What the teams said – Friday in Austria

McLaren

Mclaren had a strong opening session, despite Norris being on the sidelines. Dunne was driving in an FP1 session for the first time and impressed many by finishing fourth, less than a tenth back from Piastri’s time. Norris wasted no time getting going in FP2 though, jumping to the top of the timing sheets and staying there. He wound up well over a tenth clear of his team mate, and looks well placed to fight for pole tomorrow. But Piastri often takes longer to build into the weekend, so cannot be discounted just yet.

Oscar Piastri - FP1: 1:05.697, P3; FP2: 1:04.737, P2

“It was a decent Friday. The pace looks strong, and the car is feeling good. There are a few things to try and work on overnight to make sure we can maximise Quali, but I’m in a happy place at the moment and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Lando Norris - FP2: 1:04.580, P1

“A good day on track to start the weekend. I had to play a bit of catch-up in FP2, but Alex did a good job this morning to give the team important feedback on where we could improve the car for the second session. We took some more positives steps forward, so I’m feeling good but will work with the team overnight to make sure I feel completely happy on the limit tomorrow.”

Alex Dunne - FP1: 1:05.766, P4

“I’m very happy with how today went. I knew going into the session that the goal wasn’t performance, it was to run through a test plan and help the team prepare for the weekend, so to be also able to show some pace at the end felt great.

“In terms of the session itself, it was nice and clean. Running the rakes to begin with meant I was able to gather valuable data for the team and support with comparisons. I was able to put it all together and make sure I applied what I needed to from the learning we did in the TPC tests and on the sim, so thank you to the team for preparing me so well.

“I want to say a massive thank you to Zak, Andrea, Alessandro, Stephanie, Warren, and everyone at McLaren for giving me the opportunity, I am very grateful and, as I said at the end of the session on the radio, a little boy’s dream came true today.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

"It's been a productive Friday in Austria with both sessions running smoothly today. It was great to be able to give Alex the opportunity to take part in his debut FP1 session as part of his progress within our Driver Development Programme. Alex did a good job driving Lando’s car in the first session, working his way through a quite extensive plan of testing with some new parts, some rake work and multiple adjustments of settings on the steering wheel before a solid performance run. We have collected important data which the team, Lando and Oscar have available overnight to take into Saturday. Thank you and well done to Alex for his contribution.

“Whilst Oscar completed his run plan in FP2, Lando returned to the MCL39 and was immediately on the pace and able to learn about the car and tyres. Overall, a positive Friday but we know that the field is very competitive, and we will have to maximise all the opportunities.”

Mercedes

Russell picked up where he left off in Canada, quickest on both the hard compound tyre and then the soft. He set his time early too, and despite the track gripping up, no one could beat him. Antonelli was a shade behind after a scrappy few laps on the softs where he ran wide at times. It was much the same in FP2, Russell quick, Antonelli not quite at home on this track just yet. But Russell did not wind up top this time, the McLarens proving the class of the field. He did set his time a bit earlier again though, so was not as far back as it seems.

George Russell - FP1: 1:05.542, P1; FP2: 1:05.229, P6

"We struggled a bit today, but the afternoon session was aligned with our pre-weekend expectations. We had strong single lap pace in FP2 which was a slight surprise for us. The car balance felt good but jumping into FP2, we took a little bit of a step back. We will look into that overnight and aim to return towards the sweet spot we found within the first hour of practice.

"We’ll be doing our best tomorrow but seeing the McLarens pace, we might struggle to fight for pole position. Hopefully we can be in the mix for the top five, but we are also aware of how much race pace dictates your result here. The tarmac is abrasive here and managing that has not been a strength of ours recently. We will work hard to optimise the car though and see what we can do over the rest of the weekend."

