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The Advertiser
4 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Advertiser
Norris and Piastri lead way as McLaren get back to work
It was back to something akin to normality for McLaren world championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris as the first blows for supremacy at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix were exchanged. Their last encounter had been a fortnight earlier, a much-debated and, for Norris at least, highly expensive coming together at the Canadian Grand Prix. The pair had been scrapping over fourth place but the result of the British driver's rash move was to put himself out of the race while his Australian teammate was left to salvage fourth place. Back in competition in second practice at the scenic Speilberg raceway, the pair sped to a McLaren one-two, with Norris just in front. Earlier, in first practice, Mercedes driver George Russell, the winner in Canada, was fastest with Piastri third. Norris handed his car to Irish rookie and Formula Two leader Alex Dunne, who promptly marked his Formula One practice debut by getting to with 0.069 seconds of Piastri. That prompted an outpouring of emotion from Dunne, the first Irish driver to take part in a grand prix weekend for 22 years and who benefitted from team obligations to give rookie drivers Formula One experience. .Thanking his team over the radio as the chequered flag fell, the 19-year-old Dunne said: "A little boy's dream came true, and this is definitely the best day of my life. "Thank you everyone for letting me do this, and thanks to Lando as well for trusting me with his car." Back among the contenders - Piastri has a 22-point lead over Norris at the top of the drivers' standings after 10 of the 24 races - it was down to business at the start of another critical weekend. Norris finished 0.157 sec clear of Piastri with four-time world champion Max Verstappen third. The Dutchman finished three tenths off the pace in second practice. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll ended the day in fourth, one place clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Russell, quickest in the opening session, slipped to sixth. For Lewis Hamilton, it was another difficult day at the wheel of his Ferrari. A gearbox problem restricted Hamilton's programme in the first session and then he was only 10th quickest in the day's concluding running. "For some reason I have just got no pace," said Hamilton on the radio, with his best lap nearly a second off the leading time and three tenths adrift of Leclerc in the other Ferrari. With PA It was back to something akin to normality for McLaren world championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris as the first blows for supremacy at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix were exchanged. Their last encounter had been a fortnight earlier, a much-debated and, for Norris at least, highly expensive coming together at the Canadian Grand Prix. The pair had been scrapping over fourth place but the result of the British driver's rash move was to put himself out of the race while his Australian teammate was left to salvage fourth place. Back in competition in second practice at the scenic Speilberg raceway, the pair sped to a McLaren one-two, with Norris just in front. Earlier, in first practice, Mercedes driver George Russell, the winner in Canada, was fastest with Piastri third. Norris handed his car to Irish rookie and Formula Two leader Alex Dunne, who promptly marked his Formula One practice debut by getting to with 0.069 seconds of Piastri. That prompted an outpouring of emotion from Dunne, the first Irish driver to take part in a grand prix weekend for 22 years and who benefitted from team obligations to give rookie drivers Formula One experience. .Thanking his team over the radio as the chequered flag fell, the 19-year-old Dunne said: "A little boy's dream came true, and this is definitely the best day of my life. "Thank you everyone for letting me do this, and thanks to Lando as well for trusting me with his car." Back among the contenders - Piastri has a 22-point lead over Norris at the top of the drivers' standings after 10 of the 24 races - it was down to business at the start of another critical weekend. Norris finished 0.157 sec clear of Piastri with four-time world champion Max Verstappen third. The Dutchman finished three tenths off the pace in second practice. