SPIELBERG, Austria - Another qualifying session, another Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton front row. It was almost different as Valtteri Bottas had set the second fastest time, but the Finn would start in fifth due to a penalty for spinning in the pit lane during Friday's practice.
The good news for those hoping for a repeat of the exciting French Grand Prix is that Bottas' penalty two clears the way for the title hero to go head-to-head once again, but once again it's Red Bull who appears to be on top. is hand.
There was no doubt who was the fastest driver in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring.
Verstappen was 0.194 seconds faster than Bottas and 0.226 seconds faster than Hamilton. In the final session of qualifying the Dutchman had both qualifying laps fast enough to secure pole, but his first day was best at 1:03.841.
"It's been a very good weekend," Verstappen said after his Red Bull exit. "Again, it was really cool to drive the car in qualifying.
“The traffic in the last few corners was not easy to deal with, but I think the first lap in the third quarter was pretty good at the end. My first sector was good.
"Very happy to be here on pole at home. It's always nice to see the Red Bull car here first."
Speaking about the difference with Verstappen, Hamilton said: "It was a tough season for me. I've had a really good weekend so far, certainly not as quick as Max, but I worked a lot before the event." Did and then the car was feeling great all day yesterday.
"But then I got into qualifying and the car didn't look as good as it did in last practice. I don't understand it completely so I wouldn't say I was particularly quick in qualifying, but still I Really happy where we are.
"But the next two-tenths [to Verstappen] are a bit difficult [to find]. He's got straight-line pace again this weekend, which is hard for us to compete with, but I really like it Proud team will just keep working hard, leaving no stone unturned."
As the two drivers pointed out, most of Verstappen's advantage over the Mercedes came in sector one, made up of straight pits, turn 1 and the long hill to turn 3. It's an area that rewards straight-line speed, which appears to have been uncovered by Red Bull a lot since the introduction of a new Honda engine and slimline rear wing at the French Grand Prix.
There has been some speculation that the new engine may have given a performance advantage at a time when engine performance has been stabilized by regulations, but how much straight-line performance comes from the Honda power unit and how much from the reduced drag. Comes, isolating the rear wing on Red Bull is hard to determine.
"It's always a conversation between a strong power unit, lots of downforce and working tires and I think they are doing a good job," said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
"We've already seen that in Paul Ricard, where he was able to steer a short wing while not getting a lot of use in the twisty bit. So overall, it's a very strong package."
Engine, wing or tyres, the result is the same as Red Bull - or more specifically Verstappen - drawing a gap on Mercedes as teams enter the second third of the season. In a year when a budget cap limits resources and teams' development focus has already shifted to a major regulation change in 2022, the question is, will Mercedes be able to fight back?
"It's no secret, there's a trend: they have the fastest package at the moment," Wolff said. “We need to use our tools and our intelligence to understand our car, the setup work, the tires and what it needs to deploy, and then we need to be flawless.
“If we can align those stars we can win the championship. Whatever the pole position or victory of someone at this stage, we are just a third of the way through the championship and there is still a long way to go. .
"They have three pole positions from eight races? Well, three isn't that much, right? So it's completely open, but from a data standpoint their package is clearly faster at the moment."
But Wolff was clear. Mercedes thinks it has been pegged back due to a regulation change in winter for 2021 and will not eat into its planned 2022 development time - which will likely come under F1's new rules for chasing this year's title. Will determine its competitiveness for years.
"We know how the technical direction has evolved for 2021, we are on the receiving side: the facts," he said. “We stick to our principle of putting our resources into 2022 with all the consequences that can happen in 2021.
"But it is a long game. We are not looking at a single race or a single result, we are trying to optimize every single year and having said that, we need to get the best out of our package."