Kimi Antonelli - FP1: 1:06.130, P11; FP2: 1:05.537, P11

"It was a pretty tricky day overall but still a positive one with lots of learnings. I was feeling good at the start of both FP1 and FP2 but the track being this short, it’s always a challenge to get a good single lap. I didn’t feel that I optimised any of my laps on the softest compound, making a few mistakes here or there. I will focus on improving that in FP3, so I am ready heading into Qualifying.

"My long runs were more promising, though. Our pace looked decent throughout and the overall balance of the car felt good. We know that a circuit with tarmac that is as abrasive as it is here usually makes our life difficult. Hopefully the recent steps we have taken with the W16 will have helped in this area, but we will only know come the Grand Prix on Sunday. For now, we know which areas we need to work on overnight and hopefully can take another step forward with the car as we head into the weekend."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"We had a solid start to the weekend in FP1. The overall car balance was good, and we looked strong on the single lap. We had focused more on the long run through and were able to get decent data; all seemed in a reasonable place in terms of pace and degradation.

"We looked less competitive in the second session on the single lap, however. The wind direction changed somewhat and that didn't suit us. We also made some changes that may have hurt the balance, but we can look at those on the simulator overnight. The long run still looked decent thanfully and as we had got started on that programme earlier than others, we were able to complete more laps. McLaren still look like the ones to beat, which is not a surprise at a track like this, but we're reasonably content with today as a starting point for our weekend."

Red Bull

Both Verstappen and Tsunoda locked up in the opening session, complaining about their brakes and the balance of the RB21. But in the Dutchman’s hands at least the Red Bull looked quick on the soft tyres as he got the closest to Russell’s time. He was the last to come out in FP2, and got the closest to the papaya cars – despite being on heavily used soft tyres for that run. As such, there is time out there for Verstappen tomorrow. Tsunoda improved as the day continued, winding up in the top 10 in the second session.

Max Verstappen - FP1: 1:05.607, P2; FP2: 1:04.898, P3

“Overall today was quite straightforward and we didn’t have any big issues. In terms of pace we had a bit too much understeer in the car on the short run and the long run, so that is something that we have to try and get rid of ahead of tomorrow. I think so far, today has been really good with Simon, I have known him for a long time on the other side of the garage as well as working with him in the SIM. He has a lot of experience so it has been very very good today, he is straight up and it was nice."

Yuki Tsunoda - FP1: 1:06.262, P17; FP2: 1:05.292, P7

“Everything went in the right direction from FP1 to FP2. We are still missing bits but I can find positives and we will work through it more overnight to keep the momentum going. I am feeling a good confidence in the car, I like this kind of track and attacking into the very high speeds you need confidence. With that, the feeling in FP2 with the car was much better and that is what I need, I don’t need more than that. I am still learning about this car and I need to have a good build up into the sessions that matter this weekend. We have had a good approach so far and I just have to put it all together tomorrow.”

Ferrari

Beganovic was in the SF-25 in place of Leclerc, and spent much of his early running with aero rakes on his car. As did Hamilton, the team testing out their new floor here. They ran into issues midway through the session, Hamilton having a gearbox problem while the team needed to take Beganovic’s car apart, which limited his running. Leclerc was able to run for the entirety of FP2, although he did have one big moment – running wide through the gravel and over the grass. He was the quicker of the two Ferrari drivers in the early evening session, Hamilton complaining about a lack of pace out there.

Charles Leclerc - FP2: 1 :05.190, P5

"I jumped into the car for the first time in FP2 today and I felt at ease on the track, but not quite there yet in terms of the feeling I had in the car. As usual, our race pace is good, while we have some work to do in order to improve our qualifying trim, so that we can start further ahead and fight at the front of the pack on Sunday."

Lewis Hamilton - FP1: 1:06.099, P9; FP2: 1:05.511, P10

"We missed some running in FP1 due to a gearbox issue, which set us back a little. FP2 went smoother, but we’re still not quite where we want to be in terms of pace. There’s work to do overnight, and we’ll keep looking for the right adjustments with the team."

