Warm-up: One-two boosts McLaren hopes
Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard proved that in race trim at least, McLaren-Mercedes can be a force to be reckoned with at the A1-Ring. The pair finished first and second quickest respectively in the warm-up for the Austrian Grand Prix, but must now try and capitalise on that pace from a lowly seventh and eighth on the grid
Pole-sitter Michael Schumacher was fifth, behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan-Honda in third and his Ferrari team mate Rubens Barrichello in fourth. But Schumacher's quick lap, which kicked up the dirt on several corner exits, was 1.143s slower than Hakkinen's 1m11.647s benchmark.
Frentzen, like the McLarens, will also have a lot of work to do if he wants to exploit his race trim form. The German starts 11th on the grid, six places behind his team mate Jarno Trulli, who finished the warm-up session sixth fastest.
Kimi Raikkonen's Sauber was seventh, with Jacques Villeneuve's BAR-Honda, Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar (the top Michelin runner) and Nick Heidfeld's Sauber completing the top 10.
Williams-BMW had finished second and third in Saturday's qualifying, but were a lowly 15th and 16th in the warm-up, behind both Arrows-AMT cars. Strategy or a genuine uncompetitiveness in race trim? All will be revealed at 13:00 BST (14:00 local time).
For full warm-up results, click here.
Share Or Save This Story
Vanthoor joins McLaren's 2027 WEC programme on Porsche loan deal
Why Red Bull and McLaren sat down after surprising comments about Lambiase's role
Why some F1 team bosses think drivers shouldn't have a say in the rules
Ogier: Portugal WRC loss “hard to accept” after late puncture
BTCC Brands Hatch: Ingram takes first win of 2026 in race three
"It's only going to get better" - How Audi is responding to rocky start to F1 2026
BTCC Brands Hatch: Taylor-Smith takes shock win aboard Toyota in race two
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments