Sawt Falasteen - Norris maintains upper hand on Piastri in Austrian GP practice

The Briton, who is seeking to erase memories of his nightmare in Montreal where he collided with the championship leading Piastri, clocked a best lap of one minute and 4.324 seconds.

Piastri was 0.118 seconds off the pace.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

"In these temperatures, the McLarens at high speed are going to be very difficult to match," admitted Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

Wolff again confirmed interest in Verstappen, but added Russell, victorious in Canada two weeks ago, had been "splendid" and "has done a great job this year."

Norris, fastest on Friday, was soon in command with a 1min 5.412sec lap and by the midway mark he had trimmed that to 1min 4.888sec with Hamilton second, three-tenths adrift.

Russell, seen by many as vulnerable at Mercedes if Verstappen arrived, was third ahead of Piastri.

With 20 minutes remaining, Piastri pushed with too much speed into Turn Nine and swept through the gravel, a moment that required a visit to the pits.

Verstappen -- whose 'orange army' of supporters boosted the size of the crowd -- also pitted with his car's floor receiving attention.

He was 11th on the time-screens as Norris improved his best lap to 1:04.324, a five-tenths cut to go seven-tenths clear.

With 10 minutes to go, Piastri found the pace to go second, 0.118 behind Norris before Verstappen went third ousting Leclerc to fourth ahead of Hamilton.

W.AbuLaban--SF-PST