Dino Beganovic - FP1: 1:06.369, P18

"It was a productive day on my side, as I was able to complete our programme supporting the team in gathering data which will be useful at a later stage. Obviously being able to run in an F1 car again feels extremely good, even more so when you’ve got the Prancing Horse on your race suit. I want to thank Scuderia Ferrari HP and the Academy for this opportunity.

"Now I will switch back my focus to Formula 2, doing my best to bring home some good results this weekend."

Williams

It took both Williams drivers a few laps to get the balance right on the soft tyre, but once they did they both landed solidly in the top 10. Add in the fact that Sainz was very quick on the mediums, and the team had a strong opening session. But FP2 did not go to plan, both cars lacking pace throughout. Neither Sainz nor Albon could extract any speed from the car on the softs, whatever changes they had made between sessions backfiring. They need to find a better set-up for tomorrow if they want to be a factor for Q3.

Alex Albon - FP1: 1:05.946, P7; FP2: 1:05.765, P16

"Yes, we're a little bit confused ourselves as well. It's not feeling terrible up there, but it's not feeling fantastic. We need to understand the wind change.

"We know that we don't like certain winds which might have hit us in a non-favourable way. Also, we're still okay on the harder compounds. It seems like when we put on the Softs we fall back. We need to figure that out. We need to experiment a bit in FP3 and we've always been able to bounce back to a certain point.

"The track should be much hotter tomorrow, which means it kind of resets anyway. For tomorrow, I'm confident if we can get the tyre working, I think we should have the car and we've got the race pace, so let's see."

Carlos Sainz - FP1: 1:06.017, P8; FP2: 1:05.814, P17

"Overall, I think our performance has been encouraging despite the time sheet after FP2. We clearly had some issues putting a lap together on the Soft tyre, but on the Medium and Hard tyres I felt very competitive out there.

"Compared to other teams, we are struggling to maintain the grip through the lap on the Soft tyre. We will look into it closely tonight. Our race pace seems okay, so we’ll try to find answers for the softer compound and improve as the weekend goes by."

Racing Bulls

Hadjar and Lawson were both testing out new parts in FP1, Hadjar on the rear wing, Lawson on the front wing. It was the former who found a set-up to his liking, managing to sneak into the top 10. But when the team made some set-up changes between sessions, they managed to create an issue for Lawson, who immediately had problems with his steering wheel at the start of FP2. As such he also locked up and damaged his hard tyres, which was far from ideal. The team rectified the issue, but it did cost the Kiwi some running.

Isack Hadjar - FP1: 1:06.110, P10; FP2: 1:05.547, P13

“It was similar between FP1 and FP2 today. I felt a bit more comfortable in the car during FP2, but here at the Red Bull Ring, all the margins in the field are extremely tight. With just a couple of tenths more, it’s possible to gain more than a few places. It won't be easy tomorrow to make it to Q3; it seems the Astons are faster than us at the moment, but obviously it will be important to put it all together and we’ll give our all to get through it."

Liam Lawson - FP1: 1:06.189, P15; FP2: 1:05.543, P12

“It’s close on track so far this weekend, it’s a very short lap around here, which naturally leads to close lap times, and given how tight the grid has been all season Qualifying will be extremely competitive. Our car is in a decent place, but like everyone else, we’re still chasing improvements. For now we’re in an ok window and there’s still time to extract more pace. Traffic in Q1 will be a challenge, so managing tyre temperatures and out lap procedures will be crucial. We will need to manage the best we can and hopefully it all pays off.”

Alan Permane, Racing Director

“Today has been a productive day for us, and the car appears to be in a good position. The drivers are reasonably happy, although there is still some work to be done to find the last tenths. Overnight we will see what areas we can improve in to test in FP3 tomorrow. One challenge is today’s cooler temperatures compared to the much hotter conditions expected on Sunday, this is something we’ll need to factor in when considering the tyre degradation and race strategy. We’ve seen all three compounds used today on long and short runs and they could all feature on Sunday.”

