Ferrari’s Austrian Grand Prix weekend has already turned into an overnight repair job after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc failed to match the sharp end of Friday practice.
Hamilton was fifth in both sessions at the Red Bull Ring, ending FP2 with a 1:07.611, 0.597s away from Kimi Antonelli’s benchmark. Leclerc, who sat out FP1 while Dino Beganovic completed Ferrari’s rookie running, returned in FP2 but could only reach eighth, 0.841s off the Mercedes pace.
The gap matters because this was not a messy, weather-hit Friday. The FIA’s FP2 classification put Antonelli clear of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, while Ferrari sat behind Mercedes, McLaren and Max Verstappen on single-lap pace. ReadMotorSport has already covered Antonelli’s Austria FP2 sweep; Ferrari’s problem is that its own response still looks incomplete.
Ferrari left hunting balance
Hamilton described the start as solid but challenging, pointing to high temperatures and an unforgiving track where small balance errors are heavily punished. Leclerc’s verdict was sharper: Ferrari was not as competitive as expected and must refine performance overnight to challenge on Saturday.
That leaves Ferrari with a narrow setup window before qualifying. The SF-26 did not look fundamentally lost, but on a short Spielberg lap the deficit is magnified. A few tenths would pull Hamilton toward the front-row fight; leaving the car as it is risks turning Ferrari’s Barcelona momentum into a defensive Austrian weekend.
https://www.formula1.com/en/video/a-particularly-difficult-friday-for-leclerc.1869081455197587709
Sources: Formula 1 team notes; FIA FP2 classification.
