Austrian GP: Rosberg leads FP1 as Vettel, Alonso hit trouble

Rosberg set a best lap of 1:10.401 to outpace Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by three tenths of a second.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished in third over half a second behind, as teammate Vettel managed just four laps before stopping on track with a problem.

Valtteri Bottas was fourth fastest for Williams, with Felipe Nasr completing the top five in the Sauber.

The first car not powered by a Mercedes or Ferrari engine was Daniil Kvyat in sixth, ahead of Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Alonso's weekend started on the back foot as he was seen coasting back into the pits with an apparent problem following his installation lap.

The McLaren driver, also facing a penalty for using his fifth engine of the season, did not return to the track until there were 17 minutes left on the clock.

Alonso then covered just 10 laps before returning to the pits and calling it a day before the session had finished.

Last year's pole-setter Felipe Massa, ninth in the session, set the early pace for Williams under a cloudy sky, with teammate Bottas relegating him to second nearly 20 minutes into the session with a lap of 1:14.160.

Williams' domination did not last long, however, as Rosberg went nearly 1.5 seconds quicker than Bottas just a minute later. Hamilton also set a fast lap to move into P2, two tenths behind his teammate.

Rosberg lost first place momentarily to Raikkonen, to quickly regained the top spot with another flyer, setting a new benchmark of 1:11.389.

Seconds later, Vettel's running came to a sudden stop when he was forced to park his Ferrari after reporting to have lost drive.

The German had failed to set a time up to that point, and although his car was recovered and taken back to the pits, he was unable to return to the track.

After several minutes of quietness, Hamilton improved his time but not position with some 38 minutes left on the clock, although the Briton's run included two offs at Turn 1 and Turn 8.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:10.401		36
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:10.709	0.308	28
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:11.028	0.627	22
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:11.452	1.051	26
5	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:11.633	1.232	28
6	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	1:11.642	1.241	31
7	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:11.724	1.323	29
8	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:11.825	1.424	38
9	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:11.890	1.489	29
10	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:11.905	1.504	37
11	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:11.948	1.547	32
12	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:12.004	1.603	34
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:12.031	1.630	36
14	Jolyon Palmer	Lotus	1:12.050	1.649	27
15	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:12.159	1.758	30
16	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:12.920	2.519	30
17	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:13.272	2.871	10
18	Will Stevens	Marussia	1:13.937	3.536	29
19	Roberto Merhi	Marussia	1:15.459	5.058	11
20	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:15.684	5.283	4