The 2025 Austrian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 session delivered no shortage of storylines, from Alex Dunne’s breakout showing for McLaren to Haas’s unpredictable Fridays and Ferrari’s all-hands-on-deck testing effort.
Alex Dunne Makes Ireland Proud
Alex Dunne’s first FP1 run with McLaren turned into an unexpected national event for Irish fans. He made the most of a session largely dedicated to aero testing, showing enough raw pace to place P4 behind Piastri. Even on the radio, Dunne kept things light, asking whether he could squeeze in a quick bathroom break during a tight turnaround, a moment that summed up the calm confidence he showed all session.
Dunne’s performance is a point of real pride for Irish motorsport followers, with many likening this day to the county’s biggest sporting moments, some even comparing it to Offaly’s Senior Hurling Championship win in 1998 or Shane Lowry’s Open triumph. For Offaly, this FP1 appearance might not create a literal population boom like the All-Ireland, but it certainly fired up the parish spirit, complete with local papers trying to trace Dunne in old parade photos.
While his time in the car was focused on data gathering, Dunne still topped the charts for high-speed cornering, even edging out the likes of Verstappen, Gasly, Hadjar, and Piastri. It was a reminder that for all the jokes about the parish, this was a real statement outing. Many see him as a well-rounded prospect whose reputation deserves to be even higher, pointing back to his impressive Italian F4 rookie campaign and British F4 run in the same year. There’s already chatter about how he might find his way into F1 full time, whether with McLaren, Cadillac, or even Racing Bulls if the stars align.
Of course, any speculation comes with a dose of caution. Plenty know how tough the Red Bull ladder can be, and how quickly they can cycle through young talent if things don’t work out. But if Dunne’s raw pace continues, there’s no reason he can’t keep his name in the mix for 2026 and beyond. And as his high-speed sector times in Spielberg showed, he’s certainly putting his name out there, one rapid tide of jam at a time.
Haas: Still the Vibes-Based Team
Farther down the order, Haas once again found themselves near the bottom of the timing sheets in FP1, a situation that’s become almost routine on Fridays. Fans and observers alike point out that the team’s real race pace often seems completely unrelated to their practice runs, calling Haas’s form “completely vibes based.”
Some suggest this erratic Friday form is partly down to the team’s lack of simulator infrastructure and dedicated sim drivers, leaving rookies like Bearman effectively guessing with base setups that may or may not work. It’s not uncommon to see one Haas car deep in the midfield and the other far behind, a trend that’s been more noticeable since Imola but crops up every weekend.
Team principal Ayao Komatsu has admitted they need to start weekends more strongly, but so far, the Allen Iverson “we talking about practice” mentality still seems to rule. Until they fix these preparation gaps, it’s likely the pattern will continue: a rough Friday, and then a roll of the dice for Saturday and Sunday.
Sauber and Audi: Signs of Long-Term Optimism
Meanwhile, Sauber looked much improved. Their updates seemed to put them ahead of Haas, Racing Bulls, and Alpine in pace simulations, a sign that the investments under Audi’s leadership are starting to pay off. Fans haven’t forgotten that the turnaround began right as Mattia Binotto and Tim Goss Wheatley joined the operation.
It’s clear Audi trusts Binotto to run things his way, free from the kind of political snags that hampered him at Ferrari. That clean environment is already bearing fruit, and while people love to joke about Binotto’s Ferrari memes, it’s becoming harder to deny that the team’s dysfunction back then might have been more about the structure than the person. If the Audi engine is as good as many hope, this team may finally shed its “s-box” reputation.
Scuderia Ferrari HP: Tests, Tweaks, and Rookie Runs
Ferrari came into Austria’s FP1 with an intense test plan. Hamilton finished P9 while rookie Dino Beganovic ended P18. Lewis’s entire session was a stop-start affair: after every timed lap, the car came in for adjustments, with constant radio chatter and no two consecutive laps run in anger. There were also gearbox issues and abandoned laps due to brake trouble, so it’s hard to say just how much pace Ferrari truly has until the upgrades are dialed in.
One takeaway is that the car already looked more stable compared to earlier races, even if Hamilton likely wasn’t pushing flat out. The team’s floor and gearbox tweaks will need more validation once Leclerc returns to the cockpit, with many noting that Charles’s setup direction has been yielding better race results than Hamilton’s this season. Some feel it’s a mistake to keep sacrificing Leclerc for the mandatory rookie FP1 slots when important mid-season upgrades are on the line. Still, with Dino’s second rookie outing done, at least the interruptions are out of the way for the rest of the season.
Closing Thoughts: One Big Day in Spielberg
With Russell topping the session with a 1:05.542, ahead of Verstappen, Piastri, Dunne, and Gasly, there’s plenty left to shake out before Sunday’s race. But if Free Practice 1 in Austria proved anything, it’s that a rookie with raw talent can make a whole parish proud, an underdog team can stay frustratingly vibes-based, and even giants like Ferrari can find answers, if they listen to the right people.
And as the paddock chatter shows, the speculation never stops. Maybe Dunne does find his way to a Racing Bulls seat. Maybe Haas figures out Fridays. Maybe Audi’s big leap is real. For now, all eyes turn to the rest of the weekend, where the jam tide, parish craic, and carefully opened engine covers will keep things interesting.
Austrian GP FP1, Done and Dunne.