LEWIS Hamilton feared a last-gasp spin in qualifying had cost him pole position at today's Austrian Grand Prix - only for the same fate to befall team-mate Nico Rosberg seconds later.

Remarkably, both Mercedes drivers spun off the track as they looked to push their cars as close to the limit as possible - with reigning champion Hamilton the man to take pole after a stunning earlier lap.

Hamilton's spin-off came at turn one on what would have been his final flying lap, while Rosberg's more spectacular spin was at the final corner as he homed in on his team-mate's provisional pole.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel again came home as the best of the rest to take third as Hamilton sealed a seventh pole in eight races this year, although he did worry it had slipped from his grasp.

"It was quite a difficult qualifying session," the 30-year-old said. "I was grateful that I got my best lap in early in Q3. I'm always pushing for that bit extra in the next run. I wasn't too particularly concerned about it [potentially losing pole] at the time. But naturally, shortly afterwards I was like 'You know, I probably lost it there'."

Hamilton also revealed his team had said he was not at fault for the spin - something that cheered him up in his debrief.

"I thought that I had made a mistake going into turn one," he added. "I have been with the engineers and it doesn't look like it was. They are investigating to try to understand and that is comforting for me. I was angry at myself, but it is a combination of things we are trying to understand."

Rosberg had looked to have the beating of his title rival, running quicker than Hamilton in every session ahead of qualifying.

But he will now have to beat the Briton on the track as he looks to close the 17-point gap at the top of the drivers' championship and, unlike Hamilton, he admitted he may have made an error.

"I only saw the onboard footage of myself so I'm not sure," the German said when asked what caused his spin. "If there was some indication of spray when I went over the Astroturf, that is likely to be the reason - if not, it is the driver braking too late, that would probably be the reason."

Hamilton equalled Vettel's haul of 45 poles to move level in third place on the all-time list.

While four-time world champion Vettel was again the man to get closest to the Mercedes, he could not show the sort of pace in qualifying he had promised over the course of practice.

Vettel joked after the session that he had been looking for inspiration in his musical choices ahead of the qualifying hour.

When asked what he was listening to when shown on television with headphones on, he replied: "Help! from the Beatles.

"I need help, they [Mercedes] are too quick. If you know how to fix it, please let us know. We are always ready and always fight and wait for our chances. So far it has been quite difficult because they are so bloody quick but we will try tomorrow. Hopefully we can be a bit closer. We're ready to attack and try our best."

The 19-race pole position lock-out for Mercedes was last broken here last year when Felipe Massa took top spot for Williams. He qualified fourth this time, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas sixth and Nico Hulkenberg fifth in his Force India.

Max Verstappen qualified seventh, with Daniil Kvyat eighth for Red Bull - although he will take a 10-place grid penalty.

Sauber's Felipe Nasr was ninth, with the Lotus of Romain Grosjean sitting out the final session due to technical problems.

An element of farce was added to the session with McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button each facing 25-place grid penalties in a field of just 20 cars for exceeding their allocation of power unit components.

Alonso qualified 15th and Button 17th, meaning they will have to serve time penalties today as well as starting from the back.