Sebastian Vettel will start Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix from sixth on the grid after being given a three-place grid drop for impeding in qualifying.

The Ferrari driver had qualified third for the race at the Red Bull Ring, however, was summoned to the stewards for an incident in Q2 which saw Carlos Sainz have to take to the run-off area on the exit of Turn 1 after starting a hot lap.

Talking to the media beforehand, he admitted a lack of communication was the reason for what occurred having passed the Renault driver on the lap before.

“I was turning into Turn 1 and thinking he must be there somewhere but as it turned out he was trying to go for a fast lap but I couldn’t see him.

“I wasn’t told over the radio so I can only apologise to him. There was no intention, I was looking with my head down the straight.

“It’s impossible to see, I wasn’t told anything, normally I get told very well. I can only apologise and fortunately, it didn’t make a difference for him.”

Indeed, there were no repercussions for Sainz as he would make Q3, eventually finishing ninth, and even he had seemingly already moved on when going through it later.

"I don't want to put too much blame on Sebastian," he told Sky Sports. "It has happened to me before, that your engineer doesn't tell you that there is one car is just starting a lap and you simply don't look in the mirrors.

"I've got a penalty before for this, I don't know how the stewards will react [this time].

"To be honest, I'm not too bothered if Sebastian gets it, I will understand if he doesn't also because it's tough luck on him that he wasn't told I was coming. But it did cost me a front wing."

Despite the Red Bull junior's lack of interest in a penalty, the stewards took a different view.

"It is the belief of the stewards that notwithstanding the absence of a radio call, the driver of car five (Vettel), being aware of the issue of rear vision with his mirrors, should not have been so slow and on the racing line, during a slowdown lap in qualification," their explanation read.

"Having reviewed all alleged impeding incidents since the beginning of 2016, the penalty of a drop of three grid positions is consistent with all other similar incidents."

Mercedes and Ferrari are locked together after Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time in a very closely fought final practice session at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The fastest time was lowered almost every lap throughout the hour of running, with both Mercedes drivers and both Ferrari drivers holding the position at some stage, but eventually, it would be the German who emerged on top with a new track record of 1m04.070s.

Lewis Hamilton was within 0.03s of his main championship rival in second setting up the possibility for a brilliant battle come qualifying later on Saturday.

Their respective teammates have a little more pace to find as Valtteri Bottas was a tenth back in third, two-tenths clear of his fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen.

The threat from Red Bull appears minimal, however, with Max Verstappen over seven-tenths slower than Hamilton in fifth, and saw his final practice end by the side of the track after his car shut down shortly before Turn 4.

Daniel Ricciardo was a further tenth back in sixth and the home team might find themselves looking over their shoulder with Haas very much a threat with Romain Grosjean in seventh the last driver to go sub-1m05s.

The Frenchman's teammate Kevin Magnussen was only just outside that mark though in eighth as the American squad lead an equally competitive midfield with Carlos Sainz ninth for Renault within the same tenth.

Charles Leclerc put himself back in contention for a second Q3 appearance in a week with P10 but, like Verstappen, would pull off the track in the final moments declaring an engine problem in his Sauber.

Thousandths of a second are likely to make the difference though, with Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly lapping in the same 1m05.2s bracket as Leclerc in P11 and P12 respectively.

Force India and McLaren appear the likely teams to be battling to avoid Q1 elimination though, with Esteban Ocon 13th ahead of Fernando Alonso in 14th with their respective teammates either side of what would be the knock out zone.

For Stoffel Vandoorne in 18th, his session was blighted by more kerb strikes damaging the front wings which had to be repaired after Friday.

Brendon Hartley was another who saw one endplate completely fall off his Toro Rosso after running wide at Turn 9 with the Kiwi and Marcus Ericsson also likely to be part of the scramble to avoid an early exit in qualifying.

Two cars that are almost certain to be out in Q1 though, are the two Williams' as Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin complete the grid, as the only driver unable to break the 1m06s mark.

Full results can be seen below:

A difficult day for Red Bull at their home race in Austria was epitomised by a spat which broke out over the radio in Q3 with Daniel Ricciardo angry at having to slipstream his teammate Max Verstappen.

The two drivers tried to complete three runs in the top 10 shootout but on the out-lap for the third, the Australian would slow down wanting the Dutchman to pass and telling the pit-wall "there's no point me running" and he was just "punching a hole".

Verstappen was then told to simply pass Ricciardo but refused, claiming he had offered a slipstream last weekend in France and it was "discipline".

At the end of it, it was the 20-year-old who produced a good enough final lap for fifth while the birthday boy on Sunday was beaten by the Haas of Romain Grosjean and will start seventh.

