Charles Leclerc under more pressure than George Russell, claims Guenther Steiner

Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner believes Ferrari's Charles Leclerc enters the Austrian Grand Prix weekend under more pressure to deliver than Mercedes driver George Russell.

During an appearance on The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner offered his typically candid assessment of the driver dynamics ahead of the race at the Red Bull Ring.

While the spotlight has recently been on the intra-team battle between Russell and Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton's boost in performance at Ferrari, Steiner singled out Leclerc as being under the most pressure in Austria.

When asked whether Russell or Leclerc had more to prove in Austria, Steiner said: "I think they both have to prove a lot. Who has more to prove? I think Charles because he has got what he wanted now. George never complained about the car.

"So, in the moment, Charles said, 'This was not working.' He made a mistake in Barcelona after his b****ing in Monte Carlo. I think he has more to prove than George in Austria."

After crashing during the Monaco Grand Prix, Leclerc moved to the same brake set-up as his team-mate for Barcelona. The Monegasque driver was then forced to retire from the race in Spain due to a power steering issue, while Hamilton went on to claim his first grand prix victory with the Maranello outfit.

The first day of practice in Austria was dominated by the Brackley outfit. Antonelli topped the timesheets in both FP1 and FP2 and Russell went second-fastest during the first session and sixth-fastest in the second session.

Russell set the fastest time in FP3 and was followed by Antonelli and Hamilton with the second and third fastest times.

Leclerc currently sits fourth in the drivers' championship with 75 points. Mercedes' Antonelli leads with 156 points, Hamilton is second with 115 points and Russell is third with 106 points.

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