Norris fends off Piastri for Austrian GP victory in thrilling race-long battle

Lando Norris returned to winning ways at the Austrian Grand Prix after getting the better of McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri in a head-to-head scrap for victory – title rival Max Verstappen having been eliminated in a first-lap incident.

Norris converted pole position into the lead at Turn 1 but soon came under intense pressure from championship leader Piastri, who launched several attacks and at one point muscled his way past, only for the positions to be swiftly reversed.

After a particularly close call under braking for Turn 4, which saw Piastri lock up and almost run into the back of Norris, the Australian went slightly longer on his starting set of tyres in an attempt to build an advantage for the remainder of the race.

While Piastri lit up the timesheets in phases across the second and third stints, Norris had just enough pace in hand to hold onto P1 and take the chequered flag – marking his third win of the season and first victory since last month’s Monaco Grand Prix.

In the absence of team boss Fred Vasseur, who travelled home pre-race for “personal reasons”, the upgraded Ferraris had quiet but fruitful races en route to a podium with Charles Leclerc and fourth-place result with Lewis Hamilton.

George Russell was the sole Mercedes finisher in fifth, with rookie team mate Kimi Antonelli dramatically running into Verstappen under braking for Turn 3 on the opening lap – eliminating both drivers from the action. The stewards later gave Antonelli a three-place grid penalty for his next race.

Liam Lawson capitalised to convert his top-six grid slot into a top-six finish, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Kick Sauber’s Bortoleto, who scored his first F1 points after a monumental scrap with the two-time World Champion.

A strong recovery from the back of the grid brought a third successive points finish for Nico Hulkenberg, and gave Sauber a double points reward, while Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10 places for Haas.

Ollie Bearman followed team mate Ocon home in 11th, with Isack Hadjar 12th in the other Racing Bulls machine and Pierre Gasly dropping from points contention to 13th amid severe balance problems aboard his Alpine.

Next up was Lance Stroll, whose eye-catching practice pace could not be carried over to Qualifying or the race, while Franco Colapinto (Alpine) and Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) were the final drivers to cross the finish line.

Colapinto came close to contact with Piastri in the closing stages of the race when the McLaren man was putting a lap on him, an incident that earned the F1 returnee a five-second penalty but did not impact his finishing position.

Tsunoda was hit with a 10-second penalty of his own for sending Colapinto into a spin earlier in the race, with Verstappen and Antonelli joined on the sidelines by Williams drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz – the latter unable to start after getting stuck on the grid.

AS IT HAPPENED

Following that dramatic clash with team mate Piastri in Canada last time out, Norris came back fighting when he hit the track at the Red Bull Ring – the Briton displaying rapid pace through practice before charging his way to pole position in Qualifying.

Norris ended Q3 a whopping half a second clear of nearest rival Leclerc, with Piastri having to settle for third after being hindered by yellow flags on his final run, and reigning World Champion Verstappen also losing out to the caution down in seventh.

As the anticipated two-stop race approached, amid rising air and track temperatures, it was revealed that the majority of the field would be starting on medium tyres, with Gasly, Hadjar, Colapinto, Bearman and Hulkenberg opting for softs.

There was drama on the formation lap, though, with Sainz struggling to pull away from his P19 grid slot and getting left behind. “The car is stuck in first gear,” the Spaniard said over the radio, before he eventually drove off while Race Control abandoned the start.

Another formation lap followed some 10 minutes later, with Sainz sadly unable to take the start after returning his Williams to the pit lane, where it overheated. Alonso also noted the high temperatures, reporting that his seat felt like it was “200 degrees”.

When the race eventually began, Norris made a strong enough getaway to retain his pole advantage into Turn 1, while Piastri swept around the outside of Leclerc for P2 and Russell went wheel-to-wheel with the Ferraris.

As the field roared towards Turn 3, where Norris covered off Piastri, more drama ensued when Antonelli lost control of his Mercedes under braking and slammed into Verstappen’s car – putting both drivers out of the race.

“I got hit like crazy,” a sweary Verstappen rued over the radio, as Antonelli admitted he simply “lost the rear”. With the Dutchman and Italian debriefing at the side of the track, the Safety Car was brought out to allow marshals to clear the track.

On Lap 3 of 70, Bernd Maylander peeled back into the pits and released the remaining 17 drivers – Norris handling the situation well to hold the lead over Piastri, Leclerc, Hamilton, Russell and Gasly, with a fast-starting Albon up to seventh.

