Sebastian Vettel remained quickest from second practice for Ferrari, making the prospect of a close qualifying battle a real possibility in Austria.
Key points from FP3:
– Vettel’s quickest lap came during the opening part of the session which was dry, pipping Lewis Hamilton who finished second just 0.017s down on the Ferrari.
– A downpour made it impossible to improve, but that didn’t stop many from going out to explore
– Fernando Alonso brought out the red flag after his McLaren stopped with a suspected gearbox problem.
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 01 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:09.994 | 16 | |
| 02 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:10.011 | 0.017 | 16 |
| 03 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:10.177 | 0.183 | 12 |
| 04 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:10.221 | 0.227 | 14 |
| 05 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:10.332 | 0.338 | 23 |
| 06 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:10.408 | 0.414 | 18 |
| 07 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:10.417 | 0.423 | 14 |
| 08 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:10.436 | 0.442 | 23 |
| 09 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:10.576 | 0.582 | 12 |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:10.863 | 0.869 | 8 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:11.009 | 1.015 | 14 |
| 12 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:11.058 | 1.064 | 22 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:11.139 | 1.145 | 18 |
| 14 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:11.139 | 1.145 | 14 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:11.168 | 1.174 | 13 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:11.819 | 1.825 | 10 |
| 17 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:11.906 | 1.912 | 9 |
| 18 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:12.616 | 2.622 | 16 |
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:13.328 | 3.334 | 14 |
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:13.960 | 3.966 | 8 |
