Russell seals victory in thrilling Austrian Grand Prix ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli

George Russell has boosted his title bid by seizing victory in the Austrian Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver taking his seventh career win ahead of a chasing Max Verstappen and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

Russell made a smooth getaway from pole position when the lights went out, while Verstappen also bounced back from the disappointment of his crash in Qualifying to make gains in the early laps. Antonelli did not have an entirely smooth start, the Italian running wide on several occasions.

While Russell held a solid lead for much of the following laps, Verstappen – after engaging in more than one feisty battle with Lewis Hamilton along the way – made his way up to P2 as the race progressed, resulting in the Dutchman putting increasing pressure on Russell later on.

A tense end to the Grand Prix followed as, after his final pit stop, Verstappen set about cutting into Russell’s lead – just as Antonelli was also trying to chase down the Dutchman from third. But Russell ultimately crossed the line by 1.611s from Verstappen, the Briton also moving back up to P2 in the standings in the process.

Verstappen held off Antonelli by just 0.375s, bringing to an end an impressive day for the four-time World Champion, while Antonelli had to settle for third – meaning that he now leads the championship by 40 points.

Oscar Piastri was fourth for McLaren, ahead of the Ferrari of Hamilton in fifth and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in sixth. The other McLaren of Lando Norris claimed P7, followed by Charles Leclerc in P8 on a disappointing day for the Scuderia.

It was a better Sunday, however, for Racing Bulls, with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad grabbing the final points on offer in P9 and P10.

The Audi duo of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg both missed out in 11th and 12th, as did Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in 13th. Haas’ Ollie Bearman was P14, followed by the other Alpine and Haas cars of Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon respectively.

Williams’ Alex Albon and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso were the final classified runners in 17th and 18th. The latter’s team mate Lance Stroll retired from the running due to a suspected ERS issue, while Carlos Sainz’s race came to an abrupt halt when his Williams stopped on the main straight with a suspected electrical problem.

Finally it was a bad day for Cadillac, as both Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas retired in the opening laps because of overheating brakes.

AS IT HAPPENED

After an eventful end to Qualifying on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring, it was time for the drivers and teams to switch their attentions to Sunday’s 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix, marking Round 8 on the calendar.

While Antonelli had looked like the name to beat through much of the weekend so far, Russell was the one to grab pole position – the Briton still going fastest despite lifting on his lap when yellow flags were waved at the scene of a crash for Verstappen.

Antonelli, meanwhile, had ended up in fourth, having aborted his final flyer after believing that double yellow flags were being waved rather than single. With the Ferrari duo sandwiched between the Mercedes team mates in the order, this all set up for an intriguing battle on Sunday.

Amid another day of scorching temperatures in Austria, there was early trouble for Lawson before the grid had even assembled as it was confirmed that the Racing Bulls driver will be investigated after the race for a practice start infringement.

When all 22 cars had taken their positions and the tyre blankets were removed, it was revealed that 20 of them would be starting on the medium compound – the exception being Bortoleto and Sainz, who had opted for the soft rubber from P12 and P17 respectively.

As the lights went out in Spielberg, Russell led smoothly away from pole, while Antonelli ran wide but rejoined in P4. The Italian went on to have another wide moment during the lap, before Leclerc faced a challenge from Hamilton that saw the Briton overtake for P2.

There was a third off for Antonelli when the next lap got underway, forcing him to hand a position back – but this did not prevent the Mercedes driver from twice being noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Meanwhile Verstappen had climbed up to third ahead of Leclerc, while Bottas’ race came to an early end as he retired his Cadillac in the pit lane. There appeared to be similar concerns for Lawson, who reported that there was fire on his car – however, the New Zealander was able to continue running, losing out to Hadjar in a battle for P8.

Race Control subsequently confirmed that there would be no further investigation into Antonelli, just as the championship leader was chasing after Leclerc in the fight for fourth place. Elsewhere there was worse luck to come for Cadillac, with Perez joining his team mate in retiring due to overheating brakes – before the Mexican was also noted for an alleged false start.

As Lap 8 ticked down, Antonelli finally found a way past Leclerc, while Verstappen had closed in to around half a second behind Hamilton. Three tours later the Dutchman initially took P2 from his former title rival, only for Hamilton to retake the position – and after some feisty side-by-side action, the latter ultimately stayed ahead.

Moments after Verstappen voiced his belief that Hamilton had warranted a penalty, the Ferrari driver made a pit stop for the hard tyres on Lap 13 before emerging back on track in P11 behind Bortoleto.

All eyes were on the Red Bull garage to see if the team would respond – but they did not, with Leclerc instead being the next to pit for the hard rubber. This brought the Monegasque out in 11th, two places behind his team mate.

With 15 laps on the board, Russell had extended his lead to just over five seconds from Verstappen, who was followed by Antonelli, Piastri, Norris, Hadjar, Lawson, Lindblad, Hamilton and Bortoleto.

There was further work for the stewards, who confirmed that Hamilton had been noted for forcing a driver off the track in his duel with Verstappen, while they also announced that Perez would be investigated after the race for moving before the signal at the start.

“I think it’s all surface overheating,” Russell radioed in, the race leader suggesting that a one-stop strategy might be possible. Meanwhile Verstappen dived into the pits on Lap 19, returning to the track in sixth – behind Hamilton – with a set of hard tyres on.

