Austrian GP: Vettel leads Ferrari 1-2 as Rosberg crashes heavily

Vettel posted the quickest time of the weekend so far, a 1:07.098 to finish ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen, 0.136s slower than the German.

Lewis Hamilton was the quickest Mercedes in third, over two tenths off the pace, as teammate Rosberg's day came to an early finish when his suspension broke exiting Turn 2.

Rosberg crashed heavily against the wall as a result, and while he was unhurt, Mercedes will face a race against time to get his car ready for qualifying.

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen completed the top five in the Red Bull cars.

On a weekend when the FIA has changed the way it checks minimum tyre pressures, Pirelli lowered the rear pressures from 19.5 to 18.5 overnight.

With the sun shining, teams wasted no time to get busy to make up for yesterday's lack of running, with Vettel moving to the top with 1:07.797 just five minutes into the session.

The Ferrari driver stayed on track and went even quicker to set the best time of the weekend at that point: a 1:07.307.

Raikkonen also improved and moved up to second, 0.251s behind his teammate.

Hamilton, meanwhile, struggled with the rear end of his Mercedes and reported "I'm going to go off if I keep going" as he set the 11th fastest time.

There was also drama at Haas, as Esteban Gutierrez said "something is going to break, I have a bad feeling" during a longer run on supersofts tyres.

McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button spent a long time in the garage, the duo finally registering a time near the halfway point of the session.

Twenty-give minutes in, Raikkonen set a new benchmark on ultrasofts (1:07.234), to outpace Vettel by 0.073s.

Rosberg left the garage for another run with some 20 minutes to go, but the championship leader's rear left suspension broke as he ran over the kerbs at the exit of Turn 2.

As a result, the Mercedes driver lost control of the car and crashed heavily against the barriers, causing heavy damage to the front and rear.

Rosberg was unscathed, but the session was red-flagged for several minutes.

The action resumed with 12 minutes to go, and Vettel returned to the head of the times with a 1:07.098 straight away.

Hamilton continued to struggle for pace and climbed up to fourth, over six tenths behind Vettel, before improving to climb up to third, still behind the two Ferraris.

Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas lost control of his Williams and spun off track at the final corner, without consequence, as Alonso damaged his McLaren at Turn 8 when running over the new kerbs.

Free practice 3 results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	19	1'07.098
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	25	1'07.234	0.136	0.136
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	19	1'07.308	0.210	0.074
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	21	1'07.639	0.541	0.331
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	21	1'07.761	0.663	0.122
6	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	Mercedes	22	1'07.814	0.716	0.053
7	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	26	1'07.831	0.733	0.017
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	22	1'08.285	1.187	0.454
9	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	18	1'08.304	1.206	0.019
10	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	16	1'08.327	1.229	0.023
11	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	25	1'08.442	1.344	0.115
12	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	Ferrari	21	1'08.475	1.377	0.033
13	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	Mercedes	28	1'08.534	1.436	0.059
14	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	20	1'08.550	1.452	0.016
15	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	Renault	31	1'08.569	1.471	0.019
16	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	31	1'08.786	1.688	0.217
17	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	26	1'08.939	1.841	0.153
18	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	11	1'09.008	1.910	0.069
19	Rio Haryanto	Manor	Mercedes	27	1'09.116	2.018	0.108
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	25	1'09.137	2.039	0.021
21	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari	19	1'09.557	2.459	0.420
22	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	16	1'10.959	3.861	1.402