Austria practice: Russell ahead of Antonelli and Hamilton, Verstappen P6

This is the last chance for the Formula 1 teams to fine-tune their cars for the final practice session at 4.00 pm and for the Grand Prix on 28 June, starting at 3.00 pm.

The conditions hadn’t changed: blue skies, plenty of sunshine, hot. Or as my late colleague Helmut Zwickl used to say: “I don’t suppose there’ll be any black ice today.” But plenty of ice cream.

Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer quips about the summer heat: “Austria is the new Italy. No, seriously, of course this is not only more gruelling for the drivers, but also for the racing cars. But we’re well prepared when it comes to cooling; we’ve been in the clear in all the races so far in warm temperatures, and we are here too.”

Practice began at 30.8 degrees, with the track at 48.7 degrees, and that’s tricky. Because the engineers know – the track won’t be quite that hot during qualifying. Yet even small differences in temperature can make a big difference when it comes to the delicate handling of the Pirelli tyres.

Sky GP expert Timo Glock knows: “The tyres will be a huge issue in the race too. We already saw on Friday that the drivers are struggling to manage the Pirelli tyres.”

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Budapest: Das Rennen Re-Live

FIA Formula One World Championship

26.07.2026 - 17:15

The first driver on the track: Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez in the Cadillac; the Americans need every lap following major technical problems (including with Valtteri Bottas’s car). The six-time GP winner from Mexico had the Red Bull Ring all to himself for the first ten minutes. The third-place finisher in the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix entertained the fans with a braking error at the first corner.

Where was the second Cadillac? Work was being carried out on the front-left brake of the car driven by the ten-time Grand Prix winner from Finland (and winner of the Austrian Grand Prix in 2017 and 2020).

Colapinto, Hülkenberg, Hadjar – finally a bit more action for the fans, most of whom had been sitting for hours in the scorching sun (my utmost respect!).

Red Bull Racing had had a long night (including at the Milton Keynes race car factory), with the first tentative signs of improvement. Isack Hadjar on the radio: “The car’s balance is quite decent.”

After a quarter of an hour, world champion Lando Norris in the McLaren made his first appearance: 1:07.832 on soft Pirelli tyres, setting the fastest time.

Barcelona GP winner Lewis Hamilton couldn’t keep up; he lost time particularly in the middle section of the track – second fastest, 345 thousandths behind champion Norris.

Mercedes ace George Russell was third, half a second behind leader Norris, with Red Bull Racing driver Hadjar behind him.

Norris on the radio: “My left-hand wing mirror is broken. I don’t know if you’ve got a spare, but we’ll need to either repair it or clean it.” The mirror presumably shattered due to persistent bumping over the Red Bull Ring kerbs.

Oscar Piastri slotted into P2 (just 49 thousandths of a second behind leader Norris), then the fans waited eagerly for championship leader Antonelli and four-time world champion Verstappen.

Kimi Antonelli didn’t disappoint: a new fastest time, just under three tenths faster than Norris.

Max Verstappen caught everyone’s attention: P2 behind Antonelli. He did have some concerns, however: “I’m having issues with my ear protection; we’ll have to change it.” As a reminder, the drivers’ custom-moulded earplugs also contain the speakers for the radio.

Another driver with comfort issues: Oscar Piastri. “We need to add extra padding to the shoulder.”

Then things happened in quick succession: Russell moved up to P2 behind Antonelli and ahead of Verstappen, then Hamilton moved up to P3 ahead of Max.

Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies revealed: “We had Sébastien Buemi in the simulator at the race car factory for half the night to optimise the set-up.”

Verstappen gave his tyres a breather and made another attempt: fastest in the middle section of the track, just under two tenths behind leader Antonelli, in P4.

Standings after 30 minutes: Antonelli, Russell, Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, Norris, Piastri, Gasly, Hadjar and Bortoleto.

On the same set of tyres, Antonelli improved by four tenths – in a league of his own at this stage.

Did you know? Kimi drove his first car race at the Red Bull Ring – in 2021 as part of the Italian Formula 4 series.

Then a sign of life from Charles Leclerc: now third, behind Russell and ahead of Verstappen, with the McLarens now in fifth (Piastri) and sixth (Norris).

With a quarter of an hour to go, there were some fast laps again. Antonelli couldn’t improve on his time with fresh tyres; Verstappen moved up to P2 (235 thousandths behind Kimi), then Norris was second, then Hamilton second, just 77 thousandths behind Antonelli.

New order: Antonelli, Hamilton, Russell (as in the World Championship), then Norris, Verstappen and Leclerc, who skidded off the track at Turn 3 after a nasty braking error; Isack Hadjar did the same shortly afterwards in the Red Bull Racing car.

Finally, Piastri moved ahead of Norris, then George Russell took the lead, his Mercedes now suffering less from the troublesome understeer. Antonelli aborted his final attempt, with two Mercedes at the front.