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

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.

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

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands walks through the paddock as he arrives for the Austrian F1 Grand Prix, in Spielberg, Austria, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Mercedes driver George Russell of Britain attends a news conference ahead of the Austrian F1 Grand Prix, in Spielberg, Austria, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy looks from a balcony at the paddock ahead of the Austrian F1 Grand Prix, in Spielberg, Austria, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain walks through the ahead of the Austrian F1 Grand Prix, in Spielberg, Austria, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A father holds the hand of his daughter dressed as a fairy. A 24-year-old man in a pilot uniform stares proudly at the camera. A family embraces on a soccer field.

They are among the images posted by relatives within Venezuela and abroad desperately searching for their missing loved ones following two powerful, back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday evening.

Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said late Thursday that the death toll had risen to around 235, with at least 4,300 people injured. The number of casualties is expected to climb after the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes that caused widespread damage and were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century.

With communication patchy, social media and online registries have become a crucial tool for many Venezuelans seeking information and resources beyond sparse government statistics. Independent online registries documenting up to 40,000 people missing far surpass the official government account.

While some rushed to search beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings, others created digital flyers on WhatsApp, Facebook and X with their relatives’ details.

Among them was Vanesa Marcano, 31, who posted photos from Madrid of her uncle and aunt, who live in La Guaira state, north of the capital Caracas, which suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties.

Marcano posted the images in the hopes that they were only unreachable due to damaged communication lines. Her uncle’s daughter and his 7-year-old grandson were visiting from the United States and also are missing.

“It’s a feeling of impotence and uncertainty,” Marcano said by phone. “I know you must stay calm and focus on the actions you can take. But it’s very easy to fall into despair.”

Jhoyser Concalves, a Venezuelan from the northern coastal city of Catia La Mar, was talking to his partner and her daughter just minutes before the shaking. It was the last he heard from them.

When the earthquake stopped, Concalves ran out of his house to their apartment building, where they lived on the sixth floor. There was only debris and people desperately trying to rescue neighbors from the rubble.

Concalves posted a flyer reading “MISSING” on X and Facebook in a desperate attempt to find them.

“They are pulling people out of the building alive. So I still have hope that they are in there alive,” he said.

The search was complicated by the country's restrictions on social media and messaging platforms.

On Thursday, the U.N. human rights mission in Venezuela issued a statement calling on the government to lift local restrictions on social media and saying timely access to reliable information can save lives.

Sites including X and messaging app Signal were blocked in August 2024 by then-President Nicolás Maduro in an attempt to suppress communication among those who rejected his claim of victory in the presidential election. Former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez became the acting president in January after the U.S. captured and removed Maduro from power.

Shortly after the U.N.’s request Thursday, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X.

Outside the country, such sites have become even more important for many of the 8 million people who have migrated from Venezuela in recent years and were unable to check on their loved ones.

Elibel Tovar Lanas, 38, was planning to travel Saturday from Chile, where he has lived for 23 years, for the first visit in a decade with his 70-year-old father, who lives in Brazil but was in La Guaira for business. Lanas has not heard from his dad, Félix Ramón Tovar Hernández.

“I feel powerless because I don’t know how this is affecting him: the shock, the decisions he’s having to make, whether he is physically okay, or even whether he is still alive,” said Lanas, who registered his father on the website for the missing.

“Being in Chile makes it very difficult to get information, and everything we see feels confusing,” Lanas said via WhatsApp.

In Madrid, Marcano said she was trying to stay calm for the sake of her 1-year-old daughter.

“You keep hoping someone will organize a fundraiser or some kind of initiative where you can help,” Marcano said. “But the truth is, from far away, there is very little you can do.”

Hughes reported from Rio de Janeiro.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Residents search through the rubble of a building that collapsed in an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

A man looks at covered bodies in front of a damaged building the day after earthquakes and several aftershocks struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)

Neighbors carry a man rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building the day after earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)

Damaged buildings stand in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, a day after an earthquake and several aftershocks struck the city, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jonathan Lanza)

Rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)