Antonelli Leads Mercedes One-Two In Austria FP1
Kimi Antonelli put Mercedes back on the front foot at the Austrian Grand Prix by topping first practice ahead of George Russell at the Red Bull Ring.
The championship leader set a 1m07.796s, according to Formula 1’s official FP1 report, leaving Russell just 0.040s adrift as Mercedes completed a clean one-two. Oscar Piastri was third for McLaren, a tenth further back, on a session that immediately sharpened the competitive picture for the 26-28 June Spielberg weekend.
It also gave Mercedes an early answer after its own Austrian GP team-orders reset became one of the major pre-weekend talking points.
Mercedes Set The Early Austria Marker
The timing matters because Antonelli arrived in Austria with a 41-point drivers’ championship lead, but Ferrari and McLaren have both framed the Red Bull Ring as a chance to test Mercedes’ control. A short lap magnifies traffic, tyre warm-up and small balance shifts, so a four-hundredths split between the two Mercedes cars is not just cosmetic.
For Russell, second place keeps pressure inside the garage. For Antonelli, it was exactly the kind of low-noise session he needed after Barcelona reopened the title argument.
The FIA’s Austrian Grand Prix preview underlines the Red Bull Ring’s compact, high-speed profile, and FP1 already suggested this weekend could turn on fine margins rather than obvious pace gaps.
