Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time for Ferrari in the third free practice session ahead of the Austrian grand prix.

The Saturday practice session commenced under overcast conditions but without any threat of rain. Carlos Sainz lost roughly half the session to an engine issue. However, the Toro Rosso was speedily recovered to the garage and the Spaniard was able to rejoin the session with about twenty-five minutes remaining.

Lewis Hamilton didn’t look as comfortable around the Red Bull Ring but still set the second quickest time overall. Nevertheless, his session ended prematurely with a front-right brake failure. As if to compound matters Hamilton will drop five places from wherever he qualifies due to a gearbox change. Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen, and Daniel Ricciardo completed the top six.

While Williams struggled for pace with Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa in 18th and 19th respectively, Kevin Magnussen slotted his Haas F1 car into seventh ahead of teammate, Romain Grosjean, in eighth.