Lewis Hamilton will start the Austrian Grand Prix in eighth place with title rival Sebastian Vettel second behind Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton, who started the weekend knowing he would drop five grid places because of a gearbox penalty, had a scrappy session, with numerous mistakes.

Being in eighth rather sixth means Hamilton has a tougher task getting into the podium positions.

He will have to negotiate a way past Force India’s Sergio Perez, Grosjean and both Red Bulls before he gets in the mix with the other drivers in the top two teams.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen completed the top four but was 0.486secs slower than Vettel – a significant margin on one of the shortest laps of the year.

Raikkonen was only just ahead of the Red Bulls, with Daniel Ricciardo ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen for the first time since the Russian Grand Prix at the end of April.

Verstappen had a difficult session, a number of mistakes ending with a spin at Turn Five as he complained of a lack of grip and balance.