Aston Martin

Alonso had the biggest moment in the opening hour of practice, setting off for a push lap with tyres that were not adequately warmed up. That led to a spin out of the final corner, which was accompanied by a rueful radio message. But the better news for the team is that Stroll looks to have bounced back from a difficult weekend in Canada. He wound up fourth fastest in FP2, and Aston Martin certainly look to have a car capable of Q3 come Qualifying.

Fernando Alonso - FP1: 1:06.170, P14; FP2: 1:05.457, P9

"I'm feeling better after the last few races. With the last two in the points, the car feels like it's coming alive again. It's still not quite in the right window, but we will see how we progress as we go into the weekend.

"It's really close out there, so we need to nail the lap in Qualifying tomorrow and make sure our race pace is strong too."

Lance Stroll - FP1: 1:06.170, P13; FP2: 1:05.022, P4

"It feels good to be back in Austria – it's a great track and I always enjoy coming back here so I'm looking forward to this weekend.

"We've seen some improvements in the car over the last few weeks and we'll try to do the best we can here. It's still early in the weekend for us to say where we're at compared to everyone else, but the car is feeling good so far and we got through our run plan for the day so we'll see tomorrow how it goes."

Kick Sauber

Kick Sauber have brought more upgrades here, and given how well their last package went, there were high hopes from the team. Bortoleto was solidly in the top 10 in FP1 to raise hopes, even if Hulkenberg couldn’t match his team mate. It was much the same in FP2, the Brazilian in the top 10, Hulkenberg a little further back. But the German’s one-lap pace is always impressive, so if the car has pace, Hulkenberg will find it tomorrow for Qualifying.

Nico Hulkenberg - FP1: 1:06.140, P12; FP2: 1:05.918, P19

“It was one of those Fridays where things didn’t quite come together. We switched to the updated floor for FP2 and experimented with a few setup directions, but they didn’t yield the improvements we were hoping for. The car felt a bit off in terms of grip and balance, so overall, not the smoothest session. But that’s what Fridays are for – gathering data, trying things, and learning. I’m confident we’ll be able to analyse everything tonight and make the right adjustments ahead of qualifying. Gabriel showed strong pace today, which shows the potential of the car and gives us a solid benchmark. We’ll dig into the data now and aim to unlock more performance tomorrow.”

Gabriel Bortoleto - FP1: 1:05.874, P6; FP2: 1:05.411, P8

"Today has been a really positive day. The team did a great job with the upgrades - they seem to be working in the right direction, and I am feeling more and more comfortable in the car every time I jump in. I have always loved this circuit; it has been good to me since F4, F3, F2 – throughout every step. From lap one today, it felt good out there. Of course, we are very mindful this is still Friday, and there are still things to work on here and there, like always, but it feels like we are building something, step by step. If we keep this pace, I really hope we can fight for my first Q3 of the season. We will be going through the feedback we gathered today, keep pushing and see what we can achieve tomorrow."

Alpine

Gasly impressed in the opening session, winding up fifth fastest on the soft tyre. Colapinto could not match that, finding himself a little off the pace. The Argentine continued to struggle to hook up a lap in the second session, while Gasly’s struggles were of a different sort. Late on, he started to complain that there was something wrong with his car – getting more vociferous as the chequered flag fell. Whatever was going wrong, the Frenchman will hope this evening is enough time to fix it before FP3 tomorrow.

Pierre Gasly - FP1: 1:05.780, P5; FP2: 1:05.613, P14

“It was quite an up and down day for us and we definitely have some improvements to find. Every Friday we are talking about how tight the timesheets are and, on a short lap like here, it really is the case. One or two tenths of a second is the difference between six to seven positions it seems so it just shows how important it is to nail a lap and maximise every detail. I was generally quite happy with my laps in Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2. We have a few things to find overnight and it was good to assess what works and what does not. We suffered some floor damage in Free Practice 2. I was struggling with the car at the end of the session and now we know why. We will see what we can gain ahead of tomorrow.”

