The Formula 1 weekend at the Red Bull Ring is up and running, and the early headline is clear. Andrea Kimi Antonelli put Mercedes on top in both Friday sessions at Spielberg. Practice 1 ran in dry, sunny weather and so did Practice 2, giving teams clean laps to test. The circuit will host Round 8 of the Formula 1 2026 season, with 71 laps on race day. The lap is 4.326 km, adding up to a 307.018 km Grand Prix distance. Practice 3, Qualifying and the race are still to come, with the weekend status listed as in progress on Sofascore.

Practice picture: Antonelli and Mercedes lead early running

Andrea Kimi Antonelli closed Friday with a sweep of the timesheets. He was listed as the winner of Practice 1 at Spielberg, then repeated the feat in Practice 2. Both sessions took place at the Red Bull Ring, and both were officially recorded as dry. The Italian’s Mercedes entry is marked as his parent team in the event data. Back-to-back P1s do not decide anything on Saturday or Sunday, but they do set a tone. With two clean runs in the books, Mercedes carries the most straightforward read into the next sessions.

Friday’s structure also helped teams gather steady runs without disruption. There were no weather flags beyond “sunny,” so programs likely stayed on schedule. The picture we have is simple and useful: one driver on top twice, on the same track, on the same day. That gives everyone else a very specific target for Saturday. Keep an eye on the session pages on Sofascore for any shifts once cars roll for Practice 3.Heat at Spielberg: dry track, rising temperatures

The Red Bull Ring lived up to its summer billing. Practice 1 ran with air at 30°C and a track temperature of 48°C, plus humidity at 28%. Practice 2 got even warmer in the air at 32°C, while the track cooled slightly to 45°C, and humidity ticked up to 31%. Those numbers tell us the heat is real and may change through the day. It is the sort of swing that can move grip from session to session.

With both sessions confirmed as dry, the baseline for teams is solid. Drivers logged laps in consistent sunshine, which means fewer variables in data from Friday. If Saturday looks similar, the grid could carry over many of Friday’s learnings. If it varies, then Friday’s split between 48°C and 45°C track temperatures will be handy context. Sofascore’s live event page keeps these conditions listed so you can compare them session by session.

What’s next on the Austria GP schedule

Practice 3 is the next stop at Spielberg, and it is marked as not started. After that comes Qualifying, also listed as not started in the event feed. The Grand Prix follows on Sunday, with 71 laps scheduled around the Red Bull Ring. Total race distance is 307.018 km, and each tour of the circuit measures 4.326 km. The session stack is classic weekend order, which should help teams line up their programs cleanly.

From a storyline angle, the main question is whether anyone can match Antonelli’s Friday pace. Saturday will give us the first answer, because FP3 tends to refine the approach before a full push in Qualifying. Mercedes arrives with the most straightforward baseline thanks to a double P1. But one-lap speed under Qualifying pressure is its own test. Track the live status on Sofascore as green flags drop across each session.

Numbers that matter at the Red Bull Ring

This is Austria GP week in Spielberg, Austria, with the Red Bull Ring named as the circuit throughout the event data. The 2026 edition is staged as Round 8 of the Formula 1 2026 season. Race distance is 307.018 km, split over 71 laps, giving that 4.326 km circuit length per lap. The stage is flagged under the Austria tag, and the weekend sits under the Formula 1 category. Everything you see lines up with a standard Grand Prix format.

Friday’s conditions give extra context to those figures. A 30–32°C air window and a 45–48°C track window were recorded across FP1 and FP2. Sunny and dry is the weather note in both sessions. Add in two session wins for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and you have a tidy snapshot of day one. All of this is tracked on Sofascore, where the event page shows session results, status changes and key info at a glance.

Final checks before lights out

The weekend is officially in progress, with Practice 3, Qualifying and the race still ahead. Friday belonged to Antonelli and Mercedes, but the leaderboard can change quickly once parc fermé approaches. The Red Bull Ring’s 71-lap assignment rewards a clean build from Saturday to Sunday. That build starts with FP3, then moves straight into grid-setting laps. Keep an eye on how temperatures compare to the 45–48°C track values we saw on Friday.

If those conditions repeat, teams know what they are working with. If not, adaptations will show up early in Practice 3 runs. Either way, there is a clear pace-setter to chase into Qualifying. Follow the Austria GP on Sofascore for live session updates, results and key numbers as the weekend moves toward the Grand Prix.