Academy Report: Progress and lessons at Spielberg
Luke Browning gets valuable Formula 1 mileage at Spielberg, while Alessandro Giusti suffered a frustrating Formula 3 weekend
Published
22 JUN 2026
Est. reading time
3 min
Two Atlassian Williams F1 Team Driver Academy members were in action at the Red Bull Ring over the weekend, gaining more experience at the top levels of single-seater racing.
For Luke Browning, it was a first proper taste of the FW48 after his Barcelona FP1 opportunity was cut short. Meanwhile, Alessandro Giusti faced a difficult Formula 3 round, with pace evident but penalties proving costly across the weekend.
Luke Browning
Formula 1
Luke pushing the FW48 during FP1
Luke Browning returned to Formula 1 machinery on Friday, taking over Carlos Sainz’s FW48 for Free Practice 1 at the Austrian Grand Prix.
After being unable to leave the garage during his previous FP1 opportunity in Barcelona, there was no repeat of that misfortune in Spielberg. Instead, Luke completed 29 laps around the Red Bull Ring, building confidence and familiarity with the latest generation of Formula 1 car.
His quickest lap came on the soft tyre, a 1:09.979, placing him P18 in the session as he worked through his programme across the hour.
“It was a new experience in FP1 today,” Luke said. “It’s a very different car compared to last year’s as well as TPC testing, but it was great to get to grips with it and get behind the wheel.
“I think I adapted quickly, especially with the jump to the soft tyre, so I was very happy with my performance.
“It was great to make some improvements through the session in braking and high-speed confidence, so by the end I was happy with my run and I look forward to the next time I can get out in the car."
Alessandro Giusti
Formula 3
Alessandro ready to roll out from the F3 paddock in Austria
It proved to be a frustrating weekend in Spielberg for Alessandro Giusti, with strong pace overshadowed by a series of penalties across all three competitive sessions.
Sandro initially qualified P6, but a three-place grid penalty for impeding another driver dropped him three places for both the Sprint and Feature races.
Starting P10 for Saturday’s Sprint, Giusti delivered a combative drive through the field and pulled off an impressive move around the outside at Turn 7 to climb into P8. However, his pace faded in the closing laps to ultimately come home in P11.
Sunday’s Feature Race began positively, with Sandro making a clean start and climbing to P7 before an opening-lap Safety Car neutralised the field. He continued to move forward after the restart and was up to P6 by lap 7, firmly in the points fight.
But a wide moment at the penultimate corner on lap 16 cost him momentum and dropped him back into the pack. A tight multi-car battle in the closing stages saw him shuffled down to P11 at the flag.
His weekend’s frustrations were compounded after the race, when a 10-second penalty for failing to engage the required start set-up procedure dropped him to P22 in the final classification.
It was a costly round for the MP Motorsport driver, who had arrived at Spielberg hoping to repeat the form that brought him his best Formula 3 result there last season. Sandro will look to regroup ahead of the next round at Silverstone.
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