Sebastian Vettel showed that Ferrari will be a threat in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix – if there are no gearbox issues – when he finished fastest in the afternoon practice session at the Red Bull Ring.
That was a considerable improvement on the German’s morning run when he finished last on the timesheet, though he was able to complete only four laps because of gearbox problems. Vettel also spent much of the afternoon session parked up in the garage.
Nico Rosberg was second to Vettel and he was followed by the other Ferrari driven by Kimi Raikkonen, with Pastor Maldonado fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth. Hamilton, who had been second to his Mercedes team-mate, Rosberg, in the first session, had some problems after lunch. He went wide after losing control of his rear during the last double right-hander.
Hamilton said afterwards: “It’s been an OK start – not the best but not the worst either. I had a bit of oversteer here and there but generally the car feels great and we definitely made improvements from P1 to P2. There’s just not a lot of grip out there on track and I didn’t put a full lap together.
“ I think this is a weekend where it flattens out a lot more. Williams and Ferrari in particular will be closer, so we need to be wary of them. Sebastian should be on it this weekend, so I think it could be close.”
The British driver said he is not motivated by winning poles, podiums or even races. “I just want to win championships. That’s what I’m excited about. No other record. Doesn’t matter the amount of wins, fastest laps, podiums, what matters is winning the world championship.
“I’ve always wanted to emulate Ayrton [Senna’s three world titles]. And that’s what I’m focusing on. I’m very grateful for the ones I do have. The first was very special, and I worked for a long time to get the second, and then fortunately I have a good car so I’m pushing for the third. That’s the really special one. That’s what mattered to me most what I was a kid.”
However, he described equalling Michael Schumacher’s record of seven titles as a big ask: “Michael is a legend and he was in the sport and successful for a long time. For me I don’t know how many years I’ll have at the rate I’m going.
“The sport is always changing and you never know when you’re going to have a difficult year. Honestly since I’ve been in Formula One I felt like I could compete for the world championship every year but some years you have the car and some you don’t.”
Hamilton is hoping to improve on second place here last year. “I came second then, and that’s pretty decent. I don’t remember the [slow] pit stops. I made a mistake in qualifying, otherwise it was a pretty good weekend.”
Second practice
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1min 09.600sec, 2 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1.09.611, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1.09.860, 4 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Lotus 1.09.914, 5 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1.10.137, 6 Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Force India 1.10.160, 7 Romain Grosjean (Fr) Lotus 1.10.267, 8 Max Verstappen (Neth) Toro Rosso 1.10.356, 9 Felipe Nasr (Br) Sauber 1.10.495, 10 Sergio Pérez (Mex) Force India 1.10.585, 11 Carlos Sainz Jr (Sp) Toro Rosso 1.10.631, 12 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Red Bull 1.10.686, 13 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber 1.10.744, 14 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1.10.746, 15 Felipe Massa (Br) Williams 1.11.011, 16 Fernando Alonso (Sp) McLaren 1.11.517, 17 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1.11.676, 18 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren 1.11.919, 19 Will Stevens (GB) Manor 1.12.522, 20 Roberto Merhi (Sp) Manor 1.13.094.
