Kimi Antonelli continued his strong form, topping the timesheets during FP2 at the 2026 F1 Austrian GP, view the full report here.
The weekend began with a rookie-filled FP1, which ended with a Mercedes 1-2 led by championship leader Kimi Antonelli. However, the opening session also saw several setbacks with Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar, and Lando Norris losing valuable track time due to reliability issues and car changes. Additionally, Cadillac’s Sergio Pérez brought out a late red flag after stopping on the track on the run to Turn 3.
Green light!
Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were the first drivers to head out on track, as others followed on medium and hard tyres. While Norris claimed the top spot with a 1:08.000, Alex Albon promptly returned to the pit lane after his out-lap, reporting that he had “no power.”
A Virtual Safety Car was triggered 10 minutes into the session after Pérez stopped on track, despite having his ECU changed following his FP1 struggles. Verstappen returned to the garage during the interruption after sharing that something about his seat didn’t feel quite right. The session resumed with 44 minutes left.
Heading back to normal speeds, Franco Colapinto struggled with understeer, running through the gravel, while Norris went deep at Turn 3. On the following lap, the Brit caused a brief yellow flag after losing control of his McLaren and spinning around at the same corner.
Cadillac’s misfortune continues
Halfway through the session, Antonelli managed to go quicker than Norris by 0.343s, taking P1. Moments later, Valtteri Bottas returned to the pits to end his session as smoke came out of his Cadillac cockpit. It turned out there was a suspension problem.
As almost all drivers switched to soft tyres, times continued to improve with Oscar Piastri storming to the top. However, his lead didn’t last long as Antonelli returned to the top, sitting only 0.042s ahead of Piastri. Hamilton was forced to abort his push lap after locking up before going off into one of the run-off areas at the Red Bull Ring.
With 20 minutes left, Antonelli led the FP2 session, followed by Piastri, Norris, Hamilton, and Russell completing the top five.
Final moments of FP2 at the 2026 F1 Austrian GP
Despite bringing significant upgrades to their home race, Red Bull’s Verstappen and Hadjar continued to struggle to break into the top three, sitting P4 and P7, respectively. Both drivers shared their frustration over the radio as Verstappen nearly lost it at Turn 1, while Hadjar made a mistake at Turn 3.
Heading into the final minutes of the session, Antonelli remained at the top ahead of Piastri and Norris with a strong time of 1:07.014.
