Focused Hamilton does his talking on the track

Lewis Hamilton followed up on his promise to focus solely on his title challenge as he set the pace during yesterday’s practice at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver this week questioned the decision not to hit championship rival Sebastian Vettel with further punishment after the German drove into him at the last race in Baku a fortnight ago, but insisted it was now in the past.

Hamilton promised any fallout would not spill on to the track, and so it proved as he went quickest in both of yesterday’s practice sessions, with the task of closing the gap to Vettel at the forefront of his mind.

Asked if he was pleased to be back in the car rather than discussing the incident in Azerbaijan, Hamilton said: “That is what I came to do. I have been training, keeping my head down, staying focused and staying quiet and making sure I came here healthy and strong so we can fight. These two weekends are important, I lost points in the last race and I want to reverse that. These next two are an opportunity to do that.”

Vettel could only manage the fourth-fastest time in the morning before getting closer in free practice two, but he still could not match the man closest to him in the drivers’ championship.

Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who spun in both sessions, was third with Max Verstappen up in fourth for Red Bull.