Austrian GP: Kimi Antonelli completes Friday practice double as Mercedes team-mate George Russell struggles

Austrian GP: Kimi Antonelli completes Friday practice double as Mercedes team-mate George Russell struggles | F1 News

June 26, 2026:

Austrian GP: Kimi Antonelli completes Friday practice double as Mercedes team-mate George Russell struggles | F1 News

World championship leader Kimi Antonelli completed a Friday practice double at the Austrian Grand Prix with a dominant showing in the second session at the Red Bull Ring.

Having edged his Mercedes team-mate George Russell by just four hundredths of a second in the opening session, Antonelli separated himself from the field later in the day with a time of 1:07.014s.

That put the 19-year-old Italian 0.237s clear of Oscar Piastri in second place, with the Australian’s McLaren team-mate Lando Norris almost a tenth further back in third.

Having appeared closely matched with Antonelli in Practice One, Russell was out of sorts and finished more than six tenths behind his team-mate in sixth.

Max Verstappen was half a second off the pace in his heavily upgraded Red Bull in fourth, edging out Lewis Hamilton, who was unable to back up the speed he showed when claiming his first victory for Ferrari last time out in Barcelona.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar edged out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for seventh, while Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto completed the top 10.

Antonelli’s retirement in Spain following a technical failure resulted in his championship lead over Hamilton being cut to 41 points, but the teenager’s assured showing in Austria on Friday reasserted his status as the clear title favourite.

While McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull will all be confident of making progress overnight after having the chance to further optimise upgrades brought to their cars this weekend, perhaps most concerned of those chasing Antonelli will be Russell.

Since winning the opening race of the season, the Brit has been largely outperformed by Antonelli, who overtook his team-mate in Barcelona for second place moments before suffering the power unit failure that ended his race.

Russell has a major deficit to make up going into Saturday’s final practice and qualifying, with the latter live on Sky Sports F1 at 3pm, but could at least take some comfort from appearing to be more closely matched with Antonelli during Mercedes’ impressive longer race simulation runs later in the session.

There was further woe for 2026 newcomers Cadillac as Sergio Perez stopped on track, just as he had done in the closing stages of the first session.

His team-mate Valtteri Bottas’ car then caught fire in the pit lane as he attempted to limp back to the pits with part of his car floor dragging against the floor.

Austrian GP Practice Two Timesheet


Driver	Team	Time
1) Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:07.014
2) Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+0.237
3) Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.325
4) Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.550
5) Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.597
6) George Russell	Mercedes	+0.623
7) Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+0.744
8) Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.841
9) Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+1.221
10) Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1.286
11) Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1.362
12) Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1.364
13) Oliver Bearman	Haas	+1.518
14) Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+1.545
15) Esteban Ocon	Haas	+1.816
16) Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+1.817
17) Alex Albon	Williams	+1.824
18) Carlos Sainz	Williams	+2.117
19) Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+3.530
20) Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+3.684
21) Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+4.293
22) Sergio Perez	Cadillac	no time set

Sky Sports F1’s live Austrian GP schedule

Saturday June 27
9am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Austrian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Austrian GP Qualifying build-up*
3pm: AUSTRIAN GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday June 28
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: F2 Feature Race
10.50am: Porsche Supercup
12.30pm: Austrian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: THE AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Austrian GP reaction: Chequered Flag
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1’s European season continues with the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

Source link

tags

Abkhazia Afghanistan Africa Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curacao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Northern Cyprus Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Transnistria Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda UK Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay USA Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe