Vettel on top again before rain arrives

2015 Austrian Grand Prix third practice

Posted on

| Written by

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.

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’09.994 16
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’10.011 0.017 16
3 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’10.177 0.183 12
4 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’10.221 0.227 14
5 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’10.332 0.338 23
6 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’10.408 0.414 18
7 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1’10.417 0.423 14
8 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault 1’10.436 0.442 23
9 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes 1’10.576 0.582 12
10 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes 1’10.863 0.869 8
11 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’11.009 1.015 14
12 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’11.058 1.064 22
13 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso-Renault 1’11.139 1.145 18
14 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault 1’11.139 1.145 14
15 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1’11.168 1.174 13
16 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1’11.819 1.825 10
17 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1’11.906 1.912 9
18 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1’12.616 2.622 16
19 28 Will Stevens Manor-Ferrari 1’13.328 3.334 14
20 98 Roberto Merhi Manor-Ferrari 1’13.960 3.966 8

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

+2.622 Jenson Button – 1’12.616

+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

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

8 comments on “Vettel on top again before rain arrives”

  1. Rosberg again with the most laps.

    1. like him or not, he does put in alot of effort

  2. 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.

    1. 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).

  3. Just me or is this track one that suits Verstappen’s strengths? He’s been best of the bulls / renaults so far

    1. First track this year he’s raced on before

  4. LOL Other than McLaren Vettel has the least amount of laps.

  5. I aim for a good red bull or toro rosso times if it rains :D

Comments are closed.