Vettel edges Hamilton, but rain denies top runners supersoft tyre laps; Drivers struggle in the slippery conditions and run off track; Alonso's McLaren breaks down again
Saturday 20 June 2015 12:51, UK
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel produced further evidence to suggest that Mercedes could have a rare fight on their hands for pole position at the Austrian GP by setting the pace in final practice – although the arrival of rain truncated dry running.
While reliability problems had clouded the picture for Ferrari on Friday, Vettel had unusually still finished ahead of both Mercedes’ on the timesheet and on Saturday morning the German then reproduced that form in the early dry running.
On the soft tyre, Vettel clocked an impressive 1:09.994 lap with Lewis Hamilton finishing just 0.017s back in the lead Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen was third in the second Ferrari, with Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg fifth.
However, none of the top runners were then able to complete the supersoft tyre runs which would have produced the session’s fastest times as rain intensified around the undulating Red Bull Ring from mid-way through the session.
Although the Mercedes and Ferraris were briefly sent out on the red-marked rubber, what was initially drizzle became a full-on shower as they trundled down the pitlane and all the drivers had to gingerly nurse their slick-shod cars back to the pits after one full lap. Indeed, Raikkonen slipped into the gravel and had to take to an escape road.
With the prospect of showers returning to interrupt the qualifying hour, which begins at 1pm BST, a number of drivers – although not Hamilton – soon returned on wet rubber to get a feel for the track in the low-grip conditions. However, whether on the intermediate or full wet tyre, drivers were simply struggling to keep their cars on the tarmac with Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz all involved in brief off-course moments.
Fernando Alonso wasn’t among the drivers lapping in the rain as the Spaniard’s McLaren-Honda had already broken down - again - on the pit straight. Knowing their car was unlikely to suit Austria any more than it did Canada, McLaren have decided to go beyond their penalty-free allocation of power unit elements with both drivers in order to avoid sanctions at future races.
With Jenson Button set for a 25-place grid penalty, Fernando Alonso was expected to take 'just' 20 but his P3 stoppage will trigger an out-of-sequence gearbox change which will add five more places to his already hefty sanction. Both drivers are set to serve in-race penalties, most likely drive-throughs, as they will be unable to serve the majority of their 25-place drops on the 20-car grid.
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