzle at the end, although it did not affect us very much.
"We have done our homework after last weekend’s race and we tried a few different things today, too.
"It was nice to be in the top five in the afternoon, but the focus is on making sure we show some good pace in qualifying and reach Q3 to give ourselves the best possible chance of points."
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