Antonelli tops FP2 in Austria to sends strong message to under pressure teammate Russell

The opening minutes were marked by technical issues for Sergio Perez, who was forced to retire from the first session after just ten minutes, parking his Cadillac and triggering a Virtual Safety Car so the stranded car could be recovered.

Max Verstappen also ran into trouble, albeit of a different kind, after complaining that his seat felt uncomfortable. He returned to the pits, where the Red Bull mechanics removed the seat to fix the issue. Midway through the session, Cadillac ran into more trouble, this time with Valtteri Bottas. The Finn suddenly slowed during his lap, with his car visibly scraping along the track, but unlike his teammate, he at least managed to make it back to the pits.

With just under half an hour remaining, the qualifying simulations got underway, with Oscar Piastri the first to bolt on the soft tyres and go quickest with a 1:07.251, four tenths faster than Antonelli. Lando Norris went second, finishing less than a tenth behind his teammate. Lewis Hamilton soon crossed the line as well, ending up three tenths adrift of the Australian.

Kimi Antonelli ultimately claimed the fastest time, posting a 1:07.209 to finish just 0.042s ahead of Piastri, while Russell looked more on the back foot, ending the session half a second behind his teammate. Norris went for a second attempt but was unable to improve on his earlier lap, losing all his time in the final sector.

Antonelli, meanwhile, managed to improve on what was already his fastest lap on his second attempt, lowering the benchmark to a 1:07.014 and extending his advantage over Piastri to two tenths. Verstappen also crossed the line, but could do no better than fourth, finishing half a second adrift of the Mercedes.

Russell improved on his second attempt but still remained six tenths behind his teammate. Leclerc also found time in the second sector but ultimately opted to return to the pits, as the teams switched their focus to race simulations for the final ten minutes of the session.

During the race simulation runs, both Mercedes drivers lapped consistently in the high 1:10s to low 1:11s, with both McLarens and Max Verstappen posting similar pace. Ferrari, meanwhile, hovered around the 1:11.5 mark.