Steiner singles out Leclerc as carrying more pressure than Russell into Austrian GP

Guenther Steiner has identified Charles Leclerc as the driver under the most pressure at the Austrian Grand Prix, placing the Ferrari man above Mercedes’ George Russell in terms of what he needs to prove at the Red Bull Ring this weekend.

Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, the former Haas team principal offered a direct assessment of the two drivers’ situations. “I think they both have to prove a lot. Who has more to prove? I think Charles because he has got what he wanted now. George never complained about the car,” Steiner said. “So, in the moment, Charles said, ‘This was not working.’ He made a mistake in Barcelona after his b****ing in Monte Carlo. I think he has more to prove than George in Austria.”

Steiner’s reasoning centres on the sequence of events that have defined Leclerc’s season so far. After crashing out of the Monaco Grand Prix, Leclerc switched to the same brake set-up as team-mate Lewis Hamilton for Barcelona. The change did not pay off — Leclerc retired from the Spanish race with a power steering failure while Hamilton went on to claim his first victory with Ferrari.

Russell, by contrast, has kept his frustrations private. The Mercedes driver has not publicly criticised his machinery despite an intense intra-team battle with rookie Kimi Antonelli, which has drawn much of the attention at Brackley in recent weeks.

On track in Austria, the early signs have favoured Mercedes. Antonelli topped both Friday practice sessions, with Russell second in FP1 and sixth in FP2. Russell then set the fastest time in FP3, with Antonelli and Hamilton second and third.

The championship standings underline the scale of Leclerc’s challenge. Antonelli leads the drivers’ title with 156 points, Hamilton is second on 115, Russell third on 106, and Leclerc sits fourth with 75 points — already 81 adrift of the leader.