It was a solid first day on track for Mercedes F1 ahead of the 2026 Austrian GP, as both drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were able to collect plenty of important data during the two Practice sessions.
The championship leader was fastest in both FP1 and FP2, whereas Russell was second only in the morning session, a bit more behind in P6 during the afternoon running.
Bradley Lord warns not to underestimate Ferrari ahead of Austrian GP
The Deputy Team Principal for the German manufacturer broke down the day on both sides of the garage, highlighting the strong reliability and smooth sessions from both pilots.
“I think Barcelona told us that you can’t draw every conclusion from Friday and map it reliably onto Sunday, so it’s been a solid day. Lots of laps done, pretty trouble-free for both cars, some work to do on the balance for the single lap, and again, there’ll still be stuff to do on set-up for the long run as well, but both of them looked pretty handy and pretty competitive, although it’ll be close with McLaren.”
In spite of Antonelli’s strong display, with a 1:07.014 to his name, Lord believes that not only latest race winners Ferrari will catch up, but that McLaren and Red Bull too will be much faster come race time.
“I don’t think we’ve seen everything that Ferrari have got today, and I’m sure Red Bull will be right there when it counts with the big upgrade they’ve brought here as well.”
Challenging tyre conditions are to be expected
Asked to elaborate on the main issue encountered today, Lord explained that tyre degradation, just like at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP, is playing a rather significant role, especially while on Qualifying simulations.
“The main limitation is the same for everyone, the tyres. It’s incredibly hot out there, the tyres will be overheating for everybody and keeping them alive, keeping the rear axle, keeping the goodness on the rear axle for as long as you can so that you can get out of the slow corners and the traction zones, that’s going to be the tricky thing.
“Then on the single lap, having them ready for turn one, but not having them sort of way out of the window and screaming by the end of the lap, that’s going to be the balance everyone needs to strike.”
The Mercedes diffuser saga begun in Montreal finally comes to an end
The Mercedes team representative also clarified a situation recently arisen with his challenger. In fact, the FIA has opted for asking the championship leading team to change the diffuser installed on their w17 following complaints from rival teams due to the peculiarity of its shapes.
Lord went over the timeline of the process with the international organisation, stressing the fact that it had been approved before Montreal but that additional enquiries forwarded from other teams had forced the FIA to take action.
”The FIA sent out a revised document over a week ago, so it was the week after Barcelona, not this week. As you say, they’ve done a full inspection on all of the geometry before it came to the track in Montreal. They’ve clearly had some conversations since then and slightly revised their view and interpretation.
“We’ve had a bit of back and forth and then brought a modified solution here, so I think it’s all part of the game in Formula One, but probably a lot more has been written about it. There’s been a lot more energy going into the reporting than there has into the adapting and fine-tuning because it’s a relatively small beer in overall terms.”
The Brit concluded on a positive note, appreciating the hard work from the engineering team at Brackley gone into attenuating the losses from the change.
“Now, obviously, Formula One is a world of marginal gains and small gains that add up to bigger ones, so every little bit counts, but yeah, I think we’re pretty happy we’ve managed to minimise any potential impact and the car seems to be running pretty well here in Austria as well.”
Antonelli confident already in his pace after just one day in Austria
The Italian Mercedes driver was understandably pleased with his very productive and calm Practice sessions ahead of the Austrian GP, as he mentioned in the team’s post-practice press release.
“It’s been a clean and productive day for us. From FP1 onwards, I’ve felt comfortable in the car, which gave us a good platform to work from as we built through the sessions.
“The hot conditions will continue to make things quite challenging, particularly in terms of tyre management. Keeping the tyres in the right working window without overheating is important, so that’s an area we’ll continue to focus on.”
While noting the key factors to watch out for, in agreement with Lord, Antonelli reckoned there is still time to build on the very positive set-up and data collected from this first track day.
“We’ve gathered a lot of useful information, but there’s still work to do and the picture will likely evolve overnight. We’ll analyse everything in detail and focus on making the right improvements ahead of Qualifying.
“It’s been a solid day overall and a good place to start the weekend. The car felt competitive from the outset, and we’ve got a solid base to work from, but with the margins so tight, it’s clear a few teams are going to be in the fight.”
Russell more subdued ahead of the Red Bull Ring round
The former Williams driver encountered more troubles today compared to his younger teammate, as he suffered more from the intense tyre degradation, which increased his lack of grip. Ultimately, he believe he wasn’t able to maximise the performance of his W17, but is looking forward to additional Practice time tomorrow morning local to try and improve his car feeling.
“From my side, there are still a few areas to improve. It’s clear there’s performance to unlock and those are the kind of steps we can focus on overnight. The long-run pace looked strong in the conditions we’ve seen today, which is encouraging.”
In addition to the lack of feeling, Russell will focus on tyre management, as well as trying to adapt at best to the Austrian track conditions. In his opinion, putting together all these aspects will enable him to secure a top starting spot for the upcoming main event.
“Tyre management is going to be important this weekend, and that is something we will continue to keep on top of throughout the weekend. We’ve got a good foundation to build on and, with a few tweaks, I’m confident we can take a step forward and put ourselves in the mix for qualifying.”
