Weather warning issued with Austrian Grand Prix set for scorching hot conditions

Several countries across Europe are set to experience potentially record-breaking temperatures for June this week, with some expected to surpass 40°C. Temperatures are not forecasted to be as high as that this weekend in Spielberg, though the teams could have to contend with scorching conditions, creating the possibility of it being the hottest race of the season so far.

Weather warnings warning has been issued in Austria across the week by the country's weather service GeoSphere. A yellow weather warning has been placed in Spielberg with temperatures set to reach 34°C on both qualifying and race day.

Drivers are set to contend with the supremely hot conditions with little cloud cover and little to no wind currently forecast. This could create issues for teams in terms of managing tyres during the 71 Lap race. It will also put stress on the new power units, thanks to the demands posed by the circuit's elevation changes.

However, teams will get their opportunity to prepare for this as temperatures will also hit 33°C on Friday. Although GeoSphere is not predicting wet conditions this weekend, Sky Sports report that the early forecast does suggest that the heat comes with a risk of electric storms, which could add a further level of intrigue to the Grand Prix.

Friday - 15°C to 33°C, 0% chance of rain

Saturday - 16°C to 34°C, 0% chance of rain

Sunday - 17°C to 34°C, 0% chance of rain

Mercedes will be hoping that the hot conditions in Austria does not lead to more reliability issues, after recent issues for their drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. Both Antonelli and Russell have suffered one retirement each so far this season due to electrical battery-related issues, while the Briton was also hampered by an additional problem during qualifying in China that partially compromised his weekend.

Speaking on the Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show, technical director James Allison said Mercedes are optimistic that they are over their reliability issues.

He said: "I think anyone who's a keen watcher of the sport will have seen that this has laid a few Mercedes engine cars low over the season so far. They're not all identical, but they do sort of originate in the same broad part of the battery. I think that most of the areas of risk have been understood. And with a bit of luck, when we start to sort of phase in the new modules into the racing season – we call the battery 'the module' – then our fortunes as a fleet should pick up. Obviously for us, that's an important thing. These DNFs are very, very painful.”