Antonelli dominates Austrian GP practice as Ferrari's new engine upgrade misfires

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli set the pace across both Friday practice sessions at the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg, with Mercedes emerging as the clear frontrunner ahead of Saturday’s qualifying — while Ferrari’s much-anticipated power unit upgrade produced almost no visible benefit.

Antonelli finished 0.06 seconds per lap ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell in adjusted long-run calculations after FP2, the session traditionally used to simulate race conditions with heavy fuel loads. McLaren held second place as a team but already trailed by an adjusted 0.21 seconds per lap, and excessive tyre degradation remained a persistent problem for the reigning constructors’ champions despite competitive early-stint pace.

Ferrari’s upgrade fails to fire

Ferrari arrived in Austria buoyed by its victory in Spain and carrying a new power unit update, but Friday delivered a sobering reality check. Lewis Hamilton was 0.597 seconds off the pace in FP2, with an adjusted long-run deficit of 0.51 seconds per lap to Antonelli. Charles Leclerc, who shared his car with rookie Dino Beganovic during the opening session, fared even worse — 0.841 seconds behind Antonelli in qualifying simulation and 0.97 seconds adrift over race-pace runs.

Data analysis pointed to Ferrari losing the bulk of its time through the more technical second and third sectors of the Red Bull Ring, with the gap to Mercedes considerably smaller in the shorter, top-speed-dependent first sector. The upgrade that was supposed to build on the Barcelona momentum instead left the Scuderia struggling to explain a performance that bore little resemblance to the car seen the previous weekend.

McLaren’s tyre trouble echoes Barcelona

McLaren’s Friday mirrored a pattern that emerged in Spain. Oscar Piastri looked sharp over a single lap — 0.237 seconds behind Antonelli and ahead of teammate Lando Norris, who was 0.325 seconds back — but the picture deteriorated sharply once fuel loads increased. Piastri’s adjusted long-run deficit to Mercedes reached 0.50 seconds per lap, with tyre degradation identified as the primary culprit, just as it had been at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Pirelli added a further complication to race strategy calculations, warning that tyre degradation levels at Spielberg could be severe enough to force drivers into at least two pit stops — a factor that may benefit Mercedes if its apparent tyre-management advantage holds through to Sunday.

With qualifying still to come, Mercedes holds a commanding position heading into the weekend, while Ferrari and McLaren face significant work to close a gap that, on Friday’s evidence, is larger than either team would have anticipated.