Vettel tops rain-hit FP3 as Alonso causes red flag

Sebastian Vettel was fastest for the second practice session in a row as Fernando Alonso stopped on track during a rain-hit FP3.

Having been 0.011s quicker than Nico Rosberg in Friday's afternoon session, Vettel was just 0.017s faster than Lewis Hamilton in final practice after setting a time of 1:09.994. Kimi Raikkonen was third, 0.183s slower than his team-mate, while Sergio Perez finished fourth ahead of Nico Rosberg.

It was another tight session, with the two Williams cars behind Rosberg and Max Verstappen in eighth place all within half a second of Vettel's time, but many drivers running different programs as rain threatened. Only Perez and Verstappen of the top ten managed a supersoft tyre lap, with Perez's hand forced by a front-right tyre deflation which Pirelli said was rim-related and not a tyre failure.

The two Lotus drivers rounded out the top ten, but Romain Grosjean slowed after just eight laps and didn't take part in the rest of the session. Grosjean's problem didn't impact on another driver, but it was Alonso who caused a red flag to bring a halt to proceedings.

Exiting the final corner, Alonso struggled to find a gear and coasted to a stop on the pit straight, causing the session to be stopped while the McLaren was removed. Alonso was one of the few drivers to set a supersoft time, ending the session 15th, 1.1s off the pace.

As the track went green again, rain started to fall at Turn 2 and worked its way over the complete track, leaving the two Mercedes drivers and Raikkonen to tiptoe back to the pits on slick tyres. Raikkonen even had an off-track excursion but managed to keep his Ferrari out of the wall.

With rain also possible during qualifying, a number of drivers took to the track in the closing 15 minutes to test conditions, with Carlos Sainz first out. Sainz went off at Turn 3 and then spun at Turn 7, but radioed in to say: "It's very slippery, but I don't care. We need to run."

A number of drivers went off in the wet conditions, with the majority running the full wet tyre. Vettel, Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg, Felipe Massa and Marcus Ericsson all had off-track moments, while Max Verstappen pushed hard in the conditions but showed impressive car control to keep his Toro Rosso between the white lines.

With the air temperature just 11 degrees at the Red Bull Ring and a lot of standing water on the track, qualifying is likely to start in wet conditions at 1400 local time.

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Austrian Grand Prix

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