Vettel over Hamilton in final practice for Austrian GP

Vettel goes quickest for Ferrari
Vettel goes quickest for Ferrari

F1 championship leader Sebastian Vettel put his Ferrari on top in final practice for the Austrian GP Saturday morning. The Ferrari driver posted a 1m05.092s, a new fastest lap of the 2.68-mile Red Bull Ring circuit, on the ultra-soft tires to edge out Hamilton by 0.269 seconds.

Fast man on Friday, Lewis Hamilton was 2nd at 1m05.361s in his Mercedes but he ran into trouble at the end. The session ended under yellow when Hamilton went off in Turn 3 with a suspected front brake failure. He limped back to the pits and he did not participate in practice starts after the session.

Valtteri Bottas was third quickest from compatriot Kimi Raikkonen, confirming that it will likely be a Ferrari-Mercedes battle for pole this afternoon, with Red Bull again their nearest challengers, Max Verstappen edging team mate Daniel Ricciardo for fifth place.

Sainz Jr. was 10th after a difficult start
Sainz Jr. was 10th after a difficult start

It was another strong showing from Haas, with Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean seventh and eighth respectively, while the Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the top ten.

Sainz had a difficult start to his session when he stopped out on track just a few moments after leaving the pits, citing an engine problem.

The marshals pushed the car back to the pits and the team managed to get him going again, with just under half the session to go.

Results

POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:05.092 +0.000s 18
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:05.361 +0.269s 21
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:05.515 +0.423s 19
4 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:05.611 +0.519s 19
5 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer 1:05.784 +0.692s 24
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer 1:05.896 +0.804s 29
7 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:05.936 +0.844s 21
8 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:06.015 +0.923s 22
9 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:06.279 +1.187s 28
10 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:06.284 +1.192s 19
11 31 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:06.374 +1.282s 26
12 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:06.563 +1.471s 18
13 2 Stoffel Vandoorne Mclaren Honda 1:06.578 +1.486s 18
14 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:06.595 +1.503s 22
15 14 Fernando Alonso Mclaren Honda 1:06.599 +1.507s 20
16 18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:06.776 +1.684s 22
17 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:06.865 +1.773s 24
18 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:06.875 +1.783s 28
19 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:07.378 +2.286s 21
20 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1:07.468 +2.376s 25