Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest time in both practice sessions for the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday (Saturday NZ Time).
Hamilton qualified third, but had to start from eighth on the grid after getting a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
Hamilton, who trails Ferrari's Vettel by 14 points in the drivers' standings, could only manage the third-quickest time, nearly two-tenths of a second behind Bottas.
Hamilton said he was disappointed not to be able complete his move on Ricciardo.
"So it's about time that this changes, the momentum goes in the other direction".
"We had to swap out a spark plug during FP2 (the second session), but the guys did a great job to turn the auto around and we still managed to complete our programme", Hamilton said.
At the Red Bull Ring, Hamilton never got close enough to Vettel's Ferrari for any such wheel to wheel action. As we said earlier, this was his fifth consecutive podium, and the Red Bull driver will present one of them significant factors in the title race during the rest of the season. Three years ago in Austria, he finished a brilliant second from ninth on the grid, but Ferrari is much quicker now.
It was the Finn's second win of the season following his triumph at the Russian Grand Prix, his maiden career victory. I commented saying Valtteri jumped so in the end he didn't jump but for sure he got a bit lucky.
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According to the report, the 23-year-old, who can operate as a winger or as a central midfielder, is rated at £25 million. It is a tactic that Liverpool are now employing with Emre Can in the hopes of persuading him to sign on to a new contract.
Hamilton will need a better day in order to do so.
Nearing the end of the session, Hamilton went off the track with some smoke pouring out the side of his auto.
The team said it was a brake disk failure, which will be resolved in time for qualifying. Lewis Hamilton won on the three previous occasions, and we are sure that he is going to do everything to extend this fantastic run and cut down the point deficit between him and Vettel.
Hamilton will start Sunday's race on super-soft tyres - the only driver in the top ten to do so - in the hope that he can repeat the teenager's example.
With such a jumbled mid-field, it will be an interesting race to see whether some of the buried runners in the Williams cars and Renaults can make their way up to join Force India and Haas.
Pushing hard to get a quicker final lap, Dutch driver Max Verstappen span his Red Bull into the gravel. He finished fifth, with Vettel fourth. He'll take some shifting from pole, though when he topped qualifying in Bahrain, he was overhauled by Vettel and came in third.
Hamilton failed to find his best level in Q3, calling his drive "so-so".
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