Sebastian Vettel top in Austria practice, Hamilton fifth

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the pace in second practice at the Austrian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton was fifth after an error-strewn session.

Vettel was 0.011 seconds quicker than Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, with the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen third. Hamilton failed to complete a lap on his qualifying run on the faster tyres as he made three separate mistakes.

The world champion was behind Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado. Hamilton did not string a good lap together on the faster of the two tyre choices, but was on target to beat Rosberg’s time on one lap before running wide at the difficult final corner, Turn Nine. He had also made errors on two other attempts at a qualifying simulation. But Hamilton - who leads Rosberg by 17 points in the drivers’ title ahead of Sunday’s race at 13:00 BST- did set the pace on the first runs of the session, which takes place on the slower of the two tyres.

Then, Hamilton was 0.161secs quicker than Raikkonen and Vettel, who set identical times, with Rosberg fourth, 0.203secs slower than Hamilton. The race looks set to be a fight between the Mercedes and Ferrari, with the Mercedes-engined Williams, Lotus and Force India teams next up. But Red Bull are expecting a difficult weekend on a track they own.

Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo were 12th and 17th fastest, with a 10-place grid penalty already confirmed for the Australian because of engine changes. Kvyat may also have to take a penalty for the same reason, although the team have yet to confirm this.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was sixth ahead of Lotus’s Romain Grosjean, the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen, Felipe Nasr’s Sauber and Hulkenberg’s team-mate Sergio Perez. (BBC)