Andrea Kimi Antonelli dominates Friday in Austria: “The situation could evolve”
After the disappointing outcome of the Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes and Andrea Kimi Antonelli could hardly have asked for a better start to the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. The Formula 1 championship leader topped both Friday practice sessions at the Red Bull Ring, immediately establishing himself as the driver to beat.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli set the pace throughout the opening day, finishing comfortably ahead of his rivals while also putting six tenths of a second between himself and teammate George Russell during FP2. It was a clear demonstration of how well the Italian adapted to the demanding conditions at Spielberg.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli: “Keeping the tyres in the right operating window is crucial”
There was little doubt about Friday’s standout performer. After topping FP1, Andrea Kimi Antonelli repeated the feat in the afternoon session, finishing more than two tenths of a second clear of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.
“It was a clean and productive day for us. From FP1 onwards I felt comfortable in the car, and that gave us a strong foundation for the rest of the day,” the Mercedes driver explained after the session.
Despite the encouraging result, Andrea Kimi Antonelli stressed that managing tyre temperatures will remain one of the biggest challenges throughout the weekend.
“The high temperatures will continue to make things quite difficult, especially when it comes to tyre management. Keeping the tyres within their ideal operating window without overheating them will be very important, so that’s something we’ll continue to focus on.”
Mercedes also has plenty of work ahead overnight. The Austrian Grand Prix marks the debut of a revised battery pack on the W17, introduced primarily to reduce the reliability concerns that have affected the team in recent races—an especially important improvement given the extreme heat expected throughout the weekend.
“We’ve gathered a lot of useful information today, but there’s still plenty of work to do and the situation will probably evolve from one day to the next. We’ll analyse everything carefully and focus on making the right improvements before qualifying.”
George Russell: “McLaren always improves in hot conditions”
George Russell once again found himself trailing his teammate during Friday’s running. While the British driver remained close to Andrea Kimi Antonelli in FP1, the gap expanded dramatically during FP2, growing from just a few hundredths to around six tenths of a second.
Despite that difference, George Russell insisted there was no reason for concern.
“It was only one lap, so there’s nothing to worry about. FP1 was a very solid session, and our race pace in FP2 looked encouraging.”
The British driver admitted, however, that McLaren’s performance had caught Mercedes’ attention.
“I think it’s becoming a pattern in hot races. Miami was the first really hot event and they could have won there. In Barcelona, Lando Norris was just as fast as we were—and as fast as Lewis Hamilton. It seems that whenever the temperatures rise, McLaren takes a step forward while perhaps we lose a little performance.”
Speaking to Sky Sport, George Russell added:
“In FP2 the McLarens looked like they were flying. They had excellent pace from the very first lap, and especially Lando Norris looked extremely strong on the long runs.”
Mercedes responds to the FIA diffuser clarification
Another topic addressed by Mercedes after Friday’s running concerned the revised diffuser introduced following the FIA’s clarification of the technical regulations after questions raised by Ferrari.
For the Austrian Grand Prix, Mercedes arrived with a modified solution fully compliant with the FIA’s latest interpretation.
“The FIA sent us an updated document more than a week ago, so this all happened the week after Barcelona, not this week,” explained Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord.
“They carried out a complete inspection of the geometry before the car even arrived in Montreal. Since then there have obviously been further discussions, and they slightly revised both their interpretation and their point of view. We had a bit of back and forth before bringing an updated solution here. That’s simply part of Formula 1. In reality, there was far more attention on the reporting around the issue than on the actual technical fine-tuning because, overall, it’s a relatively small detail.”
According to Bradley Lord, Mercedes is not concerned about the impact of the revised component.
“These are relatively minor things. Formula 1 is obviously a sport built on marginal gains, where every small detail contributes to the bigger picture, but we’re quite satisfied that we’ve managed to minimise any potential impact. The car seems to be performing very well here in Austria.”
With Andrea Kimi Antonelli leading the field, George Russell optimistic about Mercedes’ race pace and the revised diffuser performing as expected, the Brackley team heads into Saturday in a strong position. However, both drivers recognise that McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull still have plenty of potential to unlock before qualifying begins.
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