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2026 Austrian GP FP1: Antonelli Tops Dominant Mercedes 1-2, Verstappen and Norris Struck by Reliability Woes

Answer

Confirmed

Kimi Antonelli led a Mercedes 1-2 in FP1 at the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix, posting a 1m 07.796s to head George Russell by 0.040s and Oscar Piastri by 0.117s. Both Red Bulls and Lando Norris lost significant running to reliability issues. Sergio Perez triggered the sole red flag at the end of the session. Six rookies participated. Practice pace is indicative, not predictive.

Top-line result

Kimi Antonelli topped the timesheets in FP1 at the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix.

The championship leader posted a 1m 07.796s, leaving the Italian teenager just 0.040s clear of team mate George Russell, with Oscar Piastri best of the rest and one-tenth further back.

In scorching temperatures, Mercedes re-established itself at the top of the timesheets, with Antonelli leading Russell in a 1-2 for the team; Oscar Piastri was third fastest ahead of Max Verstappen, who recovered well from an early reliability problem. ^[1]

Full top-ten classification

Pos	Driver	Team	Best lap	Gap
1	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1m 07.796s	,
2	George Russell	Mercedes		+0.040s
3	Oscar Piastri	McLaren		+0.117s
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull		+0.281s
5	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari		+0.665s
6	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls		+0.930s
7	Lando Norris	McLaren		+1.077s
8	Franco Colapinto	Alpine		+1.166s
9	Dino Beganovic	Ferrari		+1.258s
10	Oliver Bearman	Haas		+1.275s

Antonelli posted a 1m 07.796s, which left him 0.040s clear of Russell, with Piastri best of the rest and one-tenth further back. ^[1] Piastri headed Verstappen, Hamilton and Arvid Lindblad's Racing Bulls machine, as the top 10 was completed by Norris, Alpine's Franco Colapinto, Dino Beganovic (in for Charles Leclerc at Ferrari) and Oliver Bearman's Haas; Nico Hulkenberg's Audi was P11 from Isack Hadjar, Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Ayumu Iwasa (in for Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls) and Alex Albon's Williams. ^[2]

Red flag: Perez stops at Turn 3

Cadillac's Sergio Perez caused the only red flag of the session when he stopped one minute before the chequered flag. ^[8] Perez's Cadillac suddenly broke down on the run up the hill to Turn 3 in the closing minutes of the first hour of running. ^[4] With Perez coming to a halt, drivers did not have an opportunity to conduct practice starts on the grid at the end of the session as normal. ^[4] The session was not restarted.^[9]

Reliability issues dominated the first half

One driver unable to make it out on track was Max Verstappen, the Dutchman's Red Bull coming to a stop in the pit lane before being wheeled back to the garage as the four-time World Champion complained his car kept dropping into anti-stall. ^[1] The four-time world champion twice stopped in the pit lane and lost early running due to software glitches on his RB22; team mate Isack Hadjar was stuck in the garage for half an hour as Red Bull fixed a problem with his power unit. ^[4]

Reliability woes also struck reigning world champion Lando Norris, who suffered an early setback after McLaren encountered a hydraulic leak on his MCL40, keeping him garage-bound for 45 minutes. ^[4] A hydraulic leak kept Norris out of his McLaren MCL40 until the final 15 minutes of the session. ^[3] Oscar Piastri did make it out earlier, initially struggling with his brakes before setting a 1m 07.914s lap to go third, just 0.117s behind Antonelli's chart-topping effort. ^[3]

The FIA had declared a heat hazard for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Track temperatures reached 50°C during the session. ^[1]

:::analysis Mercedes arrived in Austria needing a response after Lewis Hamilton's Barcelona win for Ferrari ended the Silver Arrows' unbeaten run. The dominant 1-2 here suggests the W17 suits the Red Bull Ring's power-sensitive layout, but both cars were on fresh soft rubber for their benchmark laps and the session ran in extreme heat that affected tyre behaviour across the field. The gaps to Verstappen (0.281s) and Hamilton (0.665s) are partly inflated by the two Red Bulls' loss of early running and Ferrari's apparent choice to explore engine-mode options rather than chase outright pace. Norris' 1.077s deficit means very little after just a handful of flying laps with a compromised car. None of this translates reliably to qualifying or race trim. Practice pace is indicative, not predictive. :::

Notable incidents beyond the red flag

Championship leader Antonelli suffered a lock-up at Turn 1 and took to the run-off area, as did Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton at Turn 3. ^[1] McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull all trialled experimental 'Macarena' wing configurations.

Red Bull arrived armed with a seven-part upgrade package, its most aggressive upgrade push of the season so far. ^[5] Verstappen said he was struggling with a lack of grip and feel in the heavily revised Red Bull RB22, which features a new floor, sidepods and various other upgrades. ^[3]

Mandatory rookie FP1 outings

After seven rookie drivers appeared in FP1 at Barcelona, six teams fielded a rookie in Friday's opening practice at the Austrian Grand Prix; F1's regulations state that every full-time driver must make way for a rookie (someone who has started no more than two Grands Prix) in two practice sessions across the season. ^[6]

The six substitutions were as follows:^[7]

Rookie	Team	Race driver replaced
Dino Beganovic	Ferrari	Charles Leclerc
Ayumu Iwasa	Racing Bulls	Liam Lawson
Ryo Hirakawa	Haas	Esteban Ocon
Luke Browning	Williams	Carlos Sainz
Paul Aron	Audi	Gabriel Bortoleto
Jak Crawford	Aston Martin	Lance Stroll

Dino Beganovic was the fastest of the six rookie runners in ninth place as he stood in for Charles Leclerc at Ferrari. ^[4] Ayumu Iwasa was 15th in Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls machine; Paul Aron deputised for Gabriel Bortoleto in the Audi and claimed 17th; Luke Browning deputised for Carlos Sainz at Williams and was 18th-fastest, with Ryo Hirakawa 19th in Esteban Ocon's Haas and Jak Crawford 20th as he replaced Aston Martin's Lance Stroll. ^[3]

Ferrari's Dino Beganovic stepped into Charles Leclerc's SF-26, continuing to build on his FP1 experience; the Swedish Ferrari Driver Academy member, currently racing in Formula 2, already has previous FP1 outings under his belt from 2025. ^[7] Ryo Hirakawa, the 2022 Le Mans winner and TGR Haas reserve driver, took the wheel of the VF-26 in place of Esteban Ocon. ^[7]

:::analysis Beganovic's P9 finish in a competitive Ferrari tells us more about the car's baseline than about the rookie himself; the SF-26 was comfortably the class of the non-Mercedes machinery in the first half of the session. Iwasa's P15 in the Racing Bulls is harder to read given that the car exhibited severe balance problems all session. Crawford's P20 in a backmarker Aston Martin is roughly where pre-session expectations sat. None of the rookies set a time that warrants extrapolation to the race weekend proper. :::

What to watch in FP2

Red Bull will be anxious to gather data on its seven-part upgrade package after both cars lost so much running time. McLaren needs a clean session to understand whether the 'Macarena' rear wing is worth running in qualifying trim. Ferrari's engine-mode strategy in FP2 will reveal whether Hamilton's P5 understated the SF-26's true one-lap potential. The FIA heat-hazard protocol remains active, so track evolution and tyre behaviour at 50°C-plus surface temperatures will shape how representative any times prove to be.

Practice pace is indicative, not predictive. This article is editorial analysis and does not constitute betting advice.