Austria: Vettel leads Ferrari 1-2 in final practice

Vettel goes fastest in FP3

With Mercedes' Nico Rosberg crashing late in the session coming out of Turn 2 when his left rear suspension failed after hitting the difficult Austria curbs, and his teammate Lewis Hamilton struggling to come to grips with the Red Bull Ring track, the door was open for Ferrari to lead a practice session, and they did.

Sebastian Vettel turned the fastest lap at 1m07.098s in final practice before qualifying for the Austrian GP to lead his teammate Kimi Raikkonen who topped the charts for most of the session as 1m07.234s.

Late in the session Hamilton managed to put in a lap fast enough for third at 1m07.308s with the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen rounding out the top-5 at their home track.

Vettel meanwhile has the prospect of a five-place grid penalty looming, while Hamilton continues to struggle in the middle and final sectors.

The most open fight for pole this season then? It might just be when you consider that just 1.9s covered the top 18!

The big question now is whether Rosberg's car can be fixed in time and he will make qualifying, which starts in less than two hours' time.

There is a possibility of rain hitting the circuit before qualifying begins. No shortage of ingredients for a dramatic shootout in Spielberg.

Results

1. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 07.098s
2. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 07.234s
3. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 07.308s
4. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault 1m 07.639s
5. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-Renault 1m 07.761s
6. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes 1m 07.814s
7. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes 1m 07.831s
8. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 1m 08.285s
9. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 1m 08.304s
10. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda 1m 08.327s
11. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes 1m 08.442s
12. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari 1m 08.475s
13. Pascal Wehrlein GER Manor-Mercedes 1m 08.534s
14. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari 1m 08.550s
15. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault 1m 08.569s
16. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 08.786s
17. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault 1m 08.939s
18. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 09.008s
19. Rio Haryanto INA Manor-Mercedes 1m 09.116s
20. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 1m 09.137s
21. Felipe Nasr BRA Sauber-Ferrari 1m 09.557s
22. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 10.959s