“I’m not too impressed to be honest,” Ricciardo stated afterwards. “We had three runs and we were just punching a hole for everyone. I’m not that happy at all. We could have been more fair.”

Verstappen insisted, however, it was just the same policy that Red Bull employs at every race weekend.

“I was going in front in Paul Ricard, he was going in front the race before that," he said. “So we just discussed that – this was his weekend to go in front. That’s how it is. It’s very simple."

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Team boss Christian Horner echoed Max, stating it had been the method for seven years that the drivers alternate who's ahead on a race-by-race basis, though did have some sympathy for Daniel too.

“Obviously he felt that Max might be benefitting from that so that is why he obviously started to back up a bit but I think that P5 and P7 is probably as much as we could do today and hopefully we can have better pace tomorrow,” the Briton said.

“The drivers know explicitly every weekend it alternates. So last weekend, Max drove out first and Daniel would have followed him. Next weekend it will be the other way round and even in the debrief from weekend to weekend, it's them who talks first so it is the way to keep it as scrupulously fair as we can.

“They know the situation, so there is nothing to explain.”

Perhaps backtracking a little on his initial stance, Ricciardo conceded that the way he went about airing his frustration was wrong.

“(I) probably should have just talked about it more beforehand," he acknowledged. “I had concerns and I spoke a little bit with my engineer about it, but I guess as a team it wasn’t discussed.

“But in my mind, in the car, I’m just like, ‘It’s obvious what’s happening, isn’t it? Give me a run where I’m getting a tow instead of giving everyone else a tow’."

The timing is pretty interesting too, at Red Bull's home race and with Ricciardo reportedly close to signing a new two-year extension to his contract. Anything to read from that? Who knows.

Sebastian Vettel hopes the usual progression Ferrari make between a Friday and Saturday is enough to close the gap to Mercedes at the Austrian GP.

The German was third fastest at the end of practice on Friday, within a quarter of a second of pacesetter Lewis Hamilton as the updated Silver Arrow led the way at the Red Bull Ring.

Talking to reporters back in the paddock, Vettel would admit the performance of his main rival was potentially too much despite the relatively small margin.

“It’s quite close, I think Mercedes had the upper hand today, they looked very quick in all conditions but I think it was a tricky Friday,” he said.

The four-time world champion, who turns 31 next week, was still satisfied with the pace of Ferrari.

“I think we did a lot of laps, which was good, and we should be well prepared for tomorrow and also for Sunday," he stated.

“I think today we had good speed, on Saturdays we’re normally a bit stronger than on the first day so I’m hoping that’s the case tomorrow and then we’ll see.”

Vettel also believes success in qualifying will be crucial for a good result in the race, even with the three DRS zones that have been installed for this weekend.

“It’s always important to start from pole position but here it’s really difficult to overtake,” he claimed.

Valtteri Bottas made the most of a rare mistake by Lewis Hamilton to take his first pole of the 2018 Formula 1 season at the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday.

The world champion was on the back foot after running wide at Turn 3 on his first attempt in the decisive Q3 session with Bottas producing an excellent lap to take top spot provisionally.

Then, as Hamilton got it together on his second lap, the Finn would find just enough to secure pole just 0.019s with a track record time of 1m03.130s.

Both Ferrari's would actually be faster than the Mercedes through the first two sectors but would fall back dramatically in the final two corners with Sebastian Vettel in third and Kimi Raikkonen fourth.

Later though, Vettel would be hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz in Q2 dropping the German driver to sixth.

That promotes Max Verstappen to fourth on a difficult day for Red Bull at their home track for several reasons.

First their lack of pace, with the Dutchman over seven-tenths off the pole which is one of the bigger margins all year on the shortest circuit all year in terms of time. Secondly, an internal spat over the radio in Q3, with Daniel Ricciardo questioning why he was running and effectively offering a slipstream to his teammate.

Their problems would allow Romain Grosjean to jump up into what will become fifth on the grid for Haas, with the Australian behind Vettel in seventh.

The American team comfortably took the position of midfield leaders, with Kevin Magnussen less than a tenth slower than Ricciardo in eighth and six-tenths ahead of the leading Renault of Carlos Sainz in ninth.

His teammate Nico Hulkenberg would complete the top 10 for the French manufacturer.

As five teams filled one half of the grid, the remaining five filled the other each squad having one driver from P11 to P15.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly optimised the performance of the Force India and Toro Rosso respectively in 11th and 12th, both also holding big advantages over their teammates who failed to make it out of Q1.

