#F1 #AustrianGP FP2: #Antonelli fastest ahead of @McLarenF1 duo.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, #12, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W17, Free Practice 2, Formula 1 Lenovo Austrian Grand Prix 2026, Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria. Image credit to Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images. Antonelli Austrian GP FP2, 2026 Austrian GP FP2 Results, Formula 1 Austria FP2 Results, F1 Austrian GP FP2 Results, Austrian Grand Prix FP2 Results.
Antonelli Austrian GP FP2 – Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli ended the day as he started it, on top of the time-sheets in FP2 at the Austrian GP ahead of McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris who completed the top three.
The championship leader posted the session-topping benchmark with the C5 red side-walled softer compounds on a 1:07.014 and was 0.237 seconds clear of Piastri whilst Norris was a further 0.325 seconds off Antonelli in third.
Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg was the first to head out on-track running the C3 white-marked harder tyres and was joined by team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto, the two Alpine’s of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly, RB’s Liam Lawson and Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Bortoleto registered the early benchmark of a 1:10.927 as team-mate Hulkenberg slotted into second on a 1:25.670.
Alpine’s Gasly went on top with a 1:10.746 as Lawson pushed to second with a 1:10.851 whilst Colapinto took third setting a 1:10.898.
Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar went fastest with a 1:09.135 as his team-mate Verstappen moved to second on a 1:09.272.
“I’ve got no power,” said Alexander Albon down at Williams. He was out on the mediums, and the team immediately told the Thai driver to box.
Antonelli went quickest with a 1:08.342 and was beaten by Norris’s 1:08.000 whilst team-mate Piastri made it a McLaren one-two – setting a 1:08.249 effort on the mediums.
Leclerc on the C4 mediums, was up to ninth on a 1:10.259 as his team-mate Hamilton went fourth overall taking a 1:08.950.
Lawson on two personal bests was up to eighth and 1.505 seconds down on Norris’s best time as Cadillac’s Sergio Perez stopped at turn six with the Virtual Safety Car being deployed.
Perez reported over the radio that it was the same problem as before.
After the Mexican’s MAC01 entry was cleared and the running returned to green with 44 minutes and 16 on the clock – Bearman put his Haas seventh in the order on a 1:09.499 whilst Gasly took ninth to be 1.569 seconds down on Norris’s benchmark.
Leclerc moved up into seventh overall setting a 1:09.320 as Lawson placed behind the Ferrari in eighth with a 1:09.338.
Verstappen was next setting two personal bests to go fourth with a 1:08.658 only briefly as Russell was up into third taking a 1:08.416.
Antonelli then jumped to second to be 0.198 seconds off Norris with his 1:08.198.
Piastri improved but remained third posting a 1:08.214 as team-mate Norris was seen off at turn three.
Replays showed the reigning world champion suffer a spin at the turn three right-hander and bounced over the sausage kerb and managed to turn the car around and continue on.
Leclerc with three personal bests moved into seventh in the classification posting a 1:09.070 to be 1.070 adrift of Norris’s best effort.
Both RB’s of Arvid Lindblad and Lawson demoted the Monegasque driver to take seventh and eighth with their 1:08.974 and 1:09.012 efforts.
Russell was next on another flyer with the C4 mediums and the Mercedes driver with two personal bests and a purple final sector took fourth with a 1:08.221.
Championship leader Antonelli followed with two purples and a personal best middle sector to snatch top spot posting a 1:07.657 and was 0.343 ahead of Norris.
Leclerc was up to fifth setting a 1:08.339 whilst Verstappen improved to sixth in the order on a 1:08.511.
Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas, Audi’s Hulkenberg and Williams’ Albon all emerged on the C5 softer compounds to begin their qualifying simulation stints.
The majority returned to the pits to adjust their setups before beginning their qualifying simulation runs on the softs as the 60-minute session approached the mid-way point.
With three personal bests Hulkenberg shot to ninth with a 1:08.559 as Albon jumped to tenth taking a 1:08.838 with three personal bests.
Bearman was next on the softer rubber and the Haas driver with three personal bests took ninth in the classification on a 1:08.686.
Gasly placed sixth to be 0.719 down as Lawson slotted into seventh to be 1.257 seconds down as Piastri went quickest with a 1:07.251 on the softs.
Hamilton with three personal bests set a 1:07.611 to be 0.360 seconds adrift of the McLaren.
Reigning world champion Norris was next with a purple middle sector, and two personal best opening and final sectors was up to second on a 1:07.339 to be a narrow 0.088 seconds off team-mate Piastri.
Antonelli followed with two purples went to the head of the time-sheets setting a 1:07.209 to go 0.042 seconds ahead of Piastri.
Russell with two personal bests ended up 0.530 seconds off his team-mate to go fifth best with his 1:07.39 whilst Leclerc slotted into sixth taking a 1:07.855 effort.
Lawson with two personal bests went seventh posting a 1:08.235 to wound up 1.026 off Antonelli’s best time.
Replays showed Hamilton suffer a front-right lock-up into the first corner and continued on.
Norris was shown dipping his right wheels in the turn eight gravel on his next tour and remained third.
Antonelli was on another flying lap on the softer rubber and the championship leader improved to a 1:07.014 to be 0.237 seconds in-front of Piastri with two purple sectors.
Verstappen also on another push lap on the softs with three personal bests went fourth overall with a 1:07.564 to end up 0.725 seconds adrift of Antonelli’s best time.
Russell improved but remained in sixth place setting a 1:07.637 as Bortoleto went ninth and 1.286 seconds off his leading team-mate Antonelli.
Hadjar went seventh and 0.744 seconds off as Leclerc on his next hot-lap opted to box.
Replays showed Hadjar suffered a snap at the turn three right-hander.
The majority of the field with 15 minutes left in the hour-long session returned to the pits to adjust their setups and put on a set of the medium and harder compounds with a heavier fuel load to begin their traditional long-race data gathering runs.
“Too much understeer,” reported Hamilton, who was back on his 15-lap old medium tyres. Ferrari have not had the pace today as many expected, with Hamilton in fifth and Leclerc down in eighth.
The gaps in general were bigger than expected, although if you take time-topper Antonelli out of the equation, there was just six tenths between second and eighth.
Replays showed Leclerc suffer a snap of oversteer and ran wide at the penultimate corner run-off area.
Replays showed Verstappen like Leclerc, also having a moment off at the penultimate corner.
The session ended with championship leader Antonelli ahead of McLaren pairing Piastri and Norris who rounded out the top three.
Verstappen followed in fourth for Red Bull and ahead of Barcelona GP winner Hamilton who placed fifth and Russell who took sixth.
Hadjar ended the day seventh in the second RB22 entry at their home Grand Prix and in-front of Leclerc who finished FP2 eighth.
Lawson and Bortoleto completed the top ten for both RB and Audi respectively with the latter bringing a huge array of updates this weekend.
You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Austrian Grand Prix 2026 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 LENOVO AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX 2026 – PRACTICE 2
#Antonelli heads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two in #AustrianGP #FP1 session. #F1
