Free Practice 3 at the Red Bull Ring wrapped up with Lando Norris leading the way on a 1:04.324, ahead of Piastri, Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Russell, Antonelli, Stroll, Tsunoda, and Bortoleto.
Tyre strategy remains a major point of intrigue this weekend. For those wondering if there’s an official way to check what each team has left unused, the answer is: not really — unless you’re watching the garage area closely (when not closed due to weather conditions!). Some fans are doing the legwork themselves: one helpful breakdown after FP3 showed which sets were returned and which might still be in play (link here). Aston Martin, for example, ran softs for pretty much the whole session and they do have a habit of scrubbing tyres aggressively. It’s generally straightforward: teams usually return the sets they’ve run in practice, but they can occasionally keep some used tyres in reserve. Tracking this in real-time is tricky, though — it’s highly unlikely someone would hold on to a 10-lap old soft and return a new medium instead, but the possibility always adds a layer of uncertainty.
As for the Red Bull Ring itself, it’s always interesting that such a short lap can generate one of the biggest time gaps in the field. Much of the lap is full throttle, so any small difference on corner exit has a massive impact overall. That said, Austria typically produces tight gaps — last year, seven tenths covered the whole grid in Q1, so today’s spread looks like an outlier. We expect things to tighten back up for qualifying.
On the driver front, Hadjar’s session didn’t go to plan — he spun in Turn 10 after hitting the gravel runoff, likely damaging his floor and calling it a day on his fast laps.
Ferrari fans will be encouraged to see Leclerc and Sainz in P4 and P5 — a visible step forward from their usual FP3 spots. The new upgrades appear to be delivering: it’s no longer Ferrari stuck around P6–P7. If they can consistently beat Mercedes, P2 in the Constructors’ would be realistic. Beating McLaren this year, however, is another matter — that team looks untouchable at the moment. Even with a rookie in FP1, they were comfortably up the order. Not only do they have the fastest car but also the most drivable one. The McLaren stays planted right up until you really need that last tenth; that’s when we’ve seen Lando and Oscar push over the edge. If Ferrari’s new parts keep working, they could at least close the gap and fight for a few wins later in the year, but the points deficit means the real battle is for best of the rest.
Mercedes might still have more pace than they showed — both drivers had scruffy final runs today. There’s a sense that the Silverstone round will be the real test of their package, once they’ve used the Austria data to fine-tune it.
Further down the order, Williams look a team in transition. They’ve been stuck in the bottom 10 all weekend, and some suspect their early pivot to 2026 is costing them their midfield edge. There’s speculation about whether the new Technical Directive is to blame for this slide — but with only two races since it came into effect, it’s too soon to draw big conclusions. For Williams, a solid P5 in the Constructors’ is still likely to hold, whether they finish with a big points cushion or just scrape it by a point.
Alpine, meanwhile, are still searching for positives. Both drivers managed one fast lap on softs, but the follow-ups were well off — Franco even spun out, although he was already down on his best sector times. There’s no expectation of meaningful upgrades coming, so fans are bracing for more “El Pain” through the rest of the season.
Sauber, however, continue to look strong. Bortoleto has made it into the Top 10 three times already this weekend, so there’s something cooking in that garage.
Finally, while Norris sits P1 for now, there’s a note of caution. He’s often looked quick in practice, but converting that into pole position is another challenge. He’ll need a clean Q3 run to avoid his typical scenario of qualifying further down and having to fight back to P2 on Sunday.