Austrian Grand Prix sent 'severe thunderstorm warning' as F1 paddock alerted

The Austrian Grand Prix is set to be a scorching affair this weekend, but the F1 paddock has been alerted to potential 'severe thunderstorms' that could hit the track today. As Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and co prepared for their media day interviews, members of the F1 circus were hit with weather warnings from local forecasters. The Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics sent out a 'severe thunderstorm warning', explaining that: "Thunderstorms with gusts are expected."

This was accompanied by a 'moderate high temperature warning', issued by the same group, stating that: "Enhanced heat stress must be expected." Both of these warnings are in effect until the end of Thursday, but are not expected to affect the remainder of the Austrian GP weekend.

Fortunately for fans heading to the Red Bull Ring, there is no significant chance of rain during the on-track hours. On Friday, there is a 19 per cent chance of precipitation with temperatures reaching 28 degrees, and the heat will remain a factor on Saturday and Sunday, too. Race day will be the hottest of the three, with highs of 31 degrees.

Heading into the Grand Prix, most of the eyes will be on Lando Norris and McLaren. The 25-year-old crashed into team-mate Oscar Piastri during the closing stages of the last race in Canada, ruining his hopes of scoring points and jeopardising McLaren's title charges.

Fortunately for Piastri, the contact didn't affect his race, and he crossed the line in P4. While Max Verstappen cut his deficit to the top spot to just 43 points, the championship leader's advantage over Norris grew to 22 points.

For the latest breaking stories and headlines, sign up to our Daily Express F1 newsletter, or join our WhatsApp community here.

Despite the jeopardy, though, McLaren aren't changing their approach to driver management. "The being free to race and the being clear as to how we go racing is a value of racing and is a value of racing that we want to try and exercise and respect as much as we can, rather than every time that we have a proximity between the two cars, then having control from the pit wall," team principal Andrea Stella explained.

"I think like that, racing may soon become a bit of an artefact. And we want to give Lando and Oscar opportunities to race and opportunities to be at the end of the season in the position that they deserve to be in based on their merit, based on their performance, based on the racing quality that they have expressed through the season, rather than being at the end of the season and realise that the points have been controlled more by the team rather than the quality of their driving.

"This is not necessarily a simple and straight exercise but we want to try and do it as best as we can."