George Russell is the winner of the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg.
The Mercedes driver benefited from a thrilling duel between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who fought a duel at the front for several laps.
After a slight collision (see video below) between the two a few laps before the end, both had to come into the pits. While the McLaren was too badly damaged for Norris to continue, Verstappen rejoined the race, but received a ten-second penalty for causing the decisive situation.
This did not change the order at the top. Russel took the second Grand Prix victory of his career. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) completed the podium.
Verstappen finished fifth behind Lewis Hamilton. “That was just ridiculous,” said Verstappen on the pit radio about the ten-second penalty. “What else could I have done?” The Dutchman was apparently criticizing the fact that, in the opinion of the race stewards, he should not have defended himself against Norris’ attacks.
The crucial scene in the video:
The incident from a different perspective:
George Russell “picked up the pieces”
“Incredible, it was a tough fight out there. Then I saw on the screen that Max and Lando were fighting pretty hard. We wanted to be there to pick up the pieces and that’s what we did,” said Russell after his second triumph after November 2022 in Brazil.
For Mercedes and team boss Toto Wolff, who celebrated an unexpected happy ending to a long, unspectacular home GP, it was the first victory in almost two years. “A real weight has been lifted from our shoulders. Now we finally have a victory,” said the Viennese.
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Verstappen looked like the sure winner for a long time before a botched pit stop made the race exciting again. Six laps before the finish line, Verstappen and Norris, who was faster at the time, collided in turn 3. “It was a strange contact,” said the Spielberg record winner. “It was unnecessarily hard from both drivers, it could have been handled differently,” said Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, analyzing the decisive scene.
302,000 spectators in Spielberg
World Championship leader Verstappen therefore extended his lead at the home race, and the Dutchman is comfortably 81 points ahead of Norris before the race in Silverstone next week. Third-placed Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari missed out on the points after a botched race, finishing eleventh.
A total of 302,000 spectators attended the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg this weekend, narrowly missing the previous year’s record (304,000). A large proportion belonged to the “Orange Army”, who once again enthusiastically supported Verstappen. They saw their national hero back on the first grid position for the first time in three races.
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Formula 1: Verstappen in the Spielberg sprint ahead of Piastri and Norris
In summer temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius and gusty winds, Verstappen came off the line excellently and defended his lead confidently ahead of Norris and Russell. Behind him, Hamilton overtook Sainz’s Ferrari, while his team-mate Leclerc, who had started from sixth place, damaged his front wing in a battle with Piastri and had to go straight to the pits. At the front, Verstappen had already built up a lead of more than a second on the first lap. As a result, Norris was unable to benefit from the DRS overtaking aid.
Wolff pushed Hamilton
While the leaders of the race were initially doing their laps in peace and Verstappen was moving forward second by second, Hamilton gave back his fourth place because of a possible illegal advantage during an overtaking maneuver. Then the record world champion in the “Silver Arrow” was given a five-second penalty anyway because he drifted over the white line when entering the pits. “Lewis, everything is still at stake,” Wolff said motivatingly on the radio.
The Grand Prix went a long way without any overtaking maneuvers in the leading field, and halfway through the race Verstappen was eight seconds ahead of his McLaren pursuer. “I don’t know what happened, the tires are suddenly really bad,” Verstappen radioed on the 40th of 71 laps.
However, the lead remained constant. A 6.5-second pit stop by Verstappen and a braking error gave Norris hope shortly afterwards, and the World Championship runner-up reduced the gap to less than a second.
Hans Zimmer set the tone
Verstappen complained about a lack of grip, and Norris grew larger in the rear-view mirror. On lap 59, the McLaren driver braked to pass the leader, but went off the track and let his rival pass again. The two kept getting closer, and on lap 65 they got too close.
That’s why the “Silver Arrows” celebrated at the end around Russell, while teammate Lewis Hamilton finished fourth. Sergio Perez, with a damaged sidepod, ended up in seventh place in the second Red Bull, directly between the two Haas drivers Nico Hülkenberg (6th) and Kevin Magnussen (8th).
Before the start, the world-famous film music composer Hans Zimmer had re-intoned the Austrian national anthem in 4/4 time together with percussionist Martin Grubinger. A total of 50 (amateur) musicians from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, including ski racer Max Franz on drums, were involved on the start-finish straight and played the national anthem in a rock version with new segments.
