Rosberg sets early pace at Austria

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Nico Rosberg set the pace during the first practice session of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend at Spielberg. The German was more than 3 tenths ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel following in third.

While Vettel faces a 5-place grid penalty if Ferrari would discover gearbox damage from Baku, Kimi Raikkonen was fourth fastest, seeing Ferrari settle in as the second best team at the start of running. This will likely be a boost to the team, as the Scuderia struggled throughout the Friday sessions at Baku.

Daniel Ricciardo was 5th fastest, even though the Red Bull Ring is not greatly suited to the RB12, according to the team itself. Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso slotted into 6th, ahead of Felipe Massa, the fastest of both Williams cars.

Behind them in the pecking order is Max Verstappen, who got caught out by the new kerbs that have been laid out around the track to prevent drivers from going too far off the track in pursuit of quicker laps. Verstappen first ran wide over some new sausage kerbs to lose part of his front wing, and half a minute later ran wide again, hitting another series of 'sausage kerbs' that eventually broke his right front steering arm, sending him off into the gravel trap.

9th fastest was Red Bull's former driver, Daniil Kvyat, with Valtteri Bottas completing the top 10.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
16Nico RosbergMercedes1:07.373-37
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:07.730+0.357s34
35Sebastian VettelFerrari1:08.022+0.649s28
47Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:08.222+0.849s31
53Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:08.528+1.155s35
655Carlos SainzToro Rosso Ferrari1:08.803+1.430s34
719Felipe MassaWilliams Mercedes1:08.824+1.451s39
833Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:08.962+1.589s21
926Daniil KvyatToro Rosso Ferrari1:08.990+1.617s32
1077Valtteri BottasWilliams Mercedes1:08.998+1.625s40
118Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:09.078+1.705s34
1227Nico HulkenbergForce India Mercedes1:09.280+1.907s43
1322Jenson ButtonMclaren Honda1:09.365+1.992s31
1414Fernando AlonsoMclaren Honda1:09.567+2.194s30
1520Kevin MagnussenRenault1:09.707+2.334s24
1694Pascal WehrleinMrt Mercedes1:09.775+2.402s34
1730Jolyon PalmerRenault1:09.851+2.478s28
189Marcus EricssonSauber Ferrari1:09.929+2.556s35
1921Esteban GutierrezHaas Ferrari1:10.110+2.737s20
2012Felipe NasrSauber Ferrari1:10.314+2.941s26
2188Rio HaryantoMrt Mercedes1:10.493+3.120s21
2234Alfonso CelisForce India Mercedes1:10.860+3.487s37