Author Archives: PressBox

Jak Crawford will make his second Formula 1 free practice outing of the season for Aston Martin at the Austrian Grand Prix, driving Lance Stroll’s AMR26 in FP1 at the Red Bull Ring. The session will be his fourth overall FP1 appearance for the team and Aston Martin’s second of four mandatory rookie practice runs required this year.

Crawford first raced for Aston Martin in FP1 at Suzuka earlier in 2026, and the team has also used him in place of Fernando Alonso after Alonso arrived late following the birth of his first child. He arrived in Austria after completing a Pirelli tyre test with Aston Martin in Barcelona, and the team said he has accumulated more than 3,800 kilometers in Formula 1 machinery.

Aston Martin trackside officer Mike Krack said the run will help evaluate Crawford’s progress in a live race-weekend environment and give the team more data for development. Crawford said he knows the Austrian circuit well, having driven there before in Formula 2 and Formula 3, and said he hopes to provide useful feedback.

Red Bull’s significant upgrade package for the Austrian Grand Prix is unlikely to be enough on its own to close the performance gap to Mercedes and Ferrari, team principal Laurent Mekies said, as the team continues to chase roughly four tenths of a second per lap. Mekies pointed to Ferrari’s Barcelona upgrade as an example of how much performance can still be unlocked through development in Formula 1’s 2026 rules era.

Mekies said Red Bull has been making gradual progress since Japan and believes Mercedes’ early-season advantage is starting to fade, but he said the team still needs further steps after Austria. He said the package will be judged on the lap time it produces on track, not on expectations, and rejected the idea that Red Bull is in no man’s land, saying it is still competing with the top four teams. Red Bull arrives at the Red Bull Ring still dealing with balance and grip issues and is described as having the fourth-best car under the current rules.

The Austria upgrade will be Red Bull’s second major update of the season after Miami, when it introduced a new sidepod design and a rotary rear wing concept. The team is focused on chassis-side gains because it did not receive power-unit upgrade tokens, and the Austrian package may also help reduce weight, with Red Bull still believed to be above the 768kg minimum. In Spain, Mekies said the team’s best realistic result before late retirements would have been to beat one Ferrari and one McLaren, while Max Verstappen finished fourth after the race changed late on.

Carlos Sainz is weighing his future at Williams after the team’s difficult start to the 2026 F1 season, with delayed winter development and an overweight car leaving it short of pace. Team principal James Vowles believes Williams can become competitive with F1’s top teams by 2028, and Sainz says that target is realistic, but he is still deciding whether he wants to wait that long to win again.

Speaking in Monaco, Sainz said he remains committed to helping Williams recover, though podium contention this year looks unlikely. He said he will have to make a decision about his future later this season. Former F1 winner David Coulthard said Sainz is likely assessing his options as Williams goes through its slump, with market speculation also continuing around both of the team’s drivers.