Valtteri Bottas has finished the Austrian Grand Prix’s final practice session fastest, becoming just the seventh different driver to top a session this year.
The Williams driver put in a time of 1:09.848, five one-hundredths of a second ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who split the Williams duo by finishing second-quickest. Felipe Massa was third-fastest.
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat took fourth position while Nico Rosberg finished in fifth.
Williams continue to impress and threat yet again to take their first podium of the year, after they’ve let a few opportunities slip through their hands.
However, there was speculation as to whether the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull were running heavier fuel loads, with the latter almost certain to have as Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel finished seventh and tenth respectively.
McLaren suffered a rough practice session as Jenson Button only completed three laps due to a failure in his engine braking. Fire in his right rear brakes meant that mechanics had to change the brake callipers as well as a damaged floor. Since Button didn’t get the chance to run on the super soft tyres today he will head into qualifying largely unprepared.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was ninth, while his team-mate Fernando Alonso was four tenths clear of him in sixth.
Due to the confusion and a few drivers being summoned to the Stewards room over the pit lane entry line, the line has been widened two meters to the left and now blends with the previous line at the corner.
Drivers were also warned that if they are to leave the track on the outside of Turn Eight their qualifying time will be deleted.
2014 Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Results:
Driver | Team / Entry | Time | Gap | Laps | ||
1. | Valtteri Bottas | ![]() |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36 | 1:09.848 | 22 | |
2. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05 | 1:09.898 | + 0.050 | 25 |
3. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36 | 1:09.901 | + 0.053 | 21 |
4. | Daniil Kvyat | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9 | 1:09.927 | + 0.079 | 25 |
5. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05 | 1:09.999 | + 0.151 | 31 |
6. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari F14T | 1:10.054 | + 0.206 | 17 |
7. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10 | 1:10.392 | + 0.544 | 19 |
8. | Kevin Magnussen | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-29 | 1:10.449 | + 0.601 | 23 |
9. | Kimi Räikkönen | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari F14T | 1:10.488 | + 0.640 | 22 |
10. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10 | 1:10.562 | + 0.714 | 21 |
11. | Nico Hülkenberg | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07 | 1:10.683 | + 0.835 | 22 |
12. | Pastor Maldonado | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Team Renault E22 | 1:10.776 | + 0.928 | 26 |
13. | Jean-Éric Vergne | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9 | 1:11.043 | + 1.195 | 22 |
14. | Romain Grosjean | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Team Renault E22 | 1:11.103 | + 1.255 | 22 |
15. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07 | 1:11.235 | + 1.387 | 18 |
16. | Adrian Sutil | ![]() |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33 | 1:11.294 | + 1.446 | 24 |
17. | Esteban Gutiérrez | ![]() |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33 | 1:11.558 | + 1.710 | 23 |
18. | Jules Bianchi | ![]() |
Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03 | 1:11.848 | + 2.000 | 21 |
19. | Kamui Kobayashi | ![]() |
Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05 | 1:12.320 | + 2.472 | 23 |
20. | Marcus Ericsson | ![]() |
Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05 | 1:12.892 | + 3.044 | 27 |
21. | Max Chilton | ![]() |
Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03 | 1:12.915 | + 3.067 | 14 |
22. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-29 | 1:14.237 | + 4.389 | 4 |
Images via XPB Images
Josh Kruse
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