Perfect Friday: Antonelli Tops Austria FP2 as McLaren Lurks and Cadillac Crumbles
Kimi Antonelli’s Flawless Friday
Following on from FP1, the championship leader continued to show everyone who’s the boss by dominating the second practice session of the weekend. If topping the times wasn’t enough for him, he was also the first driver to break into the 1:07s bracket, using his soft tyres to set the ultimate benchmark of a 1:07.014. The Silver Arrows looked absolutely unstoppable through the sweeping, high-speed sectors of the Red Bull Ring.
Although understeer played a big part in everyone’s suffering, Antonelli managed to minimise it and looked effortlessly quick, showing off that Mercedes is the team to beat this weekend. While Antonelli soared through Spielberg, his British Teammate George Russell had a harder time keeping up with the Italian, barely being able to string a lap together to match reigning World Champion Lando Norris’ early pace on the medium tyres, and ultimately finishing down in P6, not ideally where he wanted to be.
McLaren Ramps Up the Pace
After a gremlin-filled first practice session, the McLarens looked promising in FP2. Aussie favourite Oscar Piastri showed off how fast he could go on the soft tyre, setting a blistering soft tyre run to claim the top spot momentarily before it was snatched away by Antonelli. Piastri ended up finishing P2, his highest practice finish of the weekend, and proving that the Papaya has massive single-run pace around the Styrian Mountains.
Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris looked strong in this session, despite his earlier hydraulic setback in FP1. He was the one to set the early pace for McLaren with a 1:08.000, allowing him to prove that McLaren is still in the fight for the top spot on Sunday, and possibly the championship. Norris was so determined to show off his pace that he found his limit and suffered a dramatic spin and bounced into the run-off area. He also found it quite difficult to stay within track limits at Turns 1, 9 and 10, highlighting his area of weakness around this circuit.
Red Bull and Ferrari Chasing Answers
Formula 1’s favourite Dutchman, Max Verstappen, didn’t have a perfect session of his own. He ended up finishing down in P4 after fighting with his Red Bull over balance in the middle sector. If it’s anything like it was last year, Red Bull doesn’t seem to have much luck at their home race. Last weekend’s winner managed to plant his Ferrari in P5 while looking strong around this circuit, all whilst his Monegasque teammate struggled slightly more with the searing temperatures and only managed P8. Ferrari seems to be losing fractions of a second in the heavy braking zones, so it looks like the Italian team has some work to do to try and get a strong pace for the race on Sunday.
A massive talking point of the session was Red Bull rookie Isack Hadjar. He finished an amazing P7, splitting the two Ferraris. Red Bull seemed to have found a driver who has broken the fabled Red Bull “Second Seat Curse”, and he has been performing really well this season.
Pure Chaos and Reliability Woes
Sergio Perez’s FP1 problems continued into FP2, and his session was a complete washout. Cadillac swapped out his ECU (Engine Control Unit) between the two Friday sessions, but Checo still pulled aside at Turn 6 with problematic issues after just two running laps, triggering the first VSC of the weekend.
It seemed like the Red Bull Ring doesn’t favour Cadillac, as just after 6 laps, Valtteri Bottas reported smoke in his cockpit and limped back into the pit lane, with the mechanics having to put out a fire on the floor of his car. Both Cadillacs finished the session dead last in the time sheets, with zero soft-tyre data, giving them an unhealthy disadvantage heading into the rest of the weekend.
The bottom of the championship wasn’t the only one facing issues. Alex Albon reported that his Williams had no power early on, meaning he only finished P17. Even after his amazing P6 finish in FP1, Arvid Lindblad faced mechanical issues with his VCARB and ultimately finished P12.
So that is Friday running finished. Tomorrow we have FP3 and Qualifying, so will Mercedes continue their Austrian dominance, or will somebody show their worth instead?
