Russell wins Austrian Grand Prix as Verstappen runs off Norris

George Russell has won the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring after inheriting the lead when Verstappen and Norris lots out in the battle for the lead 10 laps from the end. Piastri saved the day for McLaren in second place while Sainz completed the podium for Ferrari.

When the lights went out Verstappen really didn’t have anything to worry about as he simple made the best start while Norris had to cover Norris who was on his outside and potentially on the better line into Turn 1.

Norris successfully held on to second with Russell right behind. Hamilton went wide through Turn 1 and looked like to be passed by Sainz but he held on to it.

On lap three Hamilton looked for a possibility to take third place away from Russell. He briefly got ahead of George through Turn 3 but then was passed again before Turn 4. Sainz was sitting closely behind, hoping he could benefit from their battle. Only two laps later that worked out as Sainz took fourth away from Hamilton.

Behind them, Piastri was battling with Perez and was pushed a bit wide on the exit of 4, allowing Perez to remain ahead while Leclerc also came through for a moment. The latter however had already incurred front wing damage at the start from Perez and returned to the pits for a 12s stop that saw him return in 19th place, ahead only of Sargeant who also pitted at the end of that lap.

Despite complaining about the incident with Perez, Piastri overtook Perez on track on lap 8, bringing him back into 6th place, still at less than 2 seconds behind Hamilton, the car ahead.

On lap 12 Ricciardo kicked off the pitstops, soon followed by the Haas cars, Alonso and both Williams. Those stops though were very early and most front runners waited another 10 laps before making their stops.

In that sequence, Norris complained that Verstappen’s release prevented him from approaching his box properly, but the incident was “noted”. Hamilton on the other hand was given a 5s penalty for crossing the white line on entry as Alonso was set back by 10s as the stewards deemed he caused a collision with Zhou at Turn 3. The Spaniard had indeed missed his braking point while Zhou was battling with Ricciardo, leading him into a wheelbump with the Sauber.

Just before pitting to serve that 10s penalty and a change back to hard tyres, Alonso was involved in another incident on track where the Alpines were trying to get past him. Ocon first managed on the main straight but when the Frenchman defended hard to prevent Alonso from coming back into Turn 3, Gasly sped past the two of them, only to be run off on the exit of Turn 3 by his own team mate. Gasly had another try a few laps later and made it past Ocon after a battle running through half of lap 40.

In front, Verstappen had built a seemingly comfortable lead of 8s on Norris while Russell followed another 9 seconds further behind. Sainz was fourth, 4 seconds behind Russel and the same ahead of Hamilton.

Russell then pitted on lap 48, changing from medium to brand new hard tyres. Sainz stopped a single lap later and did the reverse, rejoining 5 seconds behind Russell. At the same time Piastri managed to make his way past Hamilton.

Norris did all he could to get closer to Verstappen but after some gains, a loss with backmarkers and missing Turn 3 made them stop at the same time. The gap was still 7 seconds before the stop but as Verstappen had to wait to be released when Norris entered the box, the gap had suddenly reduced to just 1.7 seconds when they got back out. Adding to that, Norris had fresh mediums versus a 4-lap old set for Verstappen.

Just one round later, at the start of lap 54, Norris ended up in DRS range of Verstappen. Norris tried in Turn 3 the next lap but Verstappen covered with Norris immediately on the radio saying Verstappen only moved after seeing when Lando was going to do. The event made Norris lose DRS for a lap or two but he soon returned as a big orange spot in Verstappen’s mirrors.

On lap 59 Norris made it past but then went wide in Turn 3, forcing the McLaren driver to let Verstappen past again. This was a crucial move given Lando already was given a black and white flag for track limits, meaning a further infringement would mean a penalty.

As the incident on track limits was “noted” and being investigated, Norris complained again of Verstappen’s behaviour, saying such moving cannot continue and would almost certainly result in an accident.

On lap 63 Norris again tried to outbrake Verstappen, this time making the corner while Verstappen went wide. Another lap later, Norris tried round the outside and was squeezed so badly that the two ran into one another, causing a collision on both cars. Verstappen made it to the pits slowly and returned to the track in 5th position. Norris arrived in the pits much much later and incurred lots of damage, requiring a race retirement.

The incident brought Russell in the lead, followed by Piastri who had just managed to make it past Sainz for second place. Hamilton followed, then Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Perez, Magnussen, Ricciardo and Gasly.

The damage left out on track due to the delaminated rear tyre required a brief VSC, leaving 2 racing laps for Russell to take a victory for Mercedes, his first this season.

Verstappen was later given a 10s penalty for causing the collision with Norris, but with him being 23s ahead of 6th placed Hulkenberg, the move was virtually unpunished.

Alonso recorded the fastest lap after a late stop, taking some solace after an extremely difficult weekend for him and Aston Martin in general.