Charles Leclerc couldn't repeat his incredible top 10 performance from Paul Ricard in 13th and worse for the Monegasque driver he will take a five-place grid drop for a new gearbox following a problem in final practice.

Fernando Alonso claimed he tried to take final two corners flat-out in his McLaren and actually ruined what could have been a good enough lap to make Q3, instead, the Spaniard was only 14th.

At the end of a very tight Q1 session, with less than a tenth covering P15-P19, it would be an excellent lap from Lance Stroll that saw him make it through by just 0.007s for Williams.

A mistake from Leclerc at Turn 4 also brought out yellow flags which prevented Stoffel Vandoorne, Sergio Perez, Sergey Sirotkin and Brendon Hartley from attempting a final flying lap. They would finish the session in that order.

Finally, Marcus Ericsson brought up the field in the second Sauber.

The full results from qualifying can be seen below:

Note: Vettel drops from P3 to P6 and Leclerc also falls from P13 to P18.

Lewis Hamilton heaped praised on Mercedes for the upgrade package they brought to the Austrian GP after leading both practice sessions on Friday.

After introducing a new 'Phase 2.1' engine last weekend in France, this week, the W09 has been given a fresh look with new sidepods, bargeboards and rear wing as part of the biggest aerodynamic development so far this season.

Both the world champion and teammate Valtteri Bottas used it to good effect, finishing 1-2 in Spielberg on Friday, and Hamilton admits the changes are noticeable from the behind the wheel.

“The car feels better in certain areas around the track and it was already great last week,” he told Sky Sports. 

“I am just going to keep pushing to maximise and get more out of it. The car does feel good this weekend so I am excited for the fight.”

Never one to be satisfied though, the Briton called on Mercedes to keep pushing the envelope.

“I’d like more please!" he declared. "There are others who are just constantly adding but we wait to put in one big block.”

Despite his happiness with the performance and the advantage it appears the Brackley-based team have, Hamilton did admit there was still work to do.

“FP1 the car felt immediately better and the start of FP2 it felt better again,” he said. “But it kind of got worse through the session. We have got to figure out why and I am sure we can rectify it.”

Most interesting was his comments about the Soft compound tyre, which is the hardest of the three types available in Austria and was the one he actually used to set his best time on.

“We have had nine races and they’re different everywhere we go,” he claimed. “One session they will work and the next session they don’t and you don’t understand why. It is confusing.”

The latest speculation surrounding Ferrari suggests the decision to promote Charles Leclerc into the seat of Kimi Raikkonen is "as good as done".

Italy's La Gazzetta Dello Sport is reporting a two-year race contract has been agreed with the current Sauber driver, who continues to impress in his rookie year with the Swiss team.

Though some are questioning the truth of the story, given the Monegasque already has a contract with the Italian team as part of their young driver program, the BBC is also convinced the move is all but guaranteed.

"The move comes after an impressive start to Leclerc’s F1 career this year with Sauber, including points finishes in four of the last five races," wrote their reporter Andrew Benson.

"If the deal is confirmed, it would mean the end of 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen’s five-year stay at Ferrari."

The Italian media report suggests a salary of 5m Euros is in place for the 20-year-old, for whom the promotion would be a change in approach from the Scuderia who traditionally favour older, more experienced drivers.

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A new twist on the story did the round in Austria on Friday, suggesting Leclerc could move to Ferrari as soon as the Belgian Grand Prix in August, but his team boss at Sauber, Fred Vasseur, was quick to deny.

"We have a contract with Charles until the end of the season and have not talked about the future yet," said the former Renault chief.

"I can understand the rumours in the press, but they have nothing to do with reality."

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes maintained their grip on the top of the timesheets as the Briton led another team 1-2 in the second practice session at the Austrian GP.

During the usual mid-session qualifying simulations, the world champion lowered his morning benchmark with a 1m04.579s to have almost two-tenths in hand over teammate Valtteri Bottas, a handy margin around the shortest lap of the year in terms of lap time.

Sebastian Vettel kept Ferrari in the picture in third, within a quarter of a second of his main championship rival, but Red Bull are struggling a little at their home race with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen both unable to fight the ideal set-up in fourth and fifth respectively.

Kimi Raikkonen was sixth, only just in front of the two Haas cars as the American team once again looks like leading the midfield pack in Spielberg.

Romain Grosjean was seventh for the second consecutive session with teammate Kevin Magnussen the last man within a second of Hamilton in eighth.

Pierre Gasly was ninth for Toro Rosso, but he would cause a red flag towards the end of the low fuel runs after being the biggest casualty of the 'baguette' kerbs at Turns 9 and 10, breaking his front-left suspension and ending up in the gravel.

