Russell inherits victory as Verstappen and Norris clash

George Russell won an Austrian Grand Prix that was radically changed when long-time leader Max Verstappen collided with long-time pursuer Lando Norris.

The Red Bull and McLaren pair touched at the tight, uphill Turn 3 of the Red Bull Ring, seven laps into the 71-lap race, after Norris had significantly reduced Verstappen’s lead after the Dutchman suffered a lengthy second stop.

Repeatedly, Norris attacked at Turn 3 while racking up hits within the track limits during his pursuit to enter and stay within Verstappen’s DRS range.

On lap 59, Norris dove to the inside and locked up as Verstappen crossed, meaning the McLaren slid into the runoff and let the Red Bull past on the way to Turn 4.

It wasn’t enough to stop Norris getting a five-second time penalty for crossing the track limits a fourth time in his off, but it didn’t matter as the pair came to blows before it was even handed out.

On lap 54, Norris moved to the outside of Verstappen approaching Turn 3 and as the Red Bull moved to the left they touched and both went out with punctures.

Each had to pit, with Norris retiring due to damage to the rear floor, meaning Russell, who had been third for the entire race behind the top two, inherited the lead as he continued .

A short virtual safety car was needed to clear debris from the track, with Russell passing Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz by seconds, but in the final laps the Mercedes driver maintained his lead to secure a second career F1 victory .

At the start, Verstappen made a smooth escape from pole and easily outpaced Norris in the first stint, where McLaren tried to reassure their charge, their extra set of medium tires would make the difference later, as Red Bull looked set to use them. hard after the mediums on which the whole peloton had started.

But that seemed a faint hope as Verstappen simply pulled away during the first stint – his lead approaching six seconds before stopping on lap 23 to take the tough guys.

Norris arrived at the same time, the Red Bull being dropped in his path and forcing the McLaren to brake as he approached his pit in an incident which race control reviewed and decided was not worth worth reporting to the commissioners.

In the second stint, Verstappen pulled away again, but not as quickly in the first stint, his lead reaching a maximum of eight seconds just after halfway.

Here Norris began to make time, with Verstappen struggling to keep the hard-charging cars alive and even keep the lapped Haas cars behind him at this stage.

Red Bull kept Verstappen out for longer than he wanted before he was brought in for used medium tyres as his lead was reduced to 6.5 seconds – his extra set of pre-race hards had been avoided – on lap 51, just as Norris came in behind.

A slow left-hander at the back and then a conservative exit this time meant Verstappen’s previous lead was suddenly reduced to less than two seconds, with Norris pushing hard to get into the DRS and sparking all the drama that was to follow.

Behind Russell, Piastri finished 1.9s behind a surprise winner, with Sainz third – having been overtaken by the McLaren when Piastri made a daring outside pass at Turn 6 just after the Verstappen/Norris clash.

Lewis Hamilton finished fourth – his race included a 5-second time penalty for crossing the pit entry line at his first stop, the seven-time world champion damaging the ground by hitting the Turn 8 kerbs too hard and Piastri overtaking him late in the second stint.

Verstappen finished fifth, with an additional 10 seconds for causing the collision with Norris in the eyes of the stewards.

Nico Hulkenberg beat Sergio Perez to sixth, with Kevin Magnussen eighth in a one-two finish for Haas in a race where its drivers fought hard against each other from the start.

Daniel Ricciardo finished ninth for RB and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 after prevailing in a close and tough mid-race tussle with Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon.