Sky Sports has told PlanetF1.com that Rachel Brookes has left its F1 team with immediate effect after more than a decade with the broadcaster, with Brookes saying she will remain involved in Formula 1 and plans to be at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. A Sky spokesperson said: “Rachel has moved on from the Sky Sports F1 team to take on new challenges as we evolve our coverage.”


Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says his team is “far away” on pure pace at the Austrian Grand Prix after struggling through Friday practice in the hot conditions. Fred Vasseur said: "The degradation in Barcelona was much higher, and it was the main driver for the performance, at least in the race. But we were also able to fight for the pole position in qualifying. At least in terms of pure potential, we were there. Now, so far, we are far away. But it's true that in Barcelona we were not so shiny, also on Friday. We have a lot of potential to unlock tonight and we'll see tomorrow."

Max Verstappen said Red Bull’s new upgrade package was hard to assess after “hit-and-miss” behaviour in Turn 3 during Friday practice at the Red Bull Ring. Verstappen said: "It's like the rears are grabbing, locking up and you lose all the support. It's not a linear grip, it's not nice. You're constantly guessing the grip. And then once you go back on throttle, the engine has to catch up and it creates wheelspin on the exit."

Sergio Perez said Cadillac will change “pretty much everything” on the electrical side after an electrical problem ended his running in both Friday sessions at the Austrian Grand Prix. Perez said: "Unfortunately, running was very limited for me today. We don't really know what is the issue on my side, so we're going to be changing pretty much everything on the electrical side to make sure for tomorrow we can have a clean day because we have a lot of work ahead of us."

Isack Hadjar said Red Bull’s upgraded car “feels like the usual” at the Austrian Grand Prix and that the team still has work to do after a difficult start to Friday practice. Hadjar said: "No, it's not a completely different car, to be honest. It feels like the usual, to be fair. We still have work to do to catch up. For some reason, we know in Free Practice we were quite slow to get started and the car comes alive sometimes in Qualifying, but we need to get it sorted because it's quite tough."

McLaren technical director Neil Houldey said the team pulled its experimental upside-down rear wing from the car at the Austrian Grand Prix after it did not perform as expected during final checks in the garage. Houldey said: "Unfortunately, we were unable to run the experimental wing we brought to the track. The team at the factory worked tirelessly to get it here, but during final sign-off tests in the garage, it didn't perform as expected, and we weren't comfortable running it. It's disappointing, but we will conduct more work on the component before bringing it to a future event."



Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord says the team “have a fight on our hands” for pole position and victory at the Austrian Grand Prix despite Kimi Antonelli setting the pace in Friday practice at the Red Bull Ring. Lord said: "Our suspicion is that we haven't yet seen everything that they've got to offer this weekend, and maybe they're running in a new power unit quite conservatively today, and then we'll see a bit more what they've got to bring tomorrow. Red Bull look in good shape as well with their big aero update, and as we've seen in the last few races, particularly the hot ones, McLaren are right there too. We've all got a fight on our hands, but that's how it should be."

Oscar Piastri admitted McLaren are still “a step behind” Mercedes – “or at least Kimi” Antonelli – after Friday practice at the Austrian Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri said: "It was a pretty good day. I think we're a step behind Mercedes – or at least Kimi – which we expected. I think it's been a pretty productive day, tried a lot of things. We had some homework to do on my side from Spain and I felt like we've been able to do a good job of trying to try some things."

Red Bull's Laurent Mekies says keeping Max Verstappen is about making a fast car, as the team faces further rumours of a senior exit with chief engineer Paul Monaghan linked with a move to Cadillac and questions over whether Verstappen will stay beyond this season. Mekies said: "Max wants a fast car. He always wanted a fast car, and he completely trusts us in making sure we are doing everything we can, short term and long term, to ensure a return to success and continuous success. So, it's not a topic for us. The topic for us is get the car back to where we want it to be. And as you may, I hope, agree, if the car is back where we want it to be, there will be no discussion."

Max Verstappen flagged a driveability problem with Red Bull’s power unit during FP2 at the Austrian Grand Prix, complaining of an RPM drop at Turn 3 on push laps. Over team radio he said: “Look what happened there on the apex of Turn 3 with the engine. That’s what happens on the push lap as well. The drop in RPM, it’s clear.”
Max Verstappen says Red Bull “looks like” it is falling short at the Red Bull Ring despite introducing a major upgrade package for the Austrian Grand Prix, after a tricky Friday trying to find the right balance and grip. Verstappen said: "It was a bit tricky today to find the right balance. We need to work on the grip from the front to the rear. We need to find the right compromise there to try and find more speed, because it looks like we are falling a bit short. We will see what we can do tomorrow to find a bit more balance in general."

George Russell says McLaren are Mercedes’ “biggest concern” at the Austrian Grand Prix, with high temperatures likely to play to their strengths after Friday practice. Russell said: "I think they are [a threat]. I think there's a real trend of these hot races that they're strong. We saw it last year; well, we've seen it for years now. Miami was the first real hot race and they arguably could have won. Barcelona, Lando was similar pace to ourselves and Lewis. And then here, they look really strong again. So there's a real trend at these hot races that they seem to step it up, and we maybe take a step backwards."



Williams team principal James Vowles says the team’s planned upgrade programme will run beyond the summer break, with a “nice little step” coming at Silverstone and a bigger change expected around Baku. Vowles said: "Our goal, simply for the time being this year, is to be ahead of them and I think it's realistic with the development rate we've got, but it will go past the summer break. I don't think many people will be adding the performance that we're planning to towards that period. Silverstone will be a nice little step. There will be little bits that come to most races and towards Baku, you'll see quite a major change."






Williams team principal James Vowles said the team used a curfew exception at the Austrian Grand Prix to fit updated Mercedes energy store main enclosure (ESME) parts that arrived late on Thursday. Vowles said: "We have new ESME packs, which I think Mercedes are pretty open about. We wanted to take that, but it only really appeared at 3pm on Thursday, and we had a tremendous amount of work to do. So I wanted to make sure the cars are properly prepared."

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies says there is a “large risk” the team will be unable to upgrade its power unit after the FIA’s ADUO assessment rated its combustion engine as the best. Mekies said: "There is a large risk there for Red Bull. It is one of the reasons why it is vital for Red Bull, and more generally for the sport, that we get that picture right."


Kimi Antonelli fought off a spirited challenge from the McLaren duo to top Austrian Grand Prix FP2







P1) Kimi Antonelli - 1:07.014 P2) Oscar Piastri: +0.237 P3) Lando Norris: +0.325 P4) Max Verstappen: +0.550 P5) Lewis Hamilton: +0.597 P6) George Russell: +0.623 P7) Isack Hadjar: +0.744 P8) Charles Leclerc: +0.841 P9) Liam Lawson: +1.221 P10) Gabriel Bortoleto: +1.286 P11) Pierre Gasly: +1.362 P12) Arvid Lindblad: +1.364 P13) Oliver Bearman: +1.518 P14) Nico Hulkenberg: +1.545 P15) Esteban Ocon: +1.816 P16) Franco Colapinto: +1.817 P17) Alexander Albon: +1.824 P18) Carlos Sainz Jnr: +2.117 P19) Fernando Alonso: +3.530 P20) Lance Stroll: +3.684 P21) Valtteri Bottas: +4.293 P22) Sergio Perez - -

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