Much had been expected of a newly upgraded Ferrari engine in Austria, but a combination of altitude and heat meant we did not see it at its best. With thicker, cooler air, the gap to the Mercedes was much less, and an inspired lap from Hamilton, egged on by more than 100,000 spectators, saw him grab the sprint pole from Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli by 11 milliseconds.
The following day, Hamilton managed to keep the young Mercedes driver at bay and held out for eight laps before the inevitable happened. But Hamilton still finished second, and less than 3 seconds back after 17 laps. That’s much less of a deficit than we’ve seen before. That afternoon saw qualifying for Sunday’s race, but this time Hamilton could only manage third on the grid. Antonelli snatched pole, but between them was Charles Leclerc, Hamilton’s teammate at Ferrari.
Leclerc has been ill at ease with his race car, and if you’re not comfortable in an F1 car, you won’t find its limit. He failed to finish in Monaco and Barcelona and finished a distant eighth in Austria, albeit after qualifying second. This past weekend looked like that trend might continue, until something finally clicked between Leclerc and his Ferrari SF-26. Both Ferraris made better starts than Antonelli with Leclerc in the lead.
Something’s broken
Then on lap 41, something broke in the steering or suspension of Antonelli’s Mercedes, possibly after riding heavily over one of the circuit’s serrated curbs. The Italian driver made another two pit stops to try to solve the problem but to no avail. He would end the race in ninth on the road but was scored 15th after being penalized for repeatedly driving off-track in an attempt to bring his damaged car home.
The exit clause in Max Verstappen’s Red Bull contract is about to open; will he exercise it?
Credit: PETER POWELL / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
The exit clause in Max Verstappen’s Red Bull contract is about to open; will he exercise it? Credit: PETER POWELL / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
Up front, Leclerc looked set to cruise to his first win in almost two years. Then, on lap 48, the active rear wing on Max Verstappen’s Red Bull malfunctioned at Stowe corner. For 2026, F1 cars use a low-downforce configuration on the straights, then a high-downforce setting for the corners. But if front and rear wings don’t transition between the two states quickly enough, it can make the car uncontrollably unstable.
