For the second practice session in a row Sebastian Vettel led the times by a tiny margin.
The Ferrari driver was leading Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes by just 17 thousandths of a second when heavy rain arrived at the Red Bull Ring, preventing any further improvements.
Most drivers had made an early switch to super-soft tyres to do their qualifying performance runs when the session was red-flagged after Fernando Alonso came to a stop on the start/finish straight. A clutch of cars queued up to rejoin the track as soon as the session restarted, but by then the rain had arrived, leaving them to tiptoe around the track on their slick tyres.
Sergio Perez was one of few drivers to complete a lap on the super-softs before the session was stopped and moved up to fourth place behind Kimi Raikkonen.
Several drivers took to the track on wet weather rubber when the rain eased at the end of the session. Raikkonen and Carlos Sainz Jnr were among those to skid off before the chequered flag fell, but none of the drivers suffered any damage to their cars.
Lotus were among those not to send their drivers out in wet conditions. However Romain Grosjean’s session has already been disrupted by clutch problems.
Third practice visual gaps
Sebastian Vettel – 1’09.994
+0.017 Lewis Hamilton – 1’10.011
+0.183 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’10.177
+0.227 Sergio Perez – 1’10.221
+0.338 Nico Rosberg – 1’10.332
+0.414 Felipe Massa – 1’10.408
+0.423 Valtteri Bottas – 1’10.417
+0.442 Max Verstappen – 1’10.436
+0.582 Pastor Maldonado – 1’10.576
+0.869 Romain Grosjean – 1’10.863
+1.015 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’11.009
+1.064 Marcus Ericsson – 1’11.058
+1.145 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’11.139
+1.145 Daniil Kvyat – 1’11.139
+1.174 Fernando Alonso – 1’11.168
+1.825 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’11.819
+1.912 Felipe Nasr – 1’11.906
+3.334 Will Stevens – 1’13.328
+3.966 Roberto Merhi – 1’13.960
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’15.684 | 1’09.600 | 1’09.994 | +0.394 | 44 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’10.401 | 1’09.611 | 1’10.332 | +0.721 | 73 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’11.028 | 1’09.860 | 1’10.177 | +0.317 | 53 |
| 4 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’12.004 | 1’09.914 | 1’10.576 | +0.662 | 56 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’10.709 | 1’10.137 | 1’10.011 | -0.126 | 65 |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’12.031 | 1’10.160 | 1’11.009 | +0.849 | 63 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’11.905 | 1’10.585 | 1’10.221 | -0.364 | 60 |
| 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’10.267 | 1’10.863 | +0.596 | 46 | |
| 9 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’11.825 | 1’10.356 | 1’10.436 | +0.08 | 71 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’11.890 | 1’11.011 | 1’10.408 | -0.603 | 60 |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’11.452 | 1’10.746 | 1’10.417 | -0.329 | 48 |
| 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’11.633 | 1’10.495 | 1’11.906 | +1.411 | 48 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’11.948 | 1’10.631 | 1’11.139 | +0.508 | 68 |
| 14 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-Renault | 1’11.642 | 1’10.686 | 1’11.139 | +0.453 | 62 |
| 15 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’12.159 | 1’10.744 | 1’11.058 | +0.314 | 62 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’13.272 | 1’11.517 | 1’11.168 | -0.349 | 30 |
| 17 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’11.724 | 1’11.676 | 1’11.819 | +0.143 | 48 |
| 18 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’12.920 | 1’11.919 | 1’12.616 | +0.697 | 33 |
| 19 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’12.050 | 0 | |||
| 20 | Will Stevens | Manor-Ferrari | 1’13.937 | 1’12.522 | 1’13.328 | +0.806 | 48 |
| 21 | Roberto Merhi | Manor-Ferrari | 1’15.459 | 1’13.094 | 1’13.960 | +0.866 | 42 |
Miha (@msc157)
20th June 2015, 11:07
Rosberg again with the most laps.
ben (@djdapimp)
20th June 2015, 11:22
like him or not, he does put in alot of effort
kpcart
20th June 2015, 11:09
why do they do practise starts after the practise session ends? they end up getting to do a whole extra lap of practise. i know its not safe during practise having cars practising starts on the main straight, but they already practise coming out of the pit. just seems strange to watch a practise session end, and then they are still practising for 5 minutes.
Neil (@neilosjames)
20th June 2015, 18:35
@kpcart FIA decided they should be done on the grid after sessions. None are allowed at the pit exit (I’d assume because it’s narrow).
mog
20th June 2015, 11:21
Just me or is this track one that suits Verstappen’s strengths? He’s been best of the bulls / renaults so far
Scalextric (@scalextric)
20th June 2015, 11:54
First track this year he’s raced on before
fatma
20th June 2015, 11:37
LOL Other than McLaren Vettel has the least amount of laps.
Samhainhell (@samhainhell)
20th June 2015, 12:46
I aim for a good red bull or toro rosso times if it rains :D