F1 Austrian GP: Friday roundup

Sebastian Vettel set the pace for Ferrari in free practice two for Austrian Grand Prix on Friday, despite being plagued by reliability problems.

Vettel set a laptime of 1:09.600 around the Red Bull Ring but his race simulation was curtailed when he was required to spend the last 25 minutes of the garage with gearbox problems. The four-time world champion had already misses majority of the morning session with yet more reliability problems.

Nico Rosberg was Mercedes’ lead challenger on Friday and finished just 0.011 seconds down on his countryman with Kimi Raikkonen a further two tenths behind in third. Rosberg’s teammate Lewis Hamilton couldn’t get a clean lap around the 4.3 km facility, ending up a distant fifth, some four tenths down on his teammate.

Lotus showed strong pace for a second race running, with Pastor Maldonado fourth quickest and Romain Grosjean 7th in the other E23 Hybrid. Maldonado arrives in Austria on the back of his first points finish of the season while Grosjean was left apologising to Manor’s Will Stevens, being the culprit of an incident involving the two in Canada.

Force India - who are set to debut their much-awaited B-spec car at Silverstone next month - also derived benefit of the Mercedes engine on a power track, with both Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez finishing in the top 10.

Hulkenberg has received lavish praise from the F1 fraternity for winning the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans on his first attempt, alongside Britain’s Nick Tandy and New Zealander Earl Bamber in the #19 Porsche. It remains to be seen whether that elusive victory helps him land a top drive in F1 for next season.

Meanwhile, Red Bull endured a troubled day at home turf and are set to take 10 place grid drops on both cars, having exceeded the maximum engine allocation for the season.

McLaren debuted a new low-nose on Fernando Alonso’s car as part of a new aero package. But the evaluation of fresh parts was made difficult by persistent reliability problems. The Spaniard, like Red Bull’s Ricciardo and Kvyat, faces the prospect of a hefty grid-penalty for change in power unit elements.

And finally, Williams - who locked the front row of the grid in Austria last year - typically ran on high fuel to hide their real pace and are expected to knock the final spot on the podium come Sunday.

F1 Austrian GP - Free Practice 2 (Results)

1. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1m 09.600s
2. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1m 09.611s
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1m 09.860s
4. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus-Mercedes) 1m 09.914s
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m 10.137s
6. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India-Mercedes) 1m 10.160s
7. Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Mercedes) 1m 10.267s
8. Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso-Renault) 1m 10.356s
9. Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari) 1m 10.495s
10. Sergio Perez (Force India-Mercedes) 1m 10.585s