SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) – Ferrari got a boost as Sebastian Vettel posted the fastest time ahead of both Mercedes cars in the third and final practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of qualifying later Saturday.
Vettel finished 0.269 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who had topped both of Friday’s practice sessions, and .423 ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Kimi Raikkonen had the fourth quickest time, but spent less time on track after his team worked on his Ferrari at the start of practice.
Nearing the end of the session, Hamilton went off the track with some smoke pouring out the side of his car. Toto Wolff, the team’s head of motorsport, watched glum-faced from the team’s motorhome as the car was wheeled back to the garage.
The team said it was a brake disk failure, which will be resolved in time for qualifying.
Hamilton and Vettel have won three races each so far, and Vettel leads Hamilton in a close title race by 14 points after eight races.