Antonelli edges Russell in Austrian GP FP1 as Norris suffers hydraulic failure

Kimi Antonelli topped first practice at the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday, edging Mercedes team-mate George Russell by 0.040 seconds at a sun-baked Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, while reigning world champion Lando Norris lost the bulk of the session to a hydraulic leak in his McLaren MCL40.

Russell set the early pace on medium tyres, posting a 1m09.898s before both Mercedes drivers switched to softs at the halfway point. Antonelli’s 1m07.796s lap proved the benchmark, with Russell’s best effort — a 1m07.836s — unable to overhaul his team-mate. The pair finished nearly a second clear of the rest of the field at that stage, with other teams either dialling in upgrades or managing reliability problems of their own.

Norris, who leads the drivers’ championship, did not emerge from the garage until the final 15 minutes after a hydraulic leak was discovered on his car. He managed only a seventh-place time on mediums without running the faster soft compound. McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri fared better, working through early brake difficulties to set a 1m07.914s and take third, just 0.117 seconds behind Antonelli.

Max Verstappen’s session was also disrupted, with suspected clutch issues delaying his Red Bull RB22 — a heavily revised package featuring a new floor, sidepods and various other upgrades — by around 20 minutes. The four-time world champion reported a lack of grip and feel throughout, eventually settling for fourth, 0.281 seconds off the pace.

Barcelona winner Lewis Hamilton took fifth in a Ferrari running an upgraded V6 engine, ending up around six tenths adrift of the Mercedes cars. Arvid Lindblad slipped to sixth for Racing Bulls, ahead of Norris in seventh and Franco Colapinto eighth in the Alpine.

With the Austrian Grand Prix a non-sprint weekend on a traditional circuit, teams took the opportunity to run rookies under the mandatory FP1 programme. Dino Beganovic was the quickest of the stand-ins, taking ninth in Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, while Haas regular Oliver Bearman — filling in for a regular seat — rounded out the top ten. Ayumu Iwasa ran 15th in Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls, Paul Aron was 17th deputising for Gabriel Bortoleto at Audi, and Luke Browning took 18th in place of Carlos Sainz at Williams.