The first free practice session of the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, held this Friday, had Andrea Kimi Antonelli, from Mercedes, at the top. The Italian driver recorded a time of 1:07.796, surpassing his teammate, George Russell, and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who completed the top 3. During the session, Gabriel Bortoleto gave up his Audi seat to Paul Aron, complying with the F1 rule that requires the release of four training sessions for reserve drivers with little experience and who have competed in a maximum of two GPs.
Follow all the motorsport updates and details of the Austrian GP so you don’t miss any moment of the competition.
The Austrian GP weekend schedule continues with the second free practice this Friday, at noon. On Saturday, from 7:30 am, the third training session takes place, followed by the qualifying session at 11 am. The main race will be on Sunday, starting at 10am, and all stages will be broadcast on sportv3 and TV Globo, Brasília time.
The practice of including development drivers in free practice was not exclusive to Audi. Other teams also provided track time to their young talents in the first session, similar to what happened at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP. Jak Crawford (Aston Martin), Rio Hirakawa (Haas), Ayumu Iwasa (Racing Bulls), Dino Beganovic (Ferrari) and Luke Browning (Williams) participated.
The starting drivers Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Gabriel Bortoleto will return to their cars in the second practice session, which is scheduled to start at noon (Brasília time).
The event marked the first weekend of the 2026 season under an extreme heat protocol in Formula 1. With temperatures expected to exceed 31ºC at the Spielberg Circuit, all teams had to equip their vehicles with additional cooling systems.
Mercedes demonstrated a strong performance, with Antonelli quickly overtaking his colleague Russell, and the pair remaining at the front on both the medium and soft tyres. The fight for third place was intense, involving Max Verstappen, who faced problems leaving the pits, and rookie Arvid Lindblad, from Racing Bulls. However, Oscar Piastri secured the position in the final moments.
Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top five, improving his time after switching to soft tyres, despite initially falling behind rookie Dino Beganovic in Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. The Ferrari team is using an improved engine in Austria, benefiting from Formula 1’s ADUO program, which aims to balance performance between power unit manufacturers.
See the results of the first free training session
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – 1:07.796
- George Russell (Mercedes) +0s040
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0s117
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0s281
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0s665
- Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0s930
- Lando Norris (McLaren) +1s077
- Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1s166
- Dino Beganovic (Ferrari) +1s258
- Oliver Bearman (Haas) +1s275
- Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1s369
- Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1s685
- Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +1s725
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1s750
- Ayumu Iwasa (Racing Bulls) +1s841
- Alexander Albon (Williams) +1s848
- Paul Aron (Audi) +1s850
- Luke Browning (Williams) +2s183
- Ryo Hirakawa (Haas) +2s697
- Jak Crawford (Aston Martin) +3s406
- Sergio Pérez (Cadillac) +3s487
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3s537
Reduction of Mercedes’ advantage over its opponents
George Russell started practice leading on medium tires, but Antonelli, who was 0.6s behind, quickly overtook him. Although Russell managed to reduce the gap from 1s2 to 0s042 in a new attempt, he was unable to regain the lead, and Antonelli soon extended the advantage with faster laps.
By using the soft tires, Russell managed to reduce his disadvantage, which had reached 0s9, finishing just 0s040 behind Antonelli. The adoption of soft compounds by the other drivers also caused the gap to Mercedes to decrease, with Piastri, in fourth position, just a tenth behind Antonelli’s mark. At the end of the session, the top six placed were separated by less than a second.
Mechanical failures affect the performance of some drivers
The opening session was marked by difficulties for McLaren, who kept Lando Norris stopped in the pits because of a hydraulic failure. He only managed to get on the track in the last 12 minutes and, on medium tires, recorded the seventh fastest time. Oscar Piastri, his colleague, had fewer problems, but reported inconsistencies with the brake pedals.
Red Bull, which presented several updates to the car this weekend, also faced setbacks. Max Verstappen stopped in the pitlane twice, reporting that the car would shut off when engaging the clutch. He had to be taken back to the garage and only managed to get on the track halfway through practice, recording the third best lap on soft tires.
Isack Hadjar, Verstappen’s partner, only left the pits with less than 25 minutes left to finish. In the final third, Sergio Pérez almost stopped on the track in his Cadillac due to an electrical failure, but managed to continue, although minutes earlier he had reported that his cooling system had come loose. The Mexican driver, however, parked permanently in the last minute of the session, causing a red flag.