By Joe Murphy
George Russell won his second ever race in Formula 1 after a pulsating ending to the Austrian Grand Prix.
The British driver had been all set to coast into third place and take the final spot on the podium, with the Mercedes man around a dozen seconds off the lead with only a handful of laps remaining. In fact, the race hasn’t started so well for the eventual race winner. Teammate Lewis Hamilton had not only gotten by Carlos Sainz, but also looked incredibly racey as he passed George too. Ahead of this, Verstappen held Norris by a reasonably comfortable margin, with the McLaren driver managing his tyres more. Contact for Charles Leclerc scuppered his race, forcing the man from Monaco to make an early pitstop.
Hamilton then lost the position back to Russell and then voluntarily gave Sainz P4 back after being under investigation for overtaking off track.
In all honesty, aside from Zhou getting a shunt from Alonso, who got a subsequent penalty, and the Alpine pair trading places in a frantic duel, not much else happened. All the drivers had a few seconds between them, and despite some places being traded between pit stops on varying strategies, the finishing order seemed to be set.
However, Formula 1 is never that simple. It’s never over until it’s over.
Verstappen boxed the same lap as Lando behind him. A stuck wheel nut led to a slow stop for a usually super-reliable Red Bull, who then had to wait an extra second for the McLaren. This reduced the gap from 6.5 seconds to 1.7. Verstappen then locked up on his cold tyres and, with the additional help of traffic, Lando got within the DRS of the Dutchman. Over the next few laps, Lando went for the overtake, once being shut out by a move under braking, and the next lap, he used the brakes too deep into turn 3, allowing Verstappen to coast straight back ahead.
With only a few laps to go, Lando went for another move at the same turn. In doing so, he clipped Verstappen, who did appear to be moving in the braking zone. This tangle sent Verstappen off course and forced both drivers off the track. In rejoining, Verstappen forced Norris into the grass. It was clear though that the Dutchman had a puncture, and Norris sailed by. However, this was only temporary, as Norris also saw one of his tyres disintegrate. Just as a crawling Verstappen passed Norris on track, George Russell cruised by under fresh motivation from his Team Principal over the radio.
Lando would retire from the race, whereas Max suffered an inconsequential 10 second penalty to finish fifth, both on track and after the penalty was applied, with Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg some 20 seconds behind.
Russell managed to hold off minor pressure from the McLaren of Oscar Piastri to take the win, with the Australian taking second ahead of Carlos Sainz in third, who had a very understated race. Lewis Hamilton took fourth on another strong week for Mercedes. Sergio Perez also took points but was again well off the pace. Haas also took points with the unlucky streak of missing out officially over with an impressive 6th and 8th place finish, with the Mexican in the middle. Daniel Ricciardo took 9th, and Pierre Gasly made sure Sauber’s wait for points continued as he brought home the final point for Alpine.
The British Grand Prix is only a matter of days away at the time of writing as this ‘triple header’ enters its final installment. Some post race comments from a passionate Lando are sure to send waves through the garages of both McLaren and Red Bull. In fact, both Team Principals blamed each other during the fallout yesterday evening.
What is for sure is that Red Bull have legitimate challengers in McLaren, and Verstappen has a genuine challenger in the form of Norris.
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