Russell followed one tour later, bringing him back out in third. Over at McLaren, Piastri pitted but Norris was told that he himself would be extending, the reigning World Champion responding that he did not have any more pace. The Briton then made a pit stop, promoting Russell up into second place some 12 seconds behind Antonelli who was yet to stop.

On Lap 22 the scrap between Verstappen and Hamilton was reignited – shortly after it was confirmed that the stewards would not investigate their earlier incident. Verstappen initially took P3 from the Ferrari racer – and while Hamilton retook the place, on this occasion Verstappen again got himself ahead and stayed there, promptly building up a gap.

The yellow flags were waved on Lap 24 as Sainz came to a halt on the main straight, with Williams later confirming that his car had suffered a suspected electrical issue. Antonelli subsequently made his pit stop – but with this occurring just before a Virtual Safety Car was called, the Italian had missed out on a free stop and emerged back on track in P5.

Hamilton took the opportunity to make a second stop, returning in seventh place on the soft tyres. Meanwhile Antonelli asked, “What is happening with the brakes?” over the team radio, leading Race Engineer Pete Bonnington to explain that the car was experiencing a brake split.

Once the VSC had ended and the race settled down again by Lap 30, Russell held a lead of nearly five seconds from Verstappen, while Leclerc was being chased by Antonelli for third. Piastri was running in fifth, with Hadjar, Hamilton and Norris hot on his tail behind.

Just as Antonelli grabbed P3 from Leclerc – freeing the Mercedes driver up to work on closing the gap to Verstappen – Hamilton was also making moves after overtaking Hadjar for sixth place. Elsewhere, Albon and Stroll had both separately been noted for a yellow flag infringement.

Hamilton was asked to use “mode TS” – and when the Briton asked why, the response came that “temperature” was the reason. Meanwhile, by Lap 35, Russell’s lead over Verstappen had been cut down to 3.3s, while Antonelli remained around eight seconds adrift of Verstappen.

Within two laps Verstappen’s deficit to Russell had dropped down to little more than two seconds, the Briton having seemingly ran wide. A little further back, Piastri fought his way past Leclerc to move up into P4, the pair making light contact along the way – and things quickly got worse for the Monegasque, who was then overtaken by Hamilton.

Leclerc subsequently visited the pits for a set of hard tyres, while Hamilton was being encouraged to go after Piastri. Elsewhere Alonso found himself under investigation for speeding in the pit lane, leading to a five-second penalty – and back on the track Verstappen certainly seemed to have a lot of speed himself, the gap between the Red Bull and Russell now down to 1.2s by Lap 42.

There was soon plenty of action in the pits, with Piastri and Hamilton making their second and third stops respectively before Russell also took on another set of hard tyres on Lap 44. This dropped the Mercedes driver down to third – but would Verstappen and Antonelli up ahead also opt to pit?

Russell raised questions about the strategies of those around him as he continued to cut into the lead, the Briton suggesting that if Antonelli continued to extend, Verstappen would also “think about extending and put us at risk”.

While Stroll headed to the pits to retire with a suspected ERS issue – and Norris made another stop, overtaking the Aston Martin at the pit entry – Verstappen pitted soon afterwards, the four-time World Champion rejoining in third on the hard tyres and 10 seconds behind Russell in second.

Antonelli remained in the lead – some seven seconds ahead of Russell – and was encouraged to stay focused by Race Engineer Bonnington. The Italian headed into the pits on Lap 52, bringing him back out in third – just before a brief Virtual Safety Car phase followed to clear a bollard from the track that had been knocked by Albon.

With 16 laps to go, Verstappen was now eight seconds away from Russell – and Antonelli had closed to 4.8s behind the Red Bull. Amidst all of this, reports emerged that a small bit of rain could be on the radar for the closing stages of the event.

A close battle was playing out between Hadjar and Leclerc for P6, the Frenchman winning out to take the position. “These tyres are ****,” Leclerc commented over the radio. Within a few laps, the Monegasque lost another position to Norris – all while Verstappen had cut the gap to Russell down to less than six seconds.

Leclerc headed to the pits for his third stop of the day to bolt on the soft tyres, bringing him back out in eighth. Further behind him, Lawson and Lindblad were running in ninth and 10th for Racing Bulls, marking another solid outing for the team.

With five laps remaining, Verstappen was now 3.7s behind Russell with Antonelli a further 2.5s behind the Dutchman – but would either driver have enough time left to fight for the position ahead?

Antonelli had moved to within a second of Verstappen as the race entered into its final two tours, the championship leader seemingly flying – and this was cut down further to half a second on the last lap.

However, Russell resisted the pressure in the lead to seal victory by 1.611s from Verstappen, while Antonelli was only 0.375s behind Verstappen as the championship leader crossed the line. This result means that Russell is back in P2 of the Drivers’ Championship – and 40 points behind Antonelli.

Piastri followed in fourth, ahead of Hamilton, Hadjar, Norris, Leclerc, Lawson and Lindblad in the rest of the points-paying positions. Bortoleto was best of the rest in P11, followed by Hulkenberg, Gasly, Bearman, Colapinto, Ocon, Albon and Alonso, while Stroll, Sainz, Perez and Bottas were the four retirees from the event.

Key quote

"Incredible to be back on the top step," said Russell. "It's been a little while so I'm definitely going to enjoy this one this evening. A lot of hard work from my team to get us back on track. Obviously there was a tricky run of form at one point. Max and Red Bull were incredibly quick this weekend, so kudos to them but thanks to everyone, thanks to the fans. It was pretty toasty out there, so looking forward to a drink now."

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