Jeff: If the Ferrari engine upgrade this weekend is as good as Ferrari believe it to be, they could hack down Mercedes’ straight line advantage. This, with their cornering performance (consistently the best this year) and Hamilton’s experience and motivation, could launch them to the front of the grid. Championship on!

Ian: What a sweet way to win your 8th title if it happens. Age is just a number!

Dear oh dear.

Max Verstappen hasn't even got onto the actual pit lane as his Red Bull comes to a halt.

"Every time I release the clutch I get anti-stall" he says over the team radio.

He's pushed back into the garage.

Looks like some trouble with Lando Norris' car in the lead-up to the session beginning.

He's out of the car and it's up on the jacks in the McLaren garage and is being seen to with the floor off.

Meanwhile down the road at the Red Bull garage, Isack Hadjar's car needs some attention, too.

We're under way for FP1 at the Red Bull Ring.

It's hot, hot, hot.

BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2

It's not just my prose taking you through the action today.

You can listen to all the action in the first and second practice sessions on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2.

Harry Benjamin is in position to guide you through FP1 and he's joined by British racing driver Abbie Eaton and BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson.

To tune in to first practice, click the 'listen live' tab at the top of this page, head over to the BBC Sounds app if you're out and about today or ask your smart speaker to "play Sports Extra 2".

Just like in Barcelona two weeks ago, F1 teams are putting rookie drivers in the car for this opening practice session in Spielberg on Friday.

Haas' Ryo Hirakawa is taking part for the first time this season while Briton Luke Browning is back in for Williams following his interrupted session in Spain - he was stuck in the garage with a technical issue - last time out.

Ferrari

Dino Beganovic - replaces Charles Leclerc

Racing Bulls

Ayumu Iwasa - replaces Liam Lawson

Haas

Ryo Hirakawa - replaces Esteban Ocon

Williams

Luke Browning - replaces Carlos Sainz

Audi

Paul Aron - replaces Gabriel Bortoleto

Aston Martin

Jak Crawford - replaces Lance Stroll

He couldn't, could he?

Lewis Hamilton's looked mighty fine in his Ferrari of late, recording one victory and another three podium finishes so far this season.

But can the veteran mount a challenge to leader Kimi Antonelli and earn his eighth World Championship crown?

Let us know whether you think he can push on from his win in Barcelona or whether Kimi has it in the bag.

Select the 'get involved' button at the top of this page and send us your thoughts.

Image source, Reuters

On the topic of appeals and the Monaco Grand Prix..

Mercedes withdrew their appeal against the result of that race having earlier lodged a 'right of review' request with the FIA after Formula 1's governing body overturned Pierre Gasly for speeding in the pit lane.

Mercedes driver George Russell was among the five drivers to commit the same offence, which led to the Briton dropping from third to 12th in the final results.

In Alpine's appeal, it emerged that officials had measured the pit lane speed limit incorrectly, by using a longer distance for the pit lane than it was possible to drive.

Mercedes' right of review was due to be heard on 20 June, but the team decided not to press forward with the case on a number of grounds.

They concluded there was no viable mechanism for restoring Russell to where he could have finished, and it would not serve anybody to drag it all on.

Image source, Getty Images

The controversy following last month's Monaco Grand Prix rumbles on.

Last week McLaren lodged an appeal against the decision to overturn Alpine driver Pierre Gasly's pit-lane speeding penalty at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Alpine won a right of appeal review against the penalty in the lead-up to the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix and the Frenchman was reinstalled in third place, having been demoted to seventh.

Governing body the FIA established in the Alpine hearing that the pit-lane speed limit had been miscalculated at Monaco.

A McLaren statement said: "This case raises important questions concerning sporting fairness, regulatory consistency and the integrity of competition.

"Throughout the Monaco Grand Prix weekend – and in every event - all teams operated according to the regulations and established standard practices for what concerns the speed limit in the pit lane as they were applied at the time.

"Competitors adjusted their procedures accordingly and, where required, accepted and served penalties imposed under those regulations.

"In our view, the subsequent removal of penalties creates a situation in which some competitors are disadvantaged by having acted in accordance with the rules and the Stewards' decisions."

Meanwhile here's the standings in the constructor's championship.

Mercedes pulled ahead but Ferrari, led by Lewis Hamilton's fine form, are making chase.

Thus far, newcomers Cadillac are the only team yet to score a point.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's the lay of the land in the driver's championship headed into this weekend.

Kimi Antonelli leads the pack ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second, while Antonelli's team-mate George Russell is third with the trio the only drivers to break the 100-point barrier after seven races.

There's a bit of a gap then to the fourth-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc with reigning world champion Lando Norris just five points behind him.

Still plenty to play for as the midway point of the 2026 season approaches.

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

This weekend's Austrian Grand Prix has been declared a heat-hazard race by Formula 1's governing body the FIA.

The designation comes at any event where the temperature is forecasted to exceed 31C at any time the cars are on track.

The ruling means drivers can use a mandated cooling kit that flows cooled liquid, such as glycol, through a system of pipes in a fireproof top worn under their overalls.

The cooling kit is not mandatory but any driver who chooses not to use it has to carry 5kg of ballast in their car to ensure he does not have a competitive advantage.

Austria is the first race this year to be declared a heat hazard, amid a heatwave across Europe that is establishing record temperatures in many countries, including the UK.

Speaking of the heatwave..

Jay Freeman
BBC Sport

Almost two weeks have passed since Lewis Hamilton took his maiden Grand Prix victory for Ferrari as he set a marker down in the prancing horse's pursuit of Mercedes at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli DNFed in the tail end of that race, as his team-mate George Russell clawed down the points deficit after a pretty rough few races.

But it is Hamilton who looks like he could challenge Antonelli's fine showing in 2026 so far, with his first win in red putting him within 41 points of the 19-year-old headed into this weekend in Austria.

In the time since Hamilton's win, we've seen the guts of a World Cup and a heatwave has slowly taken over Europe.

I'm downright uncomfortable just typing this, but then at least I'm not sat in the cockpit giving it full send round the Red Bull Ring in these temperatures.

Speaking of which, first practice is on its way soon..