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll ended the day in fourth, one place clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Russell, quickest in the opening session, slipped to sixth. For Lewis Hamilton, it was another difficult day at the wheel of his Ferrari. A gearbox problem restricted Hamilton's programme in the first session and then he was only 10th quickest in the day's concluding running. "For some reason I have just got no pace," said Hamilton on the radio, with his best lap nearly a second off the leading time and three tenths adrift of Leclerc in the other Ferrari. With PA It was back to something akin to normality for McLaren world championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris as the first blows for supremacy at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix were exchanged. Their last encounter had been a fortnight earlier, a much-debated and, for Norris at least, highly expensive coming together at the Canadian Grand Prix. The pair had been scrapping over fourth place but the result of the British driver's rash move was to put himself out of the race while his Australian teammate was left to salvage fourth place. Back in competition in second practice at the scenic Speilberg raceway, the pair sped to a McLaren one-two, with Norris just in front. Earlier, in first practice, Mercedes driver George Russell, the winner in Canada, was fastest with Piastri third. Norris handed his car to Irish rookie and Formula Two leader Alex Dunne, who promptly marked his Formula One practice debut by getting to with 0.069 seconds of Piastri. That prompted an outpouring of emotion from Dunne, the first Irish driver to take part in a grand prix weekend for 22 years and who benefitted from team obligations to give rookie drivers Formula One experience. .Thanking his team over the radio as the chequered flag fell, the 19-year-old Dunne said: "A little boy's dream came true, and this is definitely the best day of my life. "Thank you everyone for letting me do this, and thanks to Lando as well for trusting me with his car." Back among the contenders - Piastri has a 22-point lead over Norris at the top of the drivers' standings after 10 of the 24 races - it was down to business at the start of another critical weekend. Norris finished 0.157 sec clear of Piastri with four-time world champion Max Verstappen third. The Dutchman finished three tenths off the pace in second practice. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll ended the day in fourth, one place clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Russell, quickest in the opening session, slipped to sixth. For Lewis Hamilton, it was another difficult day at the wheel of his Ferrari. A gearbox problem restricted Hamilton's programme in the first session and then he was only 10th quickest in the day's concluding running. "For some reason I have just got no pace," said Hamilton on the radio, with his best lap nearly a second off the leading time and three tenths adrift of Leclerc in the other Ferrari. With PA It was back to something akin to normality for McLaren world championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris as the first blows for supremacy at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix were exchanged. Their last encounter had been a fortnight earlier, a much-debated and, for Norris at least, highly expensive coming together at the Canadian Grand Prix. The pair had been scrapping over fourth place but the result of the British driver's rash move was to put himself out of the race while his Australian teammate was left to salvage fourth place. Back in competition in second practice at the scenic Speilberg raceway, the pair sped to a McLaren one-two, with Norris just in front. Earlier, in first practice, Mercedes driver George Russell, the winner in Canada, was fastest with Piastri third. Norris handed his car to Irish rookie and Formula Two leader Alex Dunne, who promptly marked his Formula One practice debut by getting to with 0.069 seconds of Piastri. That prompted an outpouring of emotion from Dunne, the first Irish driver to take part in a grand prix weekend for 22 years and who benefitted from team obligations to give rookie drivers Formula One experience. .Thanking his team over the radio as the chequered flag fell, the 19-year-old Dunne said: "A little boy's dream came true, and this is definitely the best day of my life. "Thank you everyone for letting me do this, and thanks to Lando as well for trusting me with his car." Back among the contenders - Piastri has a 22-point lead over Norris at the top of the drivers' standings after 10 of the 24 races - it was down to business at the start of another critical weekend. Norris finished 0.157 sec clear of Piastri with four-time world champion Max Verstappen third. The Dutchman finished three tenths off the pace in second practice. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll ended the day in fourth, one place clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Russell, quickest in the opening session, slipped to sixth. For Lewis Hamilton, it was another difficult day at the wheel of his Ferrari. A gearbox problem restricted Hamilton's programme in the first session and then he was only 10th quickest in the day's concluding running. "For some reason I have just got no pace," said Hamilton on the radio, with his best lap nearly a second off the leading time and three tenths adrift of Leclerc in the other Ferrari. With PA
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Mercedes Wants To Ditch George Russell For Max Verstappen Ahead Of 2026 F1 Rules Change
