Ferrari's Hamilton faces Mercedes in Austria hoping to turn F1 win into a title shot

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The Formula 1 title race is turning into the ultimate battle of youth against experience.

On one side, Lewis Hamilton, who at 41 just became F1's oldest race winner since 1970. An eighth world title would make him the oldest champion since 1957.

On the other, Kimi Antonelli, the 19-year-old Italian who leads the standings, on course to be the youngest-ever to take the title.

“I’ve been here before. I know what I have to do, and there’s a long way to go,” Hamilton said Thursday ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, set to take place as a “heat hazard” race as hot weather bakes Europe.

"We have a real battle on our hands, and it’s going to take everyone for the rest of the year to even come close to competing with (Mercedes), but I don’t think it’s impossible.”

Hamilton's win at Barcelona two weeks ago, his first with Ferrari after a year and a half of frustration, brought together smart strategy, Mercedes' reliability issues and innovation at Ferrari with key car parts that rivals have rushed to copy. Ferrari's bringing an upgraded engine to Austria, too.

Antonelli's teammate George Russell said he was surprised how fast Ferrari is developing its car under F1's strict spending rules, but "at the end of the day, we’re still the team to beat. So this will be another good weekend to see if Ferrari are still on that good form or if that was a one-off.”

Hamilton's win just showed that anyone “writing him off” was wrong, said Russell, his teammate at Mercedes in 2024.

“For sure, he is a big threat. Ferrari are a huge threat. Kimi is still very much the driver out front and is performing really incredibly and consistently," Russell said. “Ferrari feel like they’re coming and Lewis is at forefront of that.”

What a difference a year makes.

Three corners into last year's Austrian Grand Prix, Antonelli smashed into Max Verstappen, ending the race for both. Verstappen accepted Antonelli's apology, saying “every driver has made a mistake like that” — though the points he lost that day arguably ended up costing him the title.

It was part of a disastrous run of summer results at European tracks for Antonelli, who admitted he felt overwhelmed by frustration. After Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff repeatedly called Antonelli's performance “underwhelming” at his home Italian Grand Prix, it prompted speculation about his future. Then came the turnaround.

Antonelli used Wolff's criticism as “fuel to do even better” and he did, scoring more points in the final eight rounds of the season than he had in the previous 16. That laid the foundations for his championship-leading breakout season in 2026.

For the third year running, Verstappen arrives at Red Bull's home race with his future unclear.

The four-time champion's Red Bull deal runs through 2028 but could allow an earlier exit under certain conditions. The speculation's fueled by long-running interest from Mercedes and Verstappen's remarks about quitting F1 out of frustration with the 2026 cars.

In 2024 and 2025, Verstappen eventually committed to staying with the team which has overseen his entire F1 career.

It's three weeks since the Monaco Grand Prix and the results still aren't final. McLaren and Red Bull are protesting the ruling which handed Pierre Gasly back third place after canceling a time penalty.

Multiple drivers were penalized under a wrongly set-up timing system, but only Gasly's was overturned. If the decision's reversed, Red Bull's Isack Hadjar would be third and McLaren's Oscar Piastri fourth.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing