It was a surprise to be sure but a welcome one for George Russell as the Mercedes driver was the unexpected winner of Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
As Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris collided while fighting for P1 with seven laps remaining, Russell picked up the pieces (figurately, not literally) to erase a 15-second deficit and swoop into the lead.
Fact: The 26-year-old British driver scored his second career win after claiming his maiden victory at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Russell crossed the finish line almost two seconds ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz came in third.
Sure, Russell benefited of a late collision between the top two drivers in the standings, but Mercedes have been making progress of late to put themselves in that position to capitalize.
Besides, it gave us the return of last year’s intro pose and who doesn’t love that?
Russell picked up his first podium of the season just two races ago in Canada, after qualifying on pole position, while teammate Lewis Hamilton earned his first trip to the podium in 2024 last week in Spain. It’s been slow and steady for the eight-time constructors’ champions to get back into contention and now have a win to show for it.
Russell, who is now the fifth different driver to win a grand prix this season, heads into his home race at Silverstone next week on a high note. The “Summer of George” may have just begun.
“The team have done an amazing job to get us closer to the fight at the front,” Russell said in the team’s report. “We have made so many strides since the start of the season. The last few races have been great and hopefully there is more to come.
“It’s no secret that Max and Lando are a little bit ahead of us at present but we’re now consistently putting ourselves in that third position. It’s an exciting time for us; we’re riding a bit of a wave, and I can’t wait to go to my home race at Silverstone next week and see what we can do there.”
RIVALRY BORN BETWEEN VERSTAPPEN AND NORRIS?
While Verstappen and Norris are friends off the track, they were looking more like foes on the track this weekend.
Verstappen earned pole position ahead of Norris for Saturday’s sprint and led for all but a brief moment on Lap 5. Norris lunged up the hill at the third turn, but the British driver was unable to hold on. Norris left the inside line open, allowing Verstappen to take advantage and jump back ahead. To make matters worse, Piastri also breezed through as Norris dropped to third behind his teammate. That order held steady to the finish, but Sunday’s GP offered Norris a mulligan starting beside pole-sitter Verstappen once again on the front row.
The three-time reigning world champion Verstappen built a commanding lead of over six seconds, but it soon wilted down to 0.6 seconds due to a poor pit stop on Lap 52.
As Verstappen struggled with his tires, Norris made his move on Lap 59. But again, Norris was only able to briefly get ahead as he locked up his front right tire and Verstappen reclaimed the lead. Tension continued to bubble though as Norris continued to look for another opening with Verstappen shutting the door until things finally boiled over on Lap 64 when the two made contact.
Although Verstappen was found to be at fault and was handed a 10-second penalty, that did nothing to help Norris, who sustained his first DNF in a grand prix this season.
Verstappen limped back to the pits with a punctured tire, but he had built such an advantage over the rest of the field that he was still able to finish the race in fifth even with the additional 10-second infraction. Norris also picked up a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits, not that it mattered.
“That’s just ridiculous,” Verstappen said on his team radio. “He could just send it left and right. What do you want me to do?”
Entering Austria, Verstappen and Norris had finished 1-2 in five of the previous six grands prix. Verstappen won four of those with Norris earning his first career victory in Miami. Verstappen hasn’t had someone challenging him like this since 2021 and we all know how that turned out.
“If he said he did nothing wrong then I’d lose a lot of respect for that,” Norris told Sky Sports F1 after the race.
Silverstone is Norris’ home race as well and where the McLaren renaissance really started to take shape last season. Norris finished second (behind Verstappen) to earn the first of seven podium results in 2023. All that’s to say, expect more sparks to fly.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR PIASTRI?
Oh, what could have been for Piastri.
Exceeding track limits had been a problem at the Red Bull Ring last year — with either a hundred or a thousand noted cases, depending who you ask — so it was expected we’d see a few more this time around.
Piastri appeared to be in line to start third, just as he had during the sprint, but his final qualifying lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits.
That shuffled the 23-year-old Australian driver down to seventh on the grid and right in a heated mix rubbing elbows with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. Leclerc got sandwiched between the two right at the first turn on the opening lap and sustained front-wing damage as he was squeezed out. Piastri then ran wide and into the gravel but said on the team’s radio Perez had pushed him off the track. While both were chalked up as opening-lap incidents (i.e. no further action from officials), Piastri believed he sustained damage.
Nevertheless, Piastri managed to pass Hamilton and Sainz then moved up into P2 following the Verstappen-Norris collision. Piastri was unable to close to the gap to Russell though and earned his second runner-up result in a grand prix this season.
If only Piastri hadn’t lost that lap time during qualifying. Would he would have earned his first career GP victory? But then, would Piastri have gotten tangled up in the Verstappen and Norris collision or breezed by unscathed if he was close? Some questions are best left unanswered.
THE PEREZ PROBLEM
Considering the track is the Red Bull Ring, you’d expect the double defending constructors’ champions would want to do well at their home circuit.
At least in Verstappen’s case there was something worth unravelling. The same can’t be said for his teammate Perez, who crossed the line seventh behind Nico Hulkenberg of Haas. Wait, let’s double check the results. Yes, Nico Hulkenberg.
Perez (118 points) remains in fifth place in the drivers’ standings but for how much longer? The Mexican driver is in danger of getting leaped by two drivers after Silverstone. Not only does Perez have Piastri (112) on his tail, but now Russell (111) is close behind as well.
Fortunately for Red Bull, they’re out in front by a wide margin in the constructors’ standings with 355 points, but Verstappen can’t win it alone. Ferrari (291) are in second with McLaren (268) in third and Mercedes (196) in fourth as those gaps will continue to close with Perez struggling to rediscover his form from the start of the season.
FAST FIVE
• Russell gained the most from the Norris-Verstappen collision, but the incident also allowed Alpine’s Pierre Gasly to finish 10th and extend his point streak to four races. Of course, Gasly had some dicey moments with Esteban Ocon while attempting to pass his teammate on Lap 35. It’s not the first time and likely not the last with Ocon aiming for a new ride next season.
• The opening-lap incident punted Leclerc to 19th, but Ferrari still felt he had a chance for points. (Yes, they told him there’s a chance.) Well, after Norris retired, Leclerc actually came close. The Monegasque driver finished just on the outside in 11th.
• Funny seeing Sainz fighting Hamilton for track position with the seven-time world champion set to take his seat at Ferrari next season. Like Ocon, Sainz is still seeking a spot on the grid for 2025 with only seven seats still up for grabs.
• With Hulkenberg finishing sixth and Kevin Magnussen in eighth, Haas managed their first double-points finish since the third round of the season in Australia back in March. The 12 points combined helped push Haas back into seventh in the constructors and with 19 total points, gives them a bit of a cushion over eighth-place Alpine (nine points).
• Bonus point denied: Just when it looked like Verstappen had set the fastest lap, Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin played the spoiler right at the end. Alonso wasn’t eligible to receive the bonus though as he came in 18th and the extra point is only awarded if the driver finishes in the top 10. Really all Alonso did was prevent Verstappen from adding to his championship lead.
