Antonelli dominates practice sessions on first day of running in Austria

[p]The 19-year-old Italian, winner of five races in a row until he retired in Spain this month, and Ferrari's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hamilton-lewis/tI5Vpe1h/"]Lewis Hamilton[/a] ended the dominant streak, was 0.040 quicker than teammate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/russell-george/xxF56RaN/"]George Russell[/a] in session one and then 0.237 faster than McLaren's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/piastri-oscar/MqKAIeUf/"]Oscar Piastri[/a] in the second.[/p][p]Piastri was consistently quick, third in a scorching first practice session with conditions declared a heat hazard, but Russell dropped to sixth at the end of the day after a disrupted second practice.[/p][p][b]"We knew Mercedes ‌would be a step ahead, and that’s how it played out, but it was productive ‌for us,"[/b] said Piastri.[/p][p]Red Bull's four-times world champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/verstappen-max/UV3mgeXB/"]Max Verstappen[/a] was fourth in both practices for his team's home race, with Hamilton also fifth in both.[/p][p]McLaren's world champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/norris-lando/WSVABbVF/"]Lando Norris[/a], last year's winner at the Red Bull Ring, was seventh in the early session but third in the later afternoon when McLaren looked to be Mercedes' closest challengers.[/p][p][b]"This track ‌seems to suit us as we’ve seen in the last few years, and that’s a good trend for the ​weekend ahead," [/b]said Norris.[/p][embed guid="230a5feb-8b0c-44ec-9e8a-a7fda02be469" url="https://x.com/F1/status/2070540596976980227" social-type="twitter" /][p]Russell said first practice had been strong for Mercedes, but McLaren and Red Bull had been quick in the second.[/p][p][b]"It was a real surprise to see ​the first lap of the McLarens in P2, just right at the top, and their race pace, especially on Lando's side, looked a bit better than us,"[/b] he added.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/antonelli-andrea-kimi/ptGu0mT1/"]Antonelli[/a] leads Hamilton by 41 ⁠points in the standings after seven rounds.[/p][h2]Issues for McLaren and Red Bull[/h2][p]Red Bull had a difficult start to the day with Verstappen suffering issues with his upgraded car, while teammate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hadjar-isack/8SAk38Ui/"]Isack Hadjar[/a]'s car needed a hurried engine change, and he missed the first 35 minutes.[/p][p]Four-time world champion Verstappen complained that [b]"the whole car is shaking under braking".[/b][/p][p][b]"At first we had an engine issue on Isack's car before the beginning of the session, so we had to do a very late call to change his engine,"[/b] said team boss Laurent Mekies.[/p][p][b]"And then on Max, we also had a troubled start with a couple of software issues that got us stuck in the garage."[/b][/p][embed guid="48dacda3-05e8-427e-a4e7-cbb6dd0ae44b" url="https://x.com/F1/status/2070536481353961791" social-type="twitter" /][p]Norris remained in the garage for the first 45 minutes as McLaren wrestled with a hydraulics problem while Piastri complained about his car's brakes.[/p][p]Ferrari had F2 driver [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/beganovic-dino/b1mNOXEK/"]Dino Beganovic[/a] in [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/leclerc-charles/KlCOSRub/"]Charles Leclerc[/a]'s car for the opening session, clocking the ninth-best time, with the Monegasque returning for the later hour and going eighth fastest.[/p][p][b]"I’d say it was a solid but challenging start to the weekend, with ‌the high temperatures making an already demanding circuit even tougher,"[/b] said Hamilton.[/p][p][b]"We’ve definitely got some work ​to do to find the right setup and balance and unlock some performance."[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/perez-sergio/foV8RteD/"]Sergio Perez[/a]'s Cadillac brought out red flags with just over a minute remaining after the Mexican stopped on the uphill climb, with the session then ended prematurely and no drivers able to do any practice starts.[/p][p]The Cadillac of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bottas-valtteri/bRJJqiGb/"]Valtteri Bottas[/a] caught fire in session two after limping back to the pits with a damaged suspension and the car's floor sparking off the asphalt.[/p][p]Japanese driver [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hirakawa-ryo/nwwvHULP/"]Ryo Hirakawa[/a] replaced [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ocon-esteban/nZKY1D4O/"]Esteban Ocon[/a] at Haas for the session and knocked over one of the team mechanics when he overshot his pit box, fortunately without injury.[/p]