30/09/2017
NEWS STORY
A late scare in FP3 for Sebastian Vettel turned out to be engine related, necessitating the German using the last unit from his allocation.
The pace-setter for much of the morning - until teammate Kimi Raikkonen went quicker - Vettel's hopes of closing the 28-point gap to title rival Lewis Hamilton took a severe knock when he encountered what is understood to be an electrics issue late in the session.
As a result, Ferrari opted to change his internal combustion engine (ICE), using the power unit that was scheduled to be introduced next week in Japan.
While it is the fourth unit allowed to the German before he starts incurring penalties, it is the much talked about latest spec unit that Ferrari was holding back on until Japan or possibly Austin.
With an eye on that title gap and the fact that Mercedes is clearly on the back foot here, Vettel will be hoping that this particular cloud has a silver lining.