P1racenews AI automatic summary:
The Red Bull Ring is a supremely suitable track for the strengths of the McLaren MCL39 – but it’s probably not as far ahead as it looks
The Red Bull Ring is well-suited for the strengths of the McLaren MCL39 with its long corners and interconnected layout, hinting at potential dominance shown in FP2 by Lando Norris. Norris acknowledges that their speed advantage in FP2 may not translate to ease in the actual race day as other teams tend to catch up.
McLaren’s aggressive approach in FP2 to stress the tires often amplifies their advantage, as seen with Norris’s gap over Verstappen not reflecting the full picture due to power unit offsets. Despite Norris setting the pace after missing FP1, other drivers like Oscar Piastri also showed strong performance despite running different car specs for testing purposes.
Verstappen reported struggling with understeer in both short and long runs, whereas Mercedes’ varying performance between FP1 and FP2 raised some questions, with George Russell suggesting that the latter may be more indicative of their true pace. Ferrari’s new floor seemed to be a work in progress, with Leclerc showing promise in long runs.
Hamilton faced challenges with cooling the power unit while managing tyre temperatures in FP1, while Lance Stroll’s quick lap in FP2 likely resulted from Aston Martin’s balancing act between race and qualifying pace. The expectation is for McLaren to dominate qualifying, but a Verstappen challenge could also shake things up similar to previous races.
