2018 Austrian GP third practice report: Sebastian P1, Kimi P4. On the evidence of P3, it is going to be a close fight between Ferrari and Mercedes.

Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel closed out Formula 1 practice for the Austrian Grand Prix at the head of the timesheets for Ferrari as Red Bull rival Max Verstappen finished his session parked up at the side of the track following a loss of power on his Red Bull car.

After seeing championship rival Lewis Hamilton lead both FP1 and FP2 for Mercedes on Friday at the Red Bull Ring, Vettel was able to strike back with a fastest lap of 1m04.070s in FP3 to give Ferrari top spot at the end of practice heading into qualifying later today.

Seb’s time saw him edge out Hamilton by just 0.029 seconds, with the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas finished a further 0.1s behind to take third in a close-fought session at the head of the standings. Kimi Raikkonen managed to take fourth for Ferrari, lapping four-tenths of a second slower than his teammate.

FP3 proved to be a difficult session for Red Bull as it struggled to match Ferrari or Mercedes for pace, with Verstappen and teammate Daniel Ricciardo finishing more than seven-tenths of a second off the pace in fifth and sixth place respectively.

Qualifying takes place at 3pm local time in Austria at the Red Bull Ring (2pm BST).

Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix – Full FP3 classification

1. Sebastian Vettel GER Scuderia Ferrari 1m 04.070s
2. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 1m 04.099s
3. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 1m 04.204s
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Scuderia Ferrari 1m 04.470s
5. Max Verstappen NED Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 1m 04.791s
6. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 1m 04.891s
7. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas F1 Team 1m 04.916s
8. Kevin Magnussen DEN Haas F1 Team 1m 05.013s
9. Carlos Sainz Jr. ESP Renault Sport Formula One Team 1m 05.086s
10. Charles Leclerc MON Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team 1m 05.219s
11. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault Sport Formula One Team 1m 05.228s
12. Pierre Gasly FRA Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda 1m 05.264s
13. Esteban Ocon FRA Sahara Force India F1 Team 1m 05.444s
14. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren F1 Team 1m 05.448s
15. Sergio Perez MEX Sahara Force India F1 Team 1m 05.502s
16. Marcus Ericsson SWE Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team 1m 05.699s
17. Brendon Hartley NZL Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda 1m 05.705s
18. Stoffel Vandoorne BEL McLaren F1 Team 1m 05.837s
19. Lance Stroll CAN Williams Martini Racing 1m 06.029s
20. Sergey Sirotkin RUS Williams Martini Racing 1m 06.318s