Lando Norris was able to convert his impressive pole position to an impressive win this time out in Austria at the Red Bull Ring, while his teammate Piastri finished second. Charles Leclerc stood on the final podium step for Ferrari, with Hamilton driving to a P4 result and George Russell rounding out the top five. The race was not short on drama, however, which you can read about below.
- First Lap Collision
- Max Verstappen was starting a lowly seventh at his team’s home Grand Prix, but his hope was to make up places in the first lap in order to fight for a podium. However, the plan went out the window when Kimi Antonelli, starting ninth, locked up going into Turn 3. The Mercedes car collided with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, causing damage significant enough to put both cars out of the race. Antonelli was handed a three-place grid penalty for the next Grand Prix as a result. George Russell, Kimi’s teammate, went on to only finish fifth after winning the Canadian GP, while Yuki Tsunoda earned a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision later that caused him to end the race in sixteenth, and effectively last place. It certainly wasn’t Red Bull’s day, and they’ll be hoping to be back fighting in Silverstone.
- Double Points for Kick Sauber
- A points finish was certainly in rookie Gabriel Boroleto’s sights after the driver started eighth, but it seemed much more unlikely for his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who began the race in the last place on the grid. However, using tire strategy and some clever overtaking, the “Incredible Hulk” worked his way up to P9, earning two points for his team. That, combined with Bortoleto’s four, means that Kick Sauber took away six points from this Austrian Grand Prix. The team still sits in ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, however they are now only 2 points away from Aston Martin in eighth.
- A Grand Prix to Forget for Williams
- Williams may still be the best of the rest in the Championship, however today they had a disastrous Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz qualified a disappointing nineteenth on the grid for Sunday, after reporting problems with his Williams car. Those problems didn’t seem to be resolved, as while the rest of the grid sailed away on their formation lap, Sainz remained stuck in place, causing an aborted start to the race. Once the Spaniard got his car into the pits, the trouble didn’t end there, as the rear brakes went up in flames. Alex Albon was the team’s only remaining hope for a points finish, however that also was ruined as Albon was told to retire the car. Hopefully Williams can figure out the issues that were on display at the Red Bull Ring, and come back stronger next weekend.
- Drivers Getting Lapped
- As the Austrian Grand Prix circuit is so short, many drivers started to get lapped as the race went on. We saw this cause some problems for the racers up in front, most noticeably Piastri. The Aussie was on the charge to attack his teammate Norris, who was sitting in first place, however, things got interrupted when the pair had to navigate through traffic. Franco Colapinto was busy battling with Yuki Tsunoda when Oscar Piastri was coming through. In the chaos, Colapinto drifted to the right and forced Piastri to dip his wheels into the grass, which earned the Alpine driver a five-second penalty. That wasn’t the only time a battle was between the Papaya team members, however, as later in the race they found themselves sandwiching the battle between Bortoleto and Alonso. However, the two of the them handled the situation a bit better than Colapinto had, and Norris and Piastri got through cleanly.
- Battle at McLaren Getting Better Every Race
- Canada brought heavy drama when Norris crashed during the final laps of the race, and though nothing as extreme happened this time around, the battle was still ever present. The closest the McLaren duo was was during the first stint of the race, when we saw Oscar momentarily end up ahead of his teammate, before Norris was able to maintain skill under pressure to regain the lead. From there, the two were more spread out, albeit for a moment in Turn 4, where Piastri locked up slightly and nearly touched the back of Norris’ car. Aside from that hold-your-breath moment, the two kept their racing clean. After the race result, Lando is now only fifteen points down on his Championship-leading teammate, Oscar Piastri.