George Russell has not yet signed a new contract with his Mercedes-AMG F1 team for the 2026 season. It seems team boss and "F1 The Movie" producer Toto Wolff is trying to keep his team's options open for next season, actively attempting to lure the four-time World Drivers' Champion Max Verstappen away from his recalcitrant Red Bull Racing team. "As Mercedes, they want to be back on top, and if you're going to be back on top you need to make sure you've got the best drivers, the best engineers, the best pitcrew, and that's what Mercedes are chasing. So, it's only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing," Russell admitted to ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix. Russell, having won four Grands Prix for the three-pointed star since he joined the team in 2022, including the most recent outing at the Canadian Grand Prix, is confident his performance will earn him a new contract in short order. With an entirely new set of regulations on the horizon, Mercedes will want to hit the ground running in 2026 with a solid lineup of adaptable drivers. Because of that, I think the team would be foolish to drop George for Verstappen. When everything is perfect for Max and he has the exact right car, the Red Bull ace is nearly unstoppable. Face him with even the lightest of adverse conditions, and he implodes into an atomic bomb of insecurity and dangerous on-track antics. If Mercedes build a mildly competitive car, as they have this season, George will unequivocally be the right answer, and I'm confident he's got enough talent to take a championship if the car is as well-built as the 2025 McLarens or 2023 Red Bull have been. Max might be able to make a perfect car even more perfect, but in a merely passable car he'll be a liability for the team, as he has been in 2025. Read more: Every 2025 Formula 1 Livery, Ranked From Worst To Best Conveniently the Mercedes AMG F1 team has two seats, so George doesn't necessarily have to be the one to go in order to make room for Mr. Verstappen. In that same interview, propped up by his recent win, Russell commented "I feel with the performance I'm showing at the moment I've got zero reasons to be worried." That leaves Mercedes-AMG junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli on the chopping block. The 18-year-old recent grad joined Mercedes for the 2025 season on a one-year contract to replace Sir Lewis Hamilton, who departed for Ferrari after delivering 8 World Constructor Championships for the Merc squad. Antonelli is holding his own, but hardly filling those big shoes, scoring fewer than half as many points as Russell across the season. If I were Toto Wolff, and thank goodness I'm not, I certainly would not ditch either of these drivers to woo Max Verstappen. In spite of Max's generational talent, he's a potential liability to the team if he replaces Russell, and the team would practically implode if he replaced Antonelli. A George Russell and Max Verstappen duo at Mercedes would be diabolical and the infighting would break even the most stoic team principal. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
NDTV
8 hours ago
- Automotive
- NDTV
George Russell Tops Opening Practice At Austrian Grand Prix
George Russell topped the times for Mercedes ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull in Friday's opening practice ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix. The 27-year-old Briton clocked a best lap in one minute and 5.542 seconds to outpace his Dutch rival by 0.065 seconds ahead of McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri and his temporary team-mate, reserve driver Alex Dunne, who delivered an impressive debut. The Irishman settled into the session and ramped up his speed in the closing stages to finish only 0.09 seconds adrift of Piastri in the car usually driven by Lando Norris. Pierre Gasly was fifth for Alpine ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber, Williams' Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, who endured a troubled session. RB rookie Isack Hadjar was 10th ahead of fellow-rookie Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes. Russell was the winner of last year's race in the Styrian Alps and won the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, giving him momentum for this weekend. Dunne is Ireland's first F1 driver since Ralph Firman in 2003. Dino Beganovic made his second appearance of the season as reserve stepping in for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, alongside Hamilton. He wound up 18th. Most teams introduced a range of upgrades, including a new floor for Ferrari, while Red Bull had a change of personnel in Verstappen's group, the vastly-experieced Simon Rennie stepping in for Gianpiero Lambiasse, who had taken a weekend off. By midway through the session, Russell had switched to softs and continued to set the pace as Ferrari were struggling again with both cars in the pits with problems. Hamilton who had complained of gearbox issues was only 18th and Beganovic 19th ahead of Dunne, who was familiarizing himself with the demands of F1. In a largely serene session, the first incident came with a spin for Fernando Alonso when he pushed on his first lap on softs at Turn 10. "That was the worst out-lap we can do," said the Aston Martin driver. "Good to do it in FP1!"