Franco Colapinto - FP1: 1:06.246, P16; FP2: 1:06.176, P20

“With how the last few weekends have played out and here again in Austria, I seem to have more challenges on Fridays. The car feels okay, and it felt better in the first session compared to the second, but we need to find more pace particularly on the Qualifying runs. It does not feel as strong as we do on high fuel, and we need to work hard to find some improvements in lap time. Looking at how we, as a team, reacted and bounced back in Barcelona and Montréal, it gives me confidence we can again take a step forward overnight from Friday to Saturday. So hopefully we can do the same again here and put ourselves in a better position for Qualifying. With how short the lap is, we know it is going to be very close so every detail will count.”

Haas

Haas struggled on their hot laps in FP1, the balance of the VF-25 not looking quite settled with Ocon locking up into Turn 1 and flat-spotting his tyres for good measure. On the higher fuel runs both drivers looked more comfortable. Ocon’s problems continued in FP2, as he found himself in the garage for a chunk of the session with an issue. Bearman didn’t help matters by running wide through Turn 7 and needing his floor checking. Neither driver found the pace they were hoping for, but they will be hoping for better tomorrow once they have analysed the data.

Esteban Ocon – FP1: 1:06.510, P19; FP2: 1:05.698, P15

“It’s only practice today – we’ll see tomorrow – and usually our race pace is better than our quali pace. It’s all heading in the right direction, we’re improving the car step-by-step most importantly, and I feel like we’ve picked up a decent amount of performance from FP1 to FP2. We need to make another step tomorrow as the field is extremely tight all the way through, it’s just going to be even tighter here as there’s only 10 corners.”

Oliver Bearman - FP1: 1:06.738, P20; FP2: 1:05.835, P18

“It’s been a bit of a tough day, struggling for pace. It’s very close on a track like this with a very short lap, so we definitely have some work to do tonight. All on my side, I wasn’t really driving as I should be, so a bit of work to do. Our high-speed performance was lacking slightly so that’s our main target to improve tomorrow. Alarm bells aren’t ringing yet as our trend recently has been to be better on Saturday than Friday, and we made a step from FP1, so let's hope that continues.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“It seems that every Friday we struggle to find the sweet spot of getting the car and driver in sync. Today’s been a similar story, but FP2 was better than FP1, but we need to look at a few points overnight to improve the car. We can see enough potential there, but to deliver in qualifying we need to pay attention to some details and I’m sure we can do it, I just wish we could start Friday more competitively. The good thing is that we’ve been here before where we’ve been slower on Friday and we know how to improve the car. On long runs – similar to Montreal, we show we have a good race car, so our main focus is to fine-tune everything so we can qualify in a good position to be able to fight for points.”

Pirelli

Simone Berra, Pirelli Chief Engineer

“The first day has pretty much confirmed our earlier expectations. On a track that was already quite well rubbered-in, despite the rain that fell yesterday afternoon and evening, performance evolution was limited over the course of the day. Compared to the same day last year, one has to keep in mind that in 2024, this was a Sprint weekend, while this year the teams have the full three hours of free practice before parc fermé rules come into effect. Furthermore, today’s temperatures were five degrees lower, even if they are due to rise for the rest of the weekend, especially on Sunday. That’s why this afternoon’s fastest times are in line with the 2024 pole position time and already close to our simulations (1’04”).

“Today, the delta between compounds also matched our expectations, with around two tenths between the Hard and Medium - although this is an extrapolated figure as we did not get a direct comparison – and half a second between the Medium and Soft. The same goes for tyre degradation, given the expected temperatures on race day.

“It was interesting to see all three compounds in play, even if we believe the Hard and Medium will prove the most popular choices for the race. Today, the Soft worked well, even over long runs and drivers were able to set good times on a second and even a third flying lap, but we have to bear in mind it should be much hotter on Sunday.”