Austrian GP: Vettel fastest in FP2, Hamilton struggles

Hamilton failed to set a representative time on the supersoft tyre, after three big moments on his push laps.

Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest in the second Ferrari, with Pastor Maldonado breaking into the top four in his Lotus.

The story of the session

With rain threatening in the Tyrolean Alps, the majority of teams went out straightaway. Vettel bounced back from his FP1 transmission scare, swapping the top time early on with Ferrari teammate Raikkonen.

Raikkonen set a 1m10.298s on his second flying lap, faster than Rosberg managed in the opening session, but Nico responded with a second-fastest 1m10.368, just 0.07s shy at that point.

Hamilton went second quickest on 1m10.361s, then improved to the top spot with 1m10.137s after 15 minutes, a tenth and a half faster than Raikkonen.

Vettel matched Raikkonen's time to the thousandth of a second to go P3 after 25 minutes, then improved his first sector time by a fraction before aborting the lap.

Raikkonen was the first of the frontrunners to try the supersoft after 30 minutes, setting the pace with a 1m09.860s.

Raikkonen improved his sector-two time on his next push lap, but had a huge moment through the last two corners, which ruined his laptime. He later locked up and wrecked his tyres, which meant he was forced to abort a long run on this set.

Rosberg, who had slipped to fourth, was next to try the softer rubber, going quickest on 1m09.611s.

Hamilton went off at Turn 1 on his first lap on the supersofts, had a big moment in the first downhill left-hander on his next lap and then had a huge opposite-lock slide at the last corner on his final try. He failed to improve his time on any of these laps.

Vettel ultimately grabbed the top spot with 1m09.600s, 0.011s quicker than Rosberg. But Vettel's session was clouded by another gearbox problem, which caused him to cruise back to the pits and abort his final run.

Maldonado went fourth fastest on 1m09.914s, with Le Mans winner Nico Hulkenberg sixth quickest, just 0.023s behind Hamilton, ahead of Romain Grosjean in the second Lotus. 

Dramas for those behind

The Toro Rossos showed strong pace again, despite their Renault power deficit, but the session wasn't without drama: eighth-quickest Max Verstappen complained: "I've got a headache", while Carlos Sainz ploughed through the gravel at Turn 4, just missing the tyrewall. He was 11^th.

Felipe Nasr broke into the top 10 in his Ferrari-powered Sauber, lapping ninth quickest ahead of the second Force India of Sergio Perez.

Red Bull was off the pace, with Daniil Kvyat 12^th and Daniel Ricciardo down in 17^th.

Also slower than expected were Williams duo Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa: 14^th and 15^th respectively, as they concentrated on high-fuel runs.

Fernando Alonso was 16^th as he debuted McLaren's short nose, which apes Williams's and Red Bull's design, while Jenson Button used the old version.

Button reported a "massive loss of power" just after the halfway point, and he took an early bath. Alonso was also forced out before the end of the session with an unspecified problem.

Button was 18^th fastest, only six tenths clear of the fastest Manor of Will Stevens.

Plenty of cars overshot Turn 1, including both Toro Rossos, as track temperatures were very low right from the start of the session.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:09.600		28
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:09.611	0.011	50
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:09.860	0.260	41
4	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:09.914	0.314	44
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:10.137	0.537	49
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:10.160	0.560	49
7	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:10.267	0.667	38
8	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:10.356	0.756	48
9	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:10.495	0.895	39
10	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:10.585	0.985	46
11	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:10.631	1.031	50
12	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	1:10.686	1.086	48
13	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:10.744	1.144	40
14	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:10.746	1.146	34
15	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:11.011	1.411	42
16	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:11.517	1.917	17
17	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:11.676	2.076	38
18	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:11.919	2.319	17
19	Will Stevens	Marussia	1:12.522	2.922	34
20	Roberto Merhi	Marussia	1:13.094	3.494	34