Austrian GP: Rosberg fastest again as Vettel crashes

Rosberg just managed to squeeze in a 1m07.967s before the heavens opened and halted any running for over 40 minutes.

Despite the deluge, the track dried quickly. Rosberg aborted a much faster lap at the end of the session, and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton got to within 0.019s in the closing minutes.

The session was effectively ended by Vettel's huge spin into the gravel at Turn 2, the rotating German just keeping his car out of the wall.

Nico Hulkenberg was best of the rest for Force India, ahead of Vettel.

Story of the session

With rain clouds threatening from the start of the 90-minute session, teams were in a rush to beat the precipitation. World champion Hamilton reported on his out lap: "Small spots of rain already on my visor."

Rosberg set 1m07.967s on his first flying lap on the soft-compound tyre, before the spots of rain intensified. Vettel was second quickest for Ferrari on 1m08.589s, 0.622s down, just ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

Kimi Raikkonen went off at Turn 5, having understeered and then lost control of the rear end of his Ferrari, and had to extricate himself from the gravel after a half spin.

Force India's Sergio Perez had a moment at Turn 8, steering wide to avoid the yellow kerbs.

"The first sector is driveable but the final sector is not," said Perez, who then spun on his next trip through Turn 8 as he was aiming to get into the pits.

Jolyon Palmer also spun moments later doing likewise, as the rain turned into a deluge and high winds battered the Styrian mountain circuit.

After a 40-minute hiatus, cars rejoined the damp track on intermediate tyres. Due to the hilly nature of the track, it dried in some parts much quicker than others.

Rosberg ran wide at Turn 1, and Max Verstappen spun at the exit of Turn 9. Ricciardo also went off briefly at Turn 1.

Cars back out on slicks

With 20 minutes to go, slick tyres were deployed on a now sun-drenched circuit.

Ricciardo complained of a lack of full power, and cruised in second gear before then regaining its full propulsion.  

Rosberg opted for supersofts for second run, with Hamilton on ultrasofts. Hamilton came very close to hitting Gutierrez at a downhill left-hander on his first flying lap, and had to lock-up to avoid ploughing into the back of him.

On his second lap, Hamilton jumped up to second, just 0.019s off Rosberg's early-session time.

Verstappen went fifth fastest on 1m08.716s, immediately demoted by Hulkenberg, who jumped from eighth to third.

Rosberg rejoined for a third and final run on ultrasofts, but pitted after setting the fastest opening sectors – which was six tenths up on his fastest time.

With a couple of minutes remaining, Vettel flew off the track at high speed at Turn 2: "I don't know what happened there, I just lost completely the car hitting the brakes."

The session ended under a virtual safety car.

Behind Rosberg, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Vettel, Ricciardo was fifth quickest from Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and Jenson Button (McLaren).

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	25	1'07.967
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	19	1'07.986	0.019	0.019
3	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	28	1'08.580	0.613	0.594
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	25	1'08.589	0.622	0.009
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	30	1'08.649	0.682	0.060
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	32	1'08.713	0.746	0.064
7	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	20	1'08.761	0.794	0.048
8	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	23	1'08.820	0.853	0.059
9	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	Mercedes	24	1'08.941	0.974	0.121
10	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	30	1'08.994	1.027	0.053
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	26	1'09.075	1.108	0.081
12	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	17	1'09.184	1.217	0.109
13	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	26	1'09.207	1.240	0.023
14	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	32	1'09.226	1.259	0.019
15	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	Renault	19	1'09.525	1.558	0.299
16	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	23	1'10.020	2.053	0.495
17	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	Mercedes	20	1'10.034	2.067	0.014
18	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	Ferrari	16	1'10.138	2.171	0.104
19	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	19	1'10.140	2.173	0.002
20	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	31	1'10.400	2.433	0.260
21	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari	22	1'10.444	2.477	0.044
22	Rio Haryanto	Manor	Mercedes	25	1'11.328	3.361	0.884