George Russell in a Mercedes wins the Austrian GP, the eleventh round of the Formula 1 World Championship. The British driver, third for most of the race, takes advantage of a contact between Verstappen and Norris at the end to finish first. Second across the finish line was Australian Oscar Piastri with McLaren, third was Carlos Sainz with Ferrari. Fourth was Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and fifth was Max Verstappen (Red Bull). The Dutch driver, leading from the start of the race, was the protagonist of a duel for first place with Lando Norris (McLaren): a contact on lap 64 forced Verstappen to change a tire and Norris to retire. Eleventh place for Charles Leclerc, who at the start had to return to the pits to change the front wing after a contact. The F1 World Championship returns next week to Silverstone, live on Sky and streaming on NOW.
The race
At the Red Bull Ring, Max Verstappen (Red Bull), after winning the sprint race on Saturday, starts on pole ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren), George Russell (Mercedes), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). Regular start, with Verstappen immediately taking the lead. Behind him, Lando Norris, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Fifth place for Carlos Sainz. A start to forget for Leclerc, however: he has contact at the start with Oscar Piastri, has to pit to change the front wing and comes back in 19th position (second to last). After 4 laps, Sainz overtakes Hamilton and moves up to fourth position. After 10 laps, this is the standings: Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Sainz, Hamilton. Leclerc, still 19th, struggles to recover positions and on lap 16 is called back to the pits to fit the yellow tyre. After the first pit stop for all drivers, Verstappen is still in the lead and Norris is second. From lap 29 Leclerc begins to recover some positions: by lap 45, taking advantage of the pit-stop of the drivers in front, he is eleventh.
The Verstappen-Norris duel
On lap 51, Verstappen has a tire problem during a pit stop: the Dutchman rejoins the track in first place, but now his advantage over Norris has shrunk and a spectacular duel begins. Norris manages to overtake him, but Verstappen immediately takes back first place. On lap 59, a penalty for Norris: he must serve 5 seconds for going off the track while trying to overtake Verstappen. With 11 laps to go, this is the standings: Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Sainz, Piastri, Hamilton. Leclerc is 14th. A dramatic turn of events on lap 64 (out of 71): Norris tries to overtake Verstappen on the outside, the Dutchman closes the gap and Norris hits Verstappen’s rear wheel. Both cars are damaged and the drivers have to return to the pits. In the meantime, Piastri overtakes Sainz and takes second place behind Russell. The Virtual Safety Car also comes out due to debris on the track caused by the contact between Norris and Verstappen. Norris retires due to damage to his car, Verstappen – after changing the tire – returns in fifth position, behind Hamilton. In the end, Russell takes advantage of the contract between Verstappen and Norris, finding himself in first position and winning the Austrian GP. Behind him Piastri and Sainz. Hamilton is fourth, Verstappen fifth despite the 10-second penalty. Leclerc finishes eleventh.
see also
F1, Austrian GP: Verstappen on pole, fourth time for Sainz
The other positions
Nico Hulkenberg, sixth for Haas, Sergio Perez, seventh for Red Bull, then Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Daniel Ricciardo (RB) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) also finished in the points at the end of a more than eventful race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Charles Leclerc finished eleventh, having been forced to stop immediately after the start to change the front wing, damaged in a contact with Piastri, and having to do a chase race.
The World Cup ranking
Verstappen managed to limit the damage with fifth place and extends his lead to +81 over Norris, who was forced to retire. Ferrari saved itself with Sainz’s podium and maintained second place in the constructors’ standings. “I’m happy with the podium today, taking 15 points is a good result for us, in a really eventful race”, said Sainz after the race. “We still don’t have what it takes to fight for the podium and today we took advantage of the fact that there was some action ahead of us. Now we will continue to work to get back to being at the front and fighting for victory,” he added.