Several other drivers also suffered damaged floors and had pieces fall off front wings as they ran wide through the high-speed corners.

Completing the top 10 was Stoffel Vandoorne in the McLaren, half a second and eight places ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso, who was one of the drivers who needed a floor change after running wide.

The Belgian was also running the new MGU-K that Renault has brought to Austria and has installed in both their works cars. Neither would feature inside the top 10 all day, however, with Carlos Sainz 11th and Nico Hulkenberg 15th.

Charles Leclerc again looks like a possible Q3 contender in qualifying after managing P12 in second practice with Sauber in general, looking more competitive as Marcus Ericsson sat in 14th.

Force India struggled for pace with Esteban Ocon their lead driver in 13th, six places ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in 19th.

The performance of Sergey Sirotkin was also noteworthy as, having sat out for Robert Kubica in FP1, the Russian stepped in for the afternoon and beat Lance Stroll by three-tenths of a second.

Perhaps the most interesting summary to come from the session was Hamilton's best time came on the Soft compound tyre, supposedly the hardest and slowest compound available this weekend.

His fast laps on the Ultrasoft rubber were often within thousandths of beating it but in the cool, overcast conditions there was very little to choose between all three types of tyre.

Sunnier and warmer weather is predicted for the weekend though, so it will be interesting to see if that changes the complexion of the pecking order in qualifying and the race.

Robert Kubica claims the only path he sees back to racing in Formula 1 again is with Williams despite their ongoing lack of competitiveness.

The Pole, who is currently the reserve and development driver at the Grove-based team, made his second practice appearance of the season at the Red Bull Ring on Friday, completing a condensed test session as the team looks for solutions to their problems.

With just four points to their name this season, thanks to Lance Stroll, Williams sit bottom of the Constructors' Championship and the timesheets at the race where Felipe Massa scored their lack position in 2014.

And asked to weigh up the positives of the current FW41 car, Kubica was pretty harsh with his response.

“Engine. Power unit,” he told ESPN, which of course, comes from Mercedes. 

When asked about the chassis itself he added: “You asked for one!? The livery is nice, colours are nice…”

That fact many don't disagree with as the team runs the famous Martini stripes at least until the end of this year, but with nothing good to say about how it drives, that highlights just how poor the Williams is.

Solutions are possibly in the pipeline before the summer break, and for Kubica, the problem is down to a lack of just one thing.

“There is only one thing which is changing the performance of the car of three seconds or two seconds per lap, its name is downforce," he claimed.

“If you have more downforce, everything becomes much easier, drivers they drive better, engineers they have more room for setup, the tyres are working better because you switch them on earlier and you have less degradation.

“There is no medicine maybe for everything, but there is a big medicine which is downforce in an F1 car.”

Still watching the team's problems from the garage hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of the 2008 Canadian GP winner to one day race for the team.

“I am only targeting to be on the grid with Williams,” Kubica said. “My target is to be in the grid and then we will see.

"Of course, realistically speaking there are not many teams I can realistically end up with or talk with.”

Charles Leclerc has insisted his focus remains on his current task at Sauber, despite speculation he could be off to Ferrari as soon as 2019.

The Monegasque has impressed everyone in his rookie season, pushing the Swiss team forward into positions they have not seen for several years, including a first Q3 appearance since 2015 last weekend in France.

With four points finishes in five races, claims are the Scuderia, where he is the lead academy member, could be willing to take the risk on the 20-year-old and promote him in place of Kimi Raikkonen.

“I am really just focusing and I’m trying to take that off my mind and really try to focus on what I am doing now,” he told RaceFans in Austria.

“As I said in the past I don’t think it’s good – I’m repeating myself every week, unfortunate, I wish I could do something more.

“But I need to focus on this year. It’s not good for me if I’m focusing on what could possibly happen. So, for now, I’m just trying to do the best job possible in the car.”

In a separate interview with Sky Sports though, last year's Formula 2 champion concedes it is his ultimate goal.

“It’s a dream for any driver to be in this red seat and it’s a dream for me too,” he said.

As for Raikkonen, he is now being linked with a move back to McLaren for 2019, potentially replacing Fernando Alonso amid reports Daniel Ricciardo is set to re-sign for Red Bull.

The 38-year-old was typically underwhelming when asked about the possibility in the press conference.

"I have zero interest in getting involved in all the nonsense, in my view," he replied.

“You usually write what you decide yourself, whether it’s true or not. But it’s the same as always, every year, we’ll see.”