Follow live coverage of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix from the Red Bull Ring with F1i.

Nico Rosberg was favourite for pole position but will take a five-place grid penalty after qualifying as a result of a final free practice crash. Rosberg hit the wall following a left rear suspension failure and will receive a new gearbox as Mercedes replaces the rear end of the car in an attempt to get it ready for qualifying.

Sebastian Vettel was fastest in FP3 but he too has a gearbox penalty, opening the door for a fight between Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen for pole position. Raikkonen was second fastest in final practice, just ahead of Hamilton who admits he struggles with the Red Bull Ring.

Red Bull appears the third quickest team at present but will expect Williams to make a step forward in qualifying, while Force India should prove more competitive than it has been in practice. McLaren is targeting a place in Q3 after getting both drivers inside the top ten in FP3.

Heavy rain hit FP2 yesterday and more wet weather is forecast for this afternoon, with the biggest question mark over whether it hits before the end of the qualifying session. The current risk of rain is 40%.

You can follow all the action from qualifying when the session gets underway at 1400 local time (1300 BST). We'll be bringing you all the news and information from trackside as it happens on F1i's live page.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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