Author Archives: PressBox

Six rookie drivers will take part in first practice at the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring as teams use the FIA rule that requires full-time drivers to give up two practice sessions per season to drivers with no more than two Grand Prix starts. Ferrari, Racing Bulls, Haas, Williams, Audi and Aston Martin are all handing their cars to juniors in Friday’s opening session.

Ferrari confirmed that Formula 2 driver Dino Beganovic will drive Charles Leclerc’s car in FP1, marking his fourth Formula 1 practice appearance and his latest run after outings in Bahrain and Austria in 2025 and in Barcelona earlier this season for Lewis Hamilton. Leclerc will miss the session and will have one less hour of track time than Hamilton over the weekend. Ferrari said the move helps it meet Formula 1’s rookie running requirements.

Williams will also run Luke Browning in Carlos Sainz’s car, after his planned FP1 appearance in Barcelona ended early because of an electrical problem. His Austrian outing was part of a previously announced plan to run in both Barcelona and Austria. Racing Bulls will field Ayumu Iwasa in Liam Lawson’s seat, Haas will give Ryo Hirakawa his first FP1 run of 2026 in Esteban Ocon’s VF-26, Audi will put Paul Aron in Gabriel Bortoleto’s car for his seventh FP1 appearance, and Aston Martin will run Jak Crawford in Lance Stroll’s car for his fourth practice session.

Flavio Briatore said Franco Colapinto could remain at Alpine beyond the 2026 Formula 1 season if his form and relationship with the team keep improving, as the team weighs its 2027 driver lineup before the summer break. Briatore said the 23-year-old Argentine has made major progress mentally and technically, with Colapinto rebounding from a scoreless 2025 season to score 16 points this year, finish sixth in Canada, and record top-10 results in China, Miami, Canada and Barcelona while outqualifying Pierre Gasly several times.

The driver discussion has come as Alpine’s 2026 campaign has turned sharply upward under the new regulations and Mercedes engines. Alpine has scored points in every race, sits fifth in the constructors’ standings and leads the midfield after seven rounds with 57 points. Gasly, who scored a Monaco podium after a penalty reversal, backed Briatore’s revival plan and called the French team’s improved competitiveness and morale a sign that the reset has given Alpine a real chance to recover after a difficult 2025 season.

Briatore has also stressed that Alpine’s immediate priority is improving the car rather than changing drivers, and he described Gasly as one of Formula 1’s top six drivers and the leader the team wanted. Rumors have continued about a possible Fernando Alonso return to Enstone in 2027, but neither Alpine nor Alonso has confirmed any move.

Pirelli said the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix could lean toward a one-stop strategy, a shift it linked to the current tyre range and better tyre consistency. The supplier has nominated its softest allocation for the Red Bull Ring, with the C3 as hard, the C4 as medium and the C5 as soft, but it still expects tyre management to be difficult because of Spielberg’s rough asphalt, heavy braking zones, repeated acceleration phases, rear-tyre traction loads and downhill braking forces. Late-June heat is expected to add to thermal degradation, while mountain weather could still bring sudden changes. Pirelli also said qualifying position may be important for any team trying to control the race from the front and make a one-stop plan work.

Each driver will get two sets of hard tyres, three sets of mediums and eight sets of softs, with intermediates and full wets available if needed. Drivers who reach Q3 will receive an extra set of soft tyres. In a dry race, every driver must use at least two slick compounds. Pirelli said the race weekend will test tyre construction under high stress more from thermal degradation than abrasive wear, and that current tyre construction and track evolution could make longer stints more viable than in previous years. Most teams needed two pit stops last year, but Pirelli said the one-stop option is now more realistic.

The Austrian Grand Prix will be staged at the 4.326-kilometre Red Bull Ring in Spielberg from practice on Friday, June 26, to qualifying on Saturday, June 27, and the race on Sunday, June 28. The circuit, which has 10 corners, sits 660 metres above sea level and has a 63-metre elevation change. It has a Formula 1 history dating back to 1964, and the 2025 race produced 81 overtakes. Max Verstappen has taken four pole positions and four wins at the venue, while McLaren leads the constructors there with seven victories.

Pirelli said the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix could lean toward a one-stop strategy, a shift it linked to the current tyre range and better tyre consistency. The supplier has nominated its softest allocation for the Red Bull Ring, with the C3 as hard, the C4 as medium and the C5 as soft, but it still expects tyre management to be difficult because of Spielberg’s rough asphalt, heavy braking zones, repeated acceleration phases, rear-tyre traction loads and downhill braking forces. Late-June heat is expected to add to thermal degradation, while mountain weather could still bring sudden changes. Pirelli also said qualifying position may be important for any team trying to control the race from the front and make a one-stop plan work.

