Austrian GP: Vettel tops FP3 as Hamilton hits trouble

The Ferrari driver posted a 1m05.092s, the fastest lap in the 2.68-mile circuit's history, on the ultrasoft tyres to edge out Hamilton - who suffered brake failure in the closing stages - by 0.269 seconds.

The other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas was third quickest, 0.423s adrift, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen a tenth further back in fourth.

Max Verstappen set the early pace on the ultrasoft tyres, clocking a 1m.06.015s, with Vettel's first effort just 0.021s slower.

Bottas then pumped in a 1m05.726s to go fastest, only for Vettel to usurp him by three-and-a-half tenths with a 1m05.726s just before the halfway mark.

Attention then turned to qualifying simulations, with Hamilton the first to head out with a fresh set of the ultrasofts, Pirelli's softest compound this weekend.

Hamilton, who topped the times in both Friday practice sessions but has a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, went quickest with a 1m05.361s.

Vettel slotted into second with his first attempt, 0.023s adrift, but looked set to go quickest after setting the fastest two sector times.

But he caught traffic in the form of Hamilton in the final sector and backed out of the lap before regrouping and going quickest the next time around.

There was late drama for Hamilton when he locked up and went off track at the top of the steep ascent to Turn 3 but avoided the gravel trap.

Replays showed him appearing to hit the brakes on the approach, leading to a big puff of smoke from the front-right wheel before heading straight on.

Hamilton recovered to the pits, with Mercedes detecting a brake problem that ended his session early.

"It was a problem with the team side of the brake system for Lewis. i.e. not an issue with components supplied to us by a third party," a Mercedes spokesman said.

"The relevant parts will be replaced for qualifying. The result was a disc failure but not caused by an issue with the disc. Brake by wire is relevant for rear axle only. Front circuit is hydraulic by regulation."

Verstappen beat Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo to the fifth fastest time by a tenth of a second, with Kevin Magnussen the leading Haas in seventh.

Romain Grosjean was eighth, with the Toro Rosso duo of Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz completing the top 10.

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

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

Stoffel Vandoorne was the leading McLaren in 13th, a fraction ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso in 15th.

Alonso has reverted to the 'spec 2' Honda engine for the remainder of the weekend after Honda found a problem on the latest spec unit.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	18	1'05.092
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	21	1'05.361	0.269
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	19	1'05.515	0.423
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	19	1'05.611	0.519
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	24	1'05.784	0.692
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	29	1'05.896	0.804
7	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	21	1'05.936	0.844
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	22	1'06.015	0.923
9	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Renault	28	1'06.279	1.187
10	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Renault	19	1'06.284	1.192
11	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	26	1'06.374	1.282
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	18	1'06.563	1.471
13	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda	18	1'06.578	1.486
14	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	22	1'06.595	1.503
15	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	20	1'06.599	1.507
16	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	22	1'06.776	1.684
17	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	24	1'06.865	1.773
18	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	28	1'06.875	1.783
19	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	21	1'07.378	2.286
20	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Ferrari	25	1'07.468	2.376