AUSTRIAN GP – George Russell wins two seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri, as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collide
George Russell has taken the second win of his career beating Oscar Piastri by nearly two seconds at the Austrian Grand Prix. Russell had been running third for much of the race but took the lead as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collided in their fight for the lead with seven laps to go, Norris tried to overtake Verstappen at AMG AS with them both getting punchers and the Dutchman gaining a five-second penalty.
Russell had qualified third only briefly losing out to teammate Lewis Hamilton early on before retaking third shortly after, from then on was third up until the collision between Verstappen and Norris. Mercedes have been on the up since a raft of upgrades in recent races which has seen them overtake Ferrari as the third fastest team.
For Russell and Mercedes, it’s the first win since Sao Paulo in 2022 as he was pushed all the way by Piastri in the final laps but was able to maintain his winning advantage. Piastri delivered another solid race in fourth before things changed dramatically.
Carlos Sainz was third two and a half seconds behind Piastri, in a race which will be defined by the collision between Verstappen and Norris. Mercedes looked to genuinely to have the pace to challenge through recent races, but they needed the opportunity which he took advantage of when Norris and Verstappen crashed.
Russell said “Incredible, it was a tough fight out there at the beginning of the race just to hold onto that P3 and I saw on the TV Max and Lando getting pretty hard, I knew Lando would be wanting to get that race win. The team have done an amazing job to get us into this fight and you’ve got to be there to pick it up the pieces and that’s where we were.”
Piastri added “There’s a lot of what ifs and maybes. Obviously, starting from yesterday I know it’s only my fourth podium in F1, so close to a win, it hurts. I think second half of the race we were coming on pretty strong.”
Over the laps leading up to the collision, Norris repeatedly had been looking for the overtake, with a slow final stop bringing Verstappen back out under a second ahead. That allowed Norris to get back in the fight for victory. But when he tried to make the move on the Red Bull diving down the inside at AMG AS, he locked up causing the two to collide. Norris getting a five-second penalty for his third breach of track limits however this didn’t matter as he soon retired with the damage to his floor.
Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Norris after he moved over on the McLaren driver while Norris was trying to pass. The Briton was forced into retirement. But both had pushed the limits of acceptability as they scrapped it out. Norris before the collision had complained about the “unfair” defence by Verstappen.
Perhaps that was the frustration he had throughout the race with the defence put up by Verstappen as he was feeling the pressure his era of dominance coming to and end with Mercedes the fourth team to win and Russell the fifth driver on the top step of the podium as the season reaches the half way point. How will Verstappen respond as he still leads Norris by eight-one points? A lot will depends what happens after the summer break, if their isn’t a jump after the August break.
But following the collision Verstappen accused his McLaren rival of trying over-ambitious moves, before the two made controversial contact as the Briton launched another bid for the lead on lap sixty-four. The stewards deemed the Red Bull to have been at fault for the collision and handed a 10-second time penalty, although it did not change his fifth-place result.
Verstappen said “I mean of course from the outside, it’s hard to see how I break, now I always move my wheel before my break and then you break in a straight line. I think the guy in the car knows best. Everyone can have their own opinion, from the outside it’s easier to judge its what happens.”
Norris told Sky Sports: “I don’t know, it depends what he says, if he says he did nothing wrong, then I will lose a lot of respect for that. If he admits to being a bit stupid and running into me and being a bit reckless in a way, then I will lose only a small amount of respect for him. It’s a tough one to take when fighting for the win, I was trying to be fair from my side and he just wasn’t.”
It looked once again to be part of that growing evidence that Verstappen’s dominance can no longer be taken for granted. Though he was still looking like the driver to beat in the race and maybe without the poor stop he could have won.
While he did dominate the first half building an eight-second lead over Norris, a slow second stop brought Norris back into play in the five laps leading up to the collision questionable defensive action to hang onto the lead were made by Verstappen.
Before the collision between Verstappen and Norris, Russell looked on course for a comfortable third ahead of Piastri, which he maintained through the closing nine laps despite being pushed by Piastri, to take his second career win. But again, the evidence is growing with four different teams winning the first half Red Bull, while still the favourites, cannot just waltz their way to the title.
With six laps to go, Piastri overtook the Ferrari but a brief VSC to clear the debris from the scrap for the lead may have denied him the chance of going after Russell for his first win in the Grand Prix format, having won the sprint in Lusail in October last year.
Hamilton was fourth ahead of Verstappen who was given a time penalty, but the collision had dropped him to fifth. The Dutchman had enough of an advantage to finish ahead of Nico Hulkenberg with the ten-second penalty added by fourteen seconds. Hamilton losing five seconds at his second stop for crossing the white line on the pit exit at his first stop, he also picked up floor damage by clouting the kerbs too hard at Turn Eight.
It was a great race for Hulkenberg and Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen, separated by Sergio Perez, with a solid points score with sixth and eighth. The German finished nearly six-tenths ahead of Perez while his teammate was nearly six seconds behind the Mexican. But it could be a key point score for Haas who have moved into seventh in the constructors.
Daniel Ricciardo brought his RB home ninth six tenths ahead of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, who completed the points positions in tenth. Charles Leclerc recovered to eleventh just outside the points, the Ferrari driver who started sixth found himself sandwiched between Perez and Piastri at the first corner, requiring a stop at the end of the first lap to replace a damaged front wing.
However, in the final twenty-five laps, his progress stalled and he was unable to go after Gasly before finishing nearly six seconds behind the Alpine, with the second Alpine half a second behind. Esteban Ocon the final car on the lead lap but over a tenth behind Leclerc.
Lance Stroll showed how much pace Aston Martin has lost in the last year finishing thirteenth and a lap down, the Canadian nearly three-tenths ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon. Valtteri Bottas was sixteenth twenty-five seconds ahead of his Sauber teammate Guanyu Zhou, Fernando Alonso was ahead of Logan Sargeant
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