Each driver will get two sets of hard tyres, three sets of mediums and eight sets of softs, with intermediates and full wets available if needed. Drivers who reach Q3 will receive an extra set of soft tyres. In a dry race, every driver must use at least two slick compounds. Pirelli said the race weekend will test tyre construction under high stress more from thermal degradation than abrasive wear, and that current tyre construction and track evolution could make longer stints more viable than in previous years. Most teams needed two pit stops last year, but Pirelli said the one-stop option is now more realistic.

The Austrian Grand Prix will be staged at the 4.326-kilometre Red Bull Ring in Spielberg from practice on Friday, June 26, to qualifying on Saturday, June 27, and the race on Sunday, June 28. The circuit, which has 10 corners, sits 660 metres above sea level and has a 63-metre elevation change. It has a Formula 1 history dating back to 1964, and the 2025 race produced 81 overtakes. Max Verstappen has taken four pole positions and four wins at the venue, while McLaren leads the constructors there with seven victories.

Esteban Ocon brushed aside renewed speculation about his Haas future ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, saying he trusts team principal Ayao Komatsu and is not bothered by outside chatter. Ocon, whose contract runs through the end of the 2026 season, said he was focused on fixing the parts of the car and the performance issues Haas can control, and described himself as “chill” about the rumors. He said he did not care what other people said about his situation and that it was too early in the season to talk about next year.

The speculation intensified after a media report tied to the Canadian Grand Prix was misread as suggesting a rift between Ocon and Komatsu, but both men denied that there was a split. Ocon said the team had endured three or four difficult races, had scored only a few points and still had work to do before its results matched its effort. He said he hoped a more competitive car would help him and teammate Ollie Bearman as the team began the European stretch.

Reports also linked Ferrari, McLaren and Toyota to possible moves involving their own drivers on the Formula 1 grid, while unverified chatter connected Rafael Camara and Yuki Tsunoda to Haas. The renewed pressure on Ocon came after a mixed run of results, including his first points of the season with ninth place in Monaco and a 13th-place finish in Spain, two laps down and more than 60 seconds behind Franco Colapinto. He also trailed Bearman in both the 2025 and 2026 head-to-head standings.

The FIA declared a heat hazard for the Austrian Grand Prix as Europe’s first major heatwave of the summer sent temperatures soaring at the Red Bull Ring. Forecasts pointed to air temperatures in the mid- to high-30s Celsius, with 34C expected on Saturday and 38C on Sunday. The FIA said the warning was triggered after the heat index was forecast to rise above its 31C threshold, and track temperatures could climb into the 50s Celsius. Austria has already broken June temperature records during the heatwave.

Under Formula 1’s 2025 heat-hazard protocol, teams must install driver cooling systems and the cars’ minimum weight rises by five kilograms. Drivers may choose to wear liquid-cooled vests that circulate coolant through a fireproof top, or skip them and carry ballast instead. F1 encouraged drivers to use the vests, but some drivers have criticized them as uncomfortable and unreliable if the dry ice runs out. George Russell has backed the concept after using it in Singapore last year, where the rule was first used.

The heat-hazard rule was introduced after the extreme conditions at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, when several drivers needed medical attention. It was originally meant to make the vests mandatory, but they remained optional after drivers raised concerns about comfort and effectiveness. The FIA also updated the rule for 2026 sprint weekends, allowing heat-hazard declarations separately for the Sprint session and the race, with the decision due 24 hours before each begins.

Madame Tussauds London unveiled its first wax figure of Lando Norris ahead of the British Grand Prix buildup, putting the reigning Formula 1 world champion on display after months of collaboration with the museum’s artists. The figure will open to the public on June 30 at the Baker Street attraction, in the museum’s Culture Capital zone alongside other sports stars.

The exhibit was built with several personal touches from Norris, including a McLaren race suit, race boots and a replica of his 2025 helmet from the Abu Dhabi season finale, when he sealed the title. Norris also helped design the figure earlier in the year so it would closely match his appearance.

Norris called seeing the finished likeness “pretty cool,” “surreal” and, at one point, “creeps me out,” while saying he appreciated how lifelike the details turned out. Madame Tussauds London general manager Steve Blackburn said the museum was excited to unveil the figure and expected visitors to enjoy taking photos with it throughout the summer.