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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 JULY 2017 47 Sport SPORTTODAY FORMULA 1 Grid penalty woe for Lewis Hamilton LEWIS Hamilton's hopes of reeling in Se- bastian Vettel with victory at the Austrian Grand Prix suffered a blow as the Mercedes driver was hit with a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. The Briton had topped the timesheets in both of Friday's practice sessions as he looked to set about closing a 14-point gap on Vettel in the Formula One world drivers' championship standings. But, after declaring his happiness with his running, he will now face a battle to finish ahead of the Ferrari as he will drop five plac- es from where he qualifies on Saturday. Hamilton on Thursday questioned the decision not to hit Vettel with further pun- ishment after the German drove into him on the streets of Baku during the last race a fortnight ago, but insisted it was now in the past. Vettel ran into the back of Hamilton and pulled his Ferrari alongside the race leader before driving into the side of the three-time champion. He was hit with a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, having claimed he was brake-tested by Hamilton - telemetry showed otherwise - but still finished ahead of the Briton to ex- tend his title lead. Vettel then attended a meeting in Paris where the FIA, motorsport's governing body, opted against dishing out any more sanc- tions for the incident. The pair were reunited in the drivers' press conference on Thursday, where both at- tempted to steer away from any further con- versation relating to the flashpoint. Hamilton instead aimed his angst at the FIA for not punishing Vettel further and insisted any fallout would not spill out onto the track. And so it proved as he went quickest in both of Friday's practice sessions, with the task of closing the gap to Vettel at the fore- front of his mind. Asked if he was pleased to be back in the car rather than discussing the incident in Azerbaijan, Hamilton said: "That is what I came to do. "I have been training, keeping my head down, staying focused and staying quiet and making sure I came here healthy and strong so we can fight. "These two weekends are important, I lost points in the last race and I want to reverse that. These next two are an opportunity to do that." While setting a new lap record at the Red Bull Ring during his blistering stints, Hamil- ton was less satisfied with the long-run sim- ulations towards the end of the day having lost a little time as a spark plug was changed. "It has been a pretty good day at the track, pretty good from the get-go," he said. "The track was amazing from the start so we had a good baseline to start with and have just been chipping away at it. "I'm sure people don't even realise we still have spark plugs because these engines are so complex. There were some other things they were working on so it didn't particularly get rid of the issue that was there. "I just had some drivability issues. It wasn't smooth. The tyres seem to be a lot closer than usual. It will be interesting. I didn't get to do a massive run so I think we will ana- lyse it and see. The long runs were so-so but I think we will be okay for the race." Vettel could only manage the fourth-fast- est time in the morning before getting closer in free practice two, but he still could not match the man closest to him in the drivers' championship. Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who spun in both sessions, was third with Max Verstappen up in fourth for Red Bull in their home race. But it will be the fight at the front that once again takes centre stage for qualifying on Saturday, albeit with Hamilton facing a de- motion, and Mercedes director Toto Wolff feels the rivalry can only help pique interest in the sport. "You can see it in the audiences, live audi- ences and TV audiences are developing in a positive way," he said. "I think the Vettel and Hamilton rivalry for the world championship, as it looks at the moment, definitely contributes to that. "The two have mutual respect for each other, this is how the year started. It is clear when you have such an intense rivalry for race wins and championships it is going to have ups and downs. "The longer it goes, the more intense it be- comes. I don't think it (the incident in Baku) will stay in the drivers' minds beyond that weekend. They move on." VALTTERI Bottas qualified on pole posi- tion for today's Austrian Grand Prix with his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton down in eighth after a five-place grid pen- alty. Hamilton was only quick enough to set the third fastest time in Q3 as his main title rival Sebastian Vettel took second for Fer- rari to start alongside Bottas on the front row of the grid. Vettel holds a 14-point lead heading into the race and will be hopeful of extending the gap to second-placed Hamilton, who drops down the field after an unscheduled gearbox change. The two main title protagonists headed to the Red Bull Ring fresh from the controver- sial Azerbaijan Grand Prix a fortnight ago. Vettel finished ahead of Hamilton to add to his title lead despite being hit with a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for deliber- ately driving his Ferrari into the Briton. The four-time world champion escaped further punishment after a meeting with the FIA, motorsport's governing body, on Monday and the pair said earlier in the week that they are now fully focused on winning here. As is protocol the top three drivers were interviewed on the grid after the qualifying session, with the host asking for Vettel and Hamilton to shake hands only for the latter to walk away. Before that he congratulated his team- mate on just his second pole position in F1 and said he was aiming to share the top steps of today's podium with the Finn. "Firstly, congratulations to Valtteri – he did a fantastic job. He has been quick all weekend and Sebastian has been very quick," said Hamilton. "It just wasn't meant to be today. I will do the best job I can, obviously I want to get up there and get a one-two with Valtteri." With Hamilton displaced, Kimi Raik- konen will start behind Ferrari team-mate Vettel in third and will share the second row with Azerbaijan race-winner Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull's home race. The sister Red Bull of Max Verstappen is fifth while Romain Grosjean will start sixth for Haas. It is the equal-best starting position for Haas, although Grosjean struggled at the end of the session and pulled over to bring out yellow flags and ruin any last-gasp im- provements. Hamilton will slot in in eighth ahead of the Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Es- teban Ocon. Nico Hulkenberg came within 0.010 sec- onds of making it into Q3 but dropped out and will start 11th for Renault. Fernando Alonso beat McLaren team- mate Stoffel Vandoorne to 12th despite the latter running with a newer specification of the beleaguered Honda engine. Daniil Kvyat was a disappointing 14th for Toro Rosso, with Kevin Magnussen's Haas 15th after the Dane suffered suspension failure in the first part of qualifying and was unable to post another time. Jolyon Palmer's struggles continued as his Renault was knocked out of Q1 along with the Williams pair of Felipe Massa - pole- sitter here in 2014 - and Lance Stroll as the Sauber's of Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein were left on the back row. Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas takes pole position for today's Austrian Grand Prix Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland smiles in the team box before the third practice session for the Austrian Formula One Grand Prix