George Russell wins in Austria after Verstappen and Norris take each other out

George Russell has won the Austrian Grand Prix. At Red Bull’s homerace, championship leader Max Verstappen was on track for his next victory. But then it all came undone in the final laps.

The sprintrace on Saturday and the following qualifying session painted a very ominous picture. Verstappen managed to get a sizeable lead in both cases. The McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were squabbling for just long enough for Verstappen to establish a lead in the sprintrace, which allowed him to comfortably cruise to the finishline. Then in qualifying, it was again the McLarens that challenged Verstappen, though “challenged” is a bit of an optimistic term. Verstappen was four tenths ahead of everyone else and even his time in Q2 would have been enough for pole position. It was especially jarring for Piastri, who saw his fastest lap deleted because of track limits.

All in all, it didn’t suggest that the feature race would be all that interesting. That image was confirmed at the start: Verstappen had a good start and drove away. He slowly built his lead over the next couple of laps while Norris stayed in second. Behind them, the fight was on between the Ferrari’s, the Mercedesses, Piastri and the Red Bull of Sergio Perez. There were no real winners in that fight, only one very significant loser: Charles Leclerc lost part of his front wing and was called in for what would be his first of many pitstops. And even though Leclerc managed to slowly recover over the next two hours, his race was effectively over. 

The race leaders clash and crash

Over the next 40 laps, everything was fairly stable. Verstappen was out in front, Norris held on about five seconds behind him, Mercedes and Sainz traded places a few times, and Perez was disappointing massively and only fought Haas and Racing Bulls. 

All that changed in lap 41. After a very strategic - and slightly diabolical - pitstop by Norris that brought the gap to Verstappen down to 2 seconds, the fight was on. Every trick in the book was used in the battle of these two racing giants. Getting DRS from backmarkers, sacrificing exit speed to get a defensive line through the corner, forcing your rival off the track in a dive bomb attempt, you know, all the usuals. It was a battle on the edge, and it was bound to go wrong at some point. That point was lap 65: Norris challenged Verstappen around the outside of turn one, Verstappen went wide in an attempt to cover him, their rear wheels touched and both drivers found themselves with a puncture.

As they slowly crawled back to the pitlane, Russell, Sainz and Piastri stormed past them in what was suddenly a race for the lead. Verstappen managed to get back out on track, even though he was miles behind. Norris wasn’t so lucky. His sidepod and nosecone were damaged in the process and it just wasn’t worth it anymore to try and fix the car. Piastri quickly began making moves to close the gap to Russell, but it wasn’t enough. The Virtual Safety Car was out long enough to give Russell that breathing room and allowed him to win his second race of his career.

While a second place would be a great result in any other situation, but this time it stung. Piastri could have been at the front, he was being held back at the start, and without that Virtual Safety Car he might have had enough time to catch Russell. It really felt like a missed opportunity. But if the pace of the McLaren is telling us anything, it’s that Piastri’s first victory isn’t a matter of if, but when.