29/06/2025 16:45
Lando Norris beat team-mate Oscar Piastri to claim victory at the
Austrian Grand Prix by over two seconds. The McLaren pair fought an
enthralling battle throughout the 70-lap contest at the Red Bull
Ring. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc rounded out the podium places
in Spielberg. The constructors' champions did intervene between its
two drivers mid-way through the proceedings, after Piastri
attempted an audacious and ill-advised move into Turn 4. Following
that, their fight never quite got going again. It was a chaotic
start to the race, with Carlos Sainz failing to make the start. It
led to an aborted start and the grand prix distance reduced by a
lap. Kimi Antonelli took out Max Verstappen at the third corner
once the race did eventually get underway, forcing both instantly
into retirement. Gabriel Bortoleto finished in eighth to claim the
first points of his F1 career and the first for a Brazilian driver
since Felipe Massa in the final race of the 2017 season. Check out
the full Austrian Grand Prix race report below. Sainz fire and
aborted start Carlos Sainz's difficult weekend at the Red Bull Ring
continued at the start of the formation lap, with his Williams
stuck on the grid. The Spaniard eventually got his FW46 going, but
not until the original start had been aborted. That triggered a
restart of the race start procedure, meaning another 15 minutes
until a second formation lap, with the grand prix distance reduced
by a lap to 70. As necessitated by the rules, the 30-year-old would
be consigned to a pit-lane start. However, as he pulled to a stop,
the rear of his car was engulfed in flames, ending his race before
it had begun. The remaining 19 runners got underway, and Piastri
immediately dispatched of Leclerc to make it a McLaren one-two.
Further back, chaos ensued. Russell temporarily made his way past
Hamilton as Verstappen got past Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls.
Antonelli completely misjudged the entry to Turn 3, having to dive
up the inside of the corner as he locked his front left tyre. He
tagged Verstappen, spinning around the Red Bull before the young
Italian broke his front left corner on Lawson's VCARB 02. It ended
both his and the Dutchman's afternoon, whilst the New Zealander
continued, subsequently down in ninth. The Mercedes was caught out
by the concertina effect and made what was the definition of a
rookie error, a grid penalty for the British Grand Prix looming.
The incident brought out a brief safety car, before the race
resumed at the start of lap 4 of 70. Out front, the McLarens
instantly built a gap to the pair of Ferraris behind. Piastri
stayed within DRS, challenging his team-mate, who prevailed. The
biggest winners from the first lap carnage were Pierre Gasly and
Alex Albon, moving up to sixth and seventh. By lap 9, the Alpine's
soft tyres were suffering, and the Williams got by on its medium
compound Pirellis. On lap 11, Norris ran deep at the first corner.
Piastri took the lead into Turn 3, but the British driver, aided by
DRS, reclaimed the lead into the next corner. Excellent racing by
the McLaren duo. Gabriel Bortoleto's career-best weekend continued,
getting past Gasly and into seventh, prompting the Frenchman to pit
for fresh rubber on lap 13. As the tense battle between Norris and
Piastri continued out front, Albon was pulled into the pits and
into retirement, ensuring a wretched, pointless weekend for the
Grove-based team. First pit stop phase Heading into Turn 4 on lap
20, Piastri went deep, locking his tyres and narrowly avoiding
contact with Norris. The race leader responded by pitting for
white-walled hards. It was a slow stop of 3.1 seconds on his MCL39.
The Australian would stay out to offset his team-mate, despite a
flat spot on his tyre. Tom Stallard came on team radio to ask
Piastri whether we could prefer a 1.5-second deficit to Norris or a
4-second gap with fresher tyres. He chose the latter, but was soon
pitted at the end of lap 24. It was another slow stop, of 3.4
seconds this time. As with Norris, it was an issue getting his
front left wheel off. The 24-year-old came out over five seconds
behind. On lap 28, Piastri's radio line was opened again, this time
Stallard communicating that his move at Turn 4 eight laps ago was
"too marginal" and that the Woking squad had determined he cannot
replicate that attempted overtake again, in the name of papaya
rules . Yuki Tsunoda, in the sole remaining Red Bull, took out
Franco Colapinto at Turn 4 on lap 31, in a move that emulated many
contentious incidents from yesteryear. Although the Argentine could
continue, the FIA stewards responded quickly with an investigation,
the Japanese driver at risk of a penalty after the officials had
declined to look at a moment between him and Lance Stroll. A
10-second time penalty was ultimately handed down, ruining the
25-year-old's afternoon and piling on the misery at Red Bull's home
event. In the fight for the lead, Norris maintained a comfortable
advantage of over six seconds to Piastri in second. Leclerc in
third was a further 14 back, by the low 30s on the lap count. The
Australian would wipe seconds off his deficit with a series of
fastest laps as he started to apply pressure on the leading
McLaren. By lap 40, it was only a 3.2-second difference. Second pit
stop phase After the race had settled into a relative calm, Leclerc
opened the second pit stop phase on lap 50 of 70. Doing so provided
a pocket of clean air for Norris to feed back into. Hamilton
followed his Ferrari team-mate on the following lap, with the
leading McLaren coming in at the end of lap 52. Piastri responded
after another rotation of the Red Bull Ring. The Australian came
out directly behind the battle between Colapinto and Tsunoda. He
tried to take advantage of the Alpine going wide, who pushed the
McLaren onto the grass on the run down to Turn 4. The 24-year-old
kept his foot to the floor as he bumped over the Styrian grass. An
investigation followed, to no surprise, which consequently yielded
a five-second time penalty. Piastri appeared unfazed by the near
miss and set about reeling in his team-mate as the race reached its
final stage. Within the final 10 laps, the drivers' championship
leader had got within two seconds of Norris. Meanwhile, the Briton
was informed of a small amount of front wing damage to his MCL39,
setting up a grandstand finish. That would not come to fruition,
with Norris able to hold off his team-mate to win by 2.6 seconds,
cutting the championship lead to 15 points.
