Austrian GP FP2 report: Mercedes strengthens its advantage, Ferrari left chasing

Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari 2026 F1

After Mercedes impressed during the opening practice session at the Austrian Grand Prix, Formula 1 teams returned to the Red Bull Ring for FP2, a session traditionally regarded as far more representative of the competitive order. With all regular race drivers back in their cars, the focus shifted to qualifying simulations on low fuel before moving on to long-run pace assessments.

Before looking at how the session unfolded, here are the operating conditions at Spielberg:

Air temperature: 32°C
Track temperature: 50°C
Humidity: 27%
Wind: 2.1 m/s from the north-east

Austrian GP 2026 FP2 summary

Hot conditions once again defined the second hour of practice in Austria. Ferrari wasted no time sending Lewis Hamilton onto the circuit on the medium-compound Pirelli tyres, while Charles Leclerc soon joined him using the same compound after sitting out FP1 in favour of Dino Beganovic. Both Ferrari SF-26 cars continued to run the newly introduced ADUO-1 power unit.

There was plenty of early action as all of the frontrunners headed out on the C4 compound. However, the session was quickly interrupted by a Virtual Safety Car after Sergio Perez’s Cadillac stopped once again, following the reliability issues that had already affected him at the end of FP1. This time the Mexican pulled over at Turn 6, with the interruption lasting almost ten minutes before the session resumed.

Once the green flag returned, McLaren initially occupied the top two positions, although lap times remained slower than those recorded during the morning session, leaving considerable room for improvement. Andrea Kimi Antonelli soon split the two McLarens, while Ferrari remained in the background at this stage, with Lewis Hamilton sixth and Charles Leclerc seventh.

Still running on the medium tyres, Andrea Kimi Antonelli raised the pace even further by posting a 1:07.657 to move into first place. Meanwhile, Cadillac’s difficult day continued as Valtteri Bottas also encountered technical problems, suggesting the American team’s latest upgrade package was creating more headaches than expected.

Oscar Piastri was the first of the leading drivers to switch to the soft C5 tyres, with Lewis Hamilton following shortly afterwards. As the final 30 minutes approached, the qualifying simulations began in earnest. Oscar Piastri immediately climbed to the top of the timing screens, while Lewis Hamilton slotted into second, just 0.360 seconds behind.

The rest of the field soon completed their soft-tyre runs. Lando Norris moved ahead of Lewis Hamilton before Andrea Kimi Antonelli reclaimed first place with a 1:07.209. Charles Leclerc finished his qualifying simulation in sixth, around two tenths slower than his Ferrari team-mate, with George Russell’s Mercedes separating the two Ferrari drivers.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli then completed a second push lap on the same set of soft tyres, improving by a few hundredths to record a session-best 1:07.014. Red Bull also found more pace, with Max Verstappen climbing to fourth and Isack Hadjar taking seventh, pushing Charles Leclerc down to eighth. Lewis Hamilton ended the qualifying simulations in fifth, while George Russell could do no better than sixth despite driving the same Mercedes W17 as the session leader, finishing 0.623 seconds adrift.

Attention then turned to race simulations, with most teams returning to the medium tyres for longer fuel-corrected runs. Mercedes once again impressed, as Andrea Kimi Antonelli demonstrated excellent consistency over a race stint, while George Russell produced very similar pace. Friday’s running suggested that the W17 has arrived in Austria in extremely competitive form, leaving Ferrari with significant work to do if it hopes to close the performance gap over both a single lap and race distance.