Two weeks ago, Ferrari stunned Mercedes by handing the Silver Arrows a first grand prix defeat of the 2026 Formula 1 season, with Lewis Hamilton's scorching pace in the final stint suggesting the Scuderia's upgrade package had brought it back into contention.

Armed with a slightly improved V6 engine, the first product of its ADUO upgrade allowance, Ferrari is aiming to show its Spanish form wasn't a one-off, but in the Austrian heat it is still left searching for grip and pace after a challenging day of Friday practice.

Hamilton and Leclerc ended FP2 in fifth and eighth respectively, with Hamilton over six tenths off pacesetter Kimi Antonelli, while there are early indications Ferrari's long run form also pegs it behind at least Mercedes and McLaren, in that order.

F1 Austrian GP: Kimi Antonelli tops FP2 to complete perfect Friday

Ferrari also suffered a tough brace of Friday sessions in Barcelona, but Leclerc, who ceded his car in FP1 to rookie Dino Beganovic, hasn't seen the same indications in Spielberg that his squad can compete at the front this time.

"I'm not so confident, but never say never," he said. "But it's true that on the Friday in Barcelona, there were a few elements that led us to think that there was quite a bit of performance in the car. At the moment it's been a struggle, the whole FP1 that I didn't do and also FP2 inside the car. So, it's been a difficult Friday for the team."

When asked what he was lacking, Leclerc replied: "Just overall grip, we've been sliding from all four tyres since the first lap I've done. It's been very, very tricky.

"In Barcelona it was very difficult as well [with the tyres]. Here you've got different limitations, but at the end of the day tyre management will play as much of a role. In terms of actual degradation, we are not in a bad place here. The bigger problem is that the pace is not there. So maybe after 20 laps we are fast, but 20 laps is not good [enough]. We've got to do some work on the car."

Rookie driver Dino Beganovic completed FP1 in Leclerc's car and posted the ninth-fastest time.

Team principal Fred Vasseur joked that Ferrari is "copying Barcelona" by being equally unimpressive on Friday form, but conceded that his squad hadn't been able to thrive in the sweltering conditions as the European heatwave saw temperatures soar above 33C, with track temperatures clearing the 50C barrier.

"Today we struggled a little bit with the conditions, I think a bit like Barcelona," he said. "With the altitude, with temperature, with track temperature, air temperature. I think that is the same for everybody, but we struggled a lot. And we have to work on ourselves, to work on the set-up, on the car, on the driving, on everything to do a better job tomorrow."

Vasseur says the biggest difference with Barcelona is that tyre degradation won't be as extreme this weekend. But he pointed out Ferrari was also strong over one lap there, which hasn't proven to be the case in Spielberg.

"The degradation in Barcelona was much higher, and it was the main driver for the performance, at least in the race. But we were also able to fight for the pole position in qualifying," he cautioned. "At least in terms of pure potential, we were there. Now, so far, we are far away.

"But it's true that in Barcelona we were not so shiny, also on Friday. We have a lot of potential to unlock tonight and we'll see tomorrow."

Vasseur added that the squad's new V6 engine brought what he "was expecting", which is just a modest step on horsepower.

"The lead time on the engine is huge," the Frenchman explained. "On some components you have months of delay. It was very risky for us to launch spec two of the engine very early for cost cap reasons. We were not expecting a big step at all this weekend."

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Former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer has argued that Charles Leclerc could be the ultimate weapon in Lewis Hamilton's championship title bid.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Palmer discussed the dynamics at Ferrari after the seven-time champion's win at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

"First of all, there's been a kind of lazy narrative that Lewis is thrashing Charles at Ferrari, and it's all now his team, and this is it," Palmer said. "When you look through it, Charles has been very, very close or even quicker than Lewis on a lot of these recent weekends.

"So, the outlier is Canada. Lewis beat him hands down. But in Monaco, I think it was only FP2 that Lewis was actually ahead of Charles before Charles put it in the wall in qualifying and then the race.

"And in Barcelona, I think it was only Q1 that Lewis was ahead of Charles. So I think Charles's own worst enemy is himself right now, rather than, obviously Lewis is doing a great job and absolutely hats off to him, but nonetheless, I don't think [Charles is] going to win the championship from this far back.

"So do Ferrari at some point start to push the ball towards Lewis's court because they simply have to if they want to beat Mercedes?"

The Monegasque driver currently sits fourth in the drivers' championship with 75 points, while Hamilton is second with 115 points. Palmer suggested that the Maranello outfit could soon decide to back one driver.

Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

By choosing Hamilton as its number-one driver, Ferrari could use Leclerc to take as many points from Mercedes as possible and aid the Briton in the championship fight. Palmer claimed that the 28-year-old could become an "absolute menace" at the front of the grid. 

"If Ferrari could get to a position where they can say to Charles Leclerc, 'Right, you're 40 points back from Lewis. We think this is a long shot with Lewis, let alone with you to try and come back with the pace deficit we've inherently got against Mercedes.' Could Ferrari pose a threat?

"And with Leclerc's pace, I mean, he could be an absolute menace to Mercedes. He could take wins. He could take so many points off them, and he could really help out Hamilton. 

"Question is, would Charles Leclerc ever do that for Hamilton? He's just off the back of this massive, lucrative contract that he's got. He's not there to be a number two driver, but you think if you're Ferrari, that is your best asset to try and make a championship fight out of nothing here.

"And they've shown before, it kind of killed Felipe Massa's morale and career from that moment on. But my word, they nearly got a title out of the ashes of absolutely nothing [with Fernando Alonso]."

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Former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes the unique, unforgiving nature of the Red Bull Ring will inevitably trigger on-track battles between team-mates at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.