Daily Mirror
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Daily Mirror
George Russell 'not easy to work with' and had Lewis Hamilton looking 'immature'
George Russell is now the leading man at Mercedes and has been in inspired form this season, but even the 27-year-old British driver himself admits that he's not the easiest to work with George Russell has firmly taken the reins at Mercedes, clinching his first victory of the Formula 1 season at the Canadian Grand Prix. The British ace has seamlessly stepped into the shoes of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, impressing with his on-track prowess, although behind the scenes, collaborating with the 27-year-old is supposedly quite the challenge. A former standout at Williams, Russell joined the Silver Arrows in 2022 to partner with Hamilton until the latter's switch to Ferrari this year. Now, with the promising Kimi Antonelli as his new team-mate, Russell has become the main man at Brackley, delivering performances that justify his top billing. There have been numerous accounts detailing the experience of working alongside Russell, from his own admission of being a demanding colleague to an ex-Mercedes engineer praising his maturity compared to Hamilton. During his tenure at Williams, Jost Capito, the team's ex-CEO, acknowledged that dealing with a young and ambitious Russell, then only 23, was challenging due to his relentless demands, yet he viewed this trait positively. "It makes it not easy to work with him because he demands a lot," Capito conceded. "But I love the drivers who demand a lot and really challenge the team and are never happy, because those are the guys that will be world champions in the future." Russell spoke candidly about his approach when pressed by the Express, reflecting: "If you're demanding, I guess it's got to be in a constructive way and I'm glad they see it that way. I'm not easy to work with, I'm always pushing these guys for more in every single aspect." The talented driver made headlines after joining Mercedes in 2022, clinching a race win at Interlagos and eclipsing his esteemed team-mate in the Drivers' Championship, securing fourth place that season. With two additional terms spent alongside Hamilton, former Silver Arrows engineer Philip Brandle unveiled insights last year into how Russell cast a youthful shadow over the experienced champion, branding him "immature" in certain comparisons. "What sets Lewis apart is simply his incredible feel for the car," said Brandle via Motorsport-Total. "I would say that in terms of data and technology, he is perhaps not as mature as other drivers, such as Nico Rosberg or now perhaps George Russell." Author Matt Whyman, who recently brought to life the inner workings of Mercedes in his 2024 book, weighed in on Russell's off-track character during a chat with Mirror Sport, observing: "George is a lovely guy. I think he is very, very smart, very switched on, very driven. "Where George is very prescriptive and very lyrical and describes things in a very accurate way, Lewis is much more emotional about his description of what is going on with the car. It is how he feels - is he happy with this, is he not happy with this? It is very interesting listening to the difference between them, yet they both provide this raft of information." Now sporting Ferrari's iconic red, Hamilton has left Russell to brilliantly piece together what remains, painting a picture of a confident leader in recent portrayals. Mercedes' trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin had this to say about the 27-year-old in April: "He just seems to be very relaxed in his position in the team now and he's just going about getting the points, trying to qualify as well as he can. He's pushing us hard to improve and he's doing a lot of work himself." With a 2025 race victory already under his belt, Russell is heading into the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring aiming to solidify a championship run in a race he won last year, currently trailing leader Oscar Piastri by 62 points.
The Sun
10 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Sun
Russell leads Austrian GP practice as Dunne impresses on debut
GEORGE RUSSELL topped the times for Mercedes ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull in Friday's opening practice ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix. The 27-year-old Briton clocked a best lap in one minute and 5.542 seconds to outpace his Dutch rival by 0.065 seconds ahead of McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri and his temporary team-mate, reserve driver Alex Dunne, who delivered an impressive debut. The Irishman settled into the session and ramped up his speed in the closing stages to finish only 0.09 seconds adrift of Piastri in the car usually driven by Lando Norris. Pierre Gasly was fifth for Alpine ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber, Williams' Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, who endured a troubled session. RB rookie Isack Hadjar was 10th ahead of fellow-rookie Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes. Russell was the winner of last year's race in the Styrian Alps and won the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, giving him momentum for this weekend. Dunne is Ireland's first F1 driver since Ralph Firman in 2003. Dino Beganovic made his second appearance of the season as reserve stepping in for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, alongside Hamilton. He wound up 18th. Most teams introduced a range of upgrades, including a new floor for Ferrari, while Red Bull had a change of personnel in Verstappen's group, the vastly-experieced Simon Rennie stepping in for Gianpiero Lambiasse, who had taken a weekend off. By midway through the session, Russell had switched to softs and continued to set the pace as Ferrari were struggling again with both cars in the pits with problems. Hamilton who had complained of gearbox issues was only 18th and Beganovic 19th ahead of Dunne, who was familiarizing himself with the demands of F1. In a largely serene session, the first incident came with a spin for Fernando Alonso when he pushed on his first lap on softs at Turn 10. "That was the worst out-lap we can do," said the Aston Martin driver. "Good to do it in FP1!"
