F1 Austrian Grand Prix: Ferrari's lack of pace nearly caused major crash

Hamilton, Leclerc, socials — Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari

Ferrari's lack of pace nearly caused major crash at Austrian Grand Prix

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc almost crashed with Kimi Antonelli during the race

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 29 June 2026 09:42

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Ferrari were very slow during Sunday's race at the Austrian Grand Prix, shattering their drivers' chances of claiming a podium, but also almost causing a crash.

Having qualified up in second and third respectively, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton might have thought they were in with a chance of winning the race in Austria, but it wasn't to be.

They both struggled to keep up with the pace of the two Mercedes cars and Max Verstappen, while even the McLarens proved to be tricky customers for them.

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The end result was a fifth-place finish for Hamilton and eighth for Leclerc, as he struggled once again with his SF-26.

It leaves Hamilton now 46 points behind championship rival Kimi Antonelli, while for Leclerc, it could have been even worse.

The Monegasque driver's slow pace heading into turn one almost caused a crash between himself and Antonelli, with his SF-26 harvesting energy.

Antonelli looked to blast past the Ferrari on lap two, but was caught out by the lack of pace coming from the SF-26, and almost slammed into the back of him.

The young Italian revealed all in the cooldown room.

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Mercedes drivers surprised by slow-moving Ferraris

Speaking to Antonelli and Max Verstappen in the cooldown room after the race, George Russell said: "Their [Ferrari's] race pace was off."

Antonelli immediately agreed, saying: "They were so slow, they were deploying weirdly.

"I almost crashed with Leclerc in turn one, lap two, because of the speed difference. I was probably 30kph up."

Eventually, Antonelli safely got past Leclerc and would go on to claim yet another podium as he ensured his lead wasn't dented too much by Russell, who claimed a stunning pole position-race victory double this weekend.

Russell is now just 40 points behind his Mercedes team-mate in the drivers' championship.

F1 RESULTS: Austrian Grand Prix final classificiation with all penalties applied