Speaking on F1 TV's Weekend Warm-up programme, the Colombian explained that the short, sharp layout of the Spielberg circuit leaves drivers with nowhere to hide.

When quizzed about the likelihood of on-track contact in the heavy braking zones, Montoya warned that intra-team friction is almost a certainty.

"We're going to see team-mate clashes," he said. "This is a place that the team-mates always run together, and it's a place where somebody's happy and somebody's miserable, and you're going to see team owners get really excited."

Montoya also noted that a lack of corners means margins are incredibly small.

"Three tenths here is like six tenths somewhere else. So, closing the gap here is really, really difficult," he added. "There aren't enough corners to make a difference."

The threat of intra-team clashes arrives as Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton is building momentum in the drivers' championship and is putting pressure on Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

The seven-time champion's win at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, his first with the Maranello outfit and the first non-Mercedes grand prix victory of the season, has left him 41 points behind championship leader Antonelli and nine points ahead of Russell. 

Russell was asked during the drivers' press conference in Austria if he was more nervous about his intra-team battle with Antonelli or about dealing with pressure from other teams. "Neither makes me nervous," the Briton explained.

"It makes me excited, to be honest, because the more people you're going head-to-head with, that's competition. And that is how it was for all of us when we were go-karting. You would never race against one competitor. There were three, four or five drivers who were all competing for wins.

"That's how Formula 1 should be. And that's what excites us. So, I'm looking forward to it."

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Liam Lawson has offered emotional insight into the family sacrifices made in order for him to pursue a career in Formula 1, shedding light on a heartbreaking childhood note written by his younger brother.

During an appearance on the High Performance podcast, the New Zealander opened up about the hidden emotional toll his racing ambitions took on his siblings. Not only did Lawson's parents sell their family home to help fund his career, but a card written by his younger brother revealed the impact it had on him, too.

"I'll never be able to repay the amount of sacrifice, and it's not just about money," Lawson explained.

"My parents found this card a year ago that my brother had written to my dad, my brother is two years younger than me. We found this card that he'd written when he was five years old or six years old. And the card was like, 'Dear Dad, if I like racing, will you spend more time with me like Liam?'

"And honestly, for my siblings and family who have given up so much, like time with my dad, time with never going on holiday, never doing anything. I have an amazing family."

Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls

Asked what he said to his brother when he saw the card, the 24-year-old added: "Just, 'Sorry, man.' He now looks at it and laughs and thinks it's funny and stuff like that, but I just think back to every single weekend being away."

Lawson is currently in his second full-time season in F1. After the first seven rounds, he sits 10th in the drivers' championship with 28 points, while his rookie Racing Bulls team-mate Arvid Lindblad is 13th with 13 points. This places Racing Bulls sixth in the constructors' championship with 41 points, 16 points behind Alpine in fifth and 20 points ahead of Haas in seventh.

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Aston Martin Formula 1 power unit partner Honda says it will just bring one power unit improvement for this year despite being afforded two upgrade tokens.

For the brand-new 2026 power units, F1's governing body the FIA devised an upgrade scheme called ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities), which grants manufacturers additional dyno hours and cost cap allowance on a sliding scale, based on how far off the benchmark their V6 engine is.

Red Bull-Ford Powertrains was deemed the benchmark at the first measuring point after the Canadian Grand Prix, with Honda one of several manufacturers over 4% behind on V6 power. That gives Honda two upgrade opportunities to revamp its entire power unit this season, and another two tokens for 2027.

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But Honda, which has several pain points to address regarding the performance, weight and reliability of its 2026 power unit, has decided to stick to just one engine update for this year, which it is hoping to deploy either shortly before or after the August summer break, effectively leaving a second opportunity on the table.

"We are planning to introduce a new engine around summer. Then I don't think we have another step in this year," said Shintaro Orihara, Honda's trackside general manager and chief engineer.

Motorsport.com understands Honda has established two separate groups for its 2026 and 2027 engine projects at its Sakura plant in Japan. So, while one group is working on the ADUO upgraded power unit for August, the other group of engineers is full steam ahead making sure Honda cuts a much more competitive figure at the start of next year.

Shintaro Orihara, Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer of Honda Racing Corporation

Orihara cautioned the engine updates would not work miracles, but is confident the Japanese marque can make a healthy amount of progress. "We just focus on bringing a reasonable step around summer. We have a lot of races to complete," he said.

"I would say there is not a small step, but not a miracle [either]. But we are working hard to bring some reasonable steps. Maybe before summer shutdown or after summer shutdown."

Audi and Ferrari had already anticipated the expected ADUO assistance, which was revealed to the teams by the FIA over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, to introduce a first batch of engine upgrades in Barcelona and Austria respectively. But Honda has stuck to its plan of one bigger mid-season upgrade.

"I think they have their own project, and Honda has our own project," Orahiara said when asked if he was surprised by Audi's swift upgrade rollout. "We focus on our project. We take a big risk to improve our performance. That's why we focus on bringing the steps around summer rather than bringing this event or last event. So, we just focus on our plan."

Honda Racing team members on the grid.

The new power unit is expected to coincide with a significant aero upgrade from Aston Martin, though chief trackside engineer Mike Krack said the engine and car upgrade will arrive whenever each has been signed off.

"I think they are not depending on each other," Krack said. "Everyone is flat out because we want to get the maximum out of it, obviously. So you always push the deadlines as much as you can and we will bring it as soon as it is ready."

Until then, Aston Martin is expected to languish at the bottom of the grid, having been out-developed by newcomer Cadillac in recent races. Aston has managed to score one point with Fernando Alonso in Monaco, benefiting from a raft of controversial pitlane speeding penalties that demoted Mercedes' George Russell out of the top 10, and penalised Cadillac's Sergio Perez.

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