McLaren already quicker than last year, Red Bull furthest away: Practice data · RaceFans

McLaren led the way in the opening practice sessions again but Max Verstappen’s hopes of a sixth consecutive pole position at his team’s home track are far from over.

Teams’ 2024 performance in context

Last year’s Austrian Grand Prix is remembered chiefly for the controversial clash between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. However until the final stint Red Bull appeared to have a clear performance edge over McLaren.

Verstappen’s best time of the weekend was four tenths of a second quicker than Norris’s, which translates to an advantage of over 0.6% over such a short lap. Norris got within range at the end of the race thanks to McLaren’s strategy plus a slow pit stop for Verstappen.

Teams’ progress vs 2024

A significant change from this year compared to last year is that the teams have a full complement of three practice sessions at the Red Bull Ring for the first time since 2021, as this is no longer a sprint event. Over the two hours of practice on Friday, three teams have already beaten their best lap times from last year.

They include McLaren. Red Bull, however, are further off their 2024 pace than any team so far. This pattern has been observed at several rounds this year: Max Verstappen tends to improve his pace much more than his team mate from Friday to Saturday, and McLaren expect to see the same tomorrow.

Aston Martin have gained the most time since last year, so far. This was a particularly poor round for them last year, but Lance Stroll also put in a surprisingly quick lap time on Friday.

Teams’ 2024 and 2025 times

As the Red Bull Ring typically sees the shortest lap times of the year, qualifying is set to be especially close. Just three tenths of a second covered the back half of the grid in practice.

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First and second practice times

P.
#
Driver
Team
FP1 time
FP2 time
Gap
Laps

1
4
Lando Norris
McLaren-Mercedes

1’04.580

0

2
81
Oscar Piastri
McLaren-Mercedes
1’05.697
1’04.737
0.157
33

3
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull-Honda RBPT
1’05.607
1’04.898
0.318
30

4
18
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin-Mercedes
1’06.160
1’05.022
0.442
32

5
16
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari

1’05.190
0.610
0

6
63
George Russell
Mercedes
1’05.542
1’05.229
0.649
34

7
22
Yuki Tsunoda
Red Bull-Honda RBPT
1’06.262
1’05.292
0.712
30

8
5
Gabriel Bortoleto
Sauber-Ferrari
1’05.874
1’05.411
0.831
35

9
14
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin-Mercedes
1’06.170
1’05.457
0.877
32

10
44
Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari
1’06.099
1’05.511
0.931
20

11
12
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
1’06.130
1’05.537
0.957
35

12
30
Liam Lawson
Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT
1’06.189
1’05.543
0.963
34

13
6
Isack Hadjar
Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT
1’06.110
1’05.547
0.967
33

14
10
Pierre Gasly
Alpine-Renault
1’05.780
1’05.613
1.033
34

15
31
Esteban Ocon
Haas-Ferrari
1’06.510
1’05.698
1.118
32

16
23
Alexander Albon
Williams-Mercedes
1’05.946
1’05.765
1.185
35

17
89
Alex Dunne
McLaren-Mercedes
1’05.766

1.186
29

18
55
Carlos Sainz Jnr
Williams-Mercedes
1’06.017
1’05.814
1.234
33

19
87
Oliver Bearman
Haas-Ferrari
1’06.738
1’05.835
1.255
30

20
27
Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber-Ferrari
1’06.140
1’05.918
1.338
32

21
43
Franco Colapinto
Alpine-Renault
1’06.246
1’06.176
1.596
34

22
38
Dino Beganovic
Ferrari
1’06.369

1.789
32

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