“Lewis just closed the door under braking,” argued Russell over the radio after a failed move on the seven-time World Champion for fourth at Turn 4, with several drivers engaging in battle but no more incidents occurring for the time being.

Turn 4 was the scene for another heart-in-mouth moment a couple of laps later when Piastri – having remained within a second of his team mate – used the Drag Reduction System to get perilously close. “Your call on the racing situation,” came a follow-up message from the Australian’s race engineer.

With Gasly’s soft tyres seemingly degrading, Albon continued his progress thanks to a clean move for sixth place under braking for Turn 3. The Frenchman would soon come under pressure from Bortoleto, Lawson and Alonso in the remaining top 10 spots.

On Lap 11, the lead battle kicked off again when Piastri used DRS to grab the lead from Norris into Turn 3. A lock-up at the apex left the door ajar, though, and Norris duly reclaimed P1 with a switchback on the run to Turn 4, where Piastri snatched a brake once more.

As the laps ticked by, Piastri remained glued to Norris’ gearbox, having several sniffs at another overtake but not quite managing to find a way past. How much longer could his starting set of tyres hold on while running in the dirty air of his team mate?

Elsewhere, Bearman, Gasly, Hadjar, Hulkenberg and Colapinto were all early stoppers as tyre strategies began to play out, while Williams’ day went from bad to worse when Albon was called back to the pits to retire amid apparent technical trouble.

Lap 20 brought another flashpoint in a tense battle between Norris and Piastri, with the latter locking up heavily into Turn 4 and almost running into the back of his team mate. Norris subsequently took to the pit lane for a fresh set of tyres, while Piastri continued on his way.

“Let’s see your pace in free air now,” was the message to Piastri, who opted to continue on his way rather than immediately respond to Norris – albeit with a sizeable flat spot. “The data looks OK to continue,” his engineer subsequently confirmed.

Piastri decided that enough was enough at the end of Lap 24 and pitted for his own set of fresh hard tyres, coming back out some 5.5 seconds behind Norris. Leclerc and Hamilton pitted shortly afterwards, meaning McLaren were now back in their 1-2 positions.

As the race settled down again, with Norris further extending his lead to 6.5 seconds, Piastri’s engineer gave him some “feedback” from the McLaren pit wall. “The manoeuvre in Turn 4 with the front lock-up was too marginal,” he warned.

Splitting the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton, fourth-placed Lawson and fifth-placed Alonso were now the only drivers yet to pit. With new tyres at his disposal, Hamilton soon worked his way past both drivers – including a bold move on the outside of Lawson at Turn 6.

Then came more drama at Turn 4 when Tsunoda, having already engaged in battle with Stroll, tipped Colapinto into a spin. That forced the Japanese driver back to the pits for a new front wing, while Colapinto tumbled down the order.

It was not much better for the other Alpine of Gasly, who was valiantly holding onto a points-paying position but faced huge problems in the cockpit. “I have no grip... I’m about to spin every corner,” he shouted over the radio, with a swear word for good measure.

Tsunoda was promptly given a 10-second penalty for the incident with Colapinto, before stops from Lawson and Alonso at the halfway mark meant every driver had now pitted – those two seemingly on course for the alternate one-stop approach.

With 35 laps to run, Norris led Piastri by 5.3 seconds. Leclerc sat around 14 seconds further back in third, from Hamilton, Russell and squabbling Kick Sauber pair Bortoleto and Hulkenberg (who had charged forward with that early stop and some undercutting). Haas duo Ocon and Bearman were eighth and ninth, with Gasly – who was losing ground amid ongoing issues – circulating in 10th.

Lawson and Alonso sat just outside the points following their stops, but with the prospect of making up some places as rivals pitted for a second time, while Hadjar, Colapinto, Stroll and the penalised Tsunoda brought up the rear.

Back at the front, Piastri was starting to put Norris under pressure again, reducing his team mate’s advantage to three seconds with that tyre delta. “He’s mainly quicker in high-speed,” Norris was told, along with some time loss through traffic.

Norris gained a bit of breathing space a few laps later when Piastri ran wide at Turn 1 and clattered the kerbs, while Hamilton’s hopes of cutting the gap to team mate Leclerc and challenging for a podium were dented by a similar mistake at Turn 3.

With the two-stoppers cycling through their final tyre changes, radio messages picked up Hamilton commenting that “I don’t want to stop”, having reported that his rubber felt fine. No positions were lost when he returned to the track, at least.

Norris was next in on Lap 52, followed by Piastri one tour later – both drivers taking on medium tyres and the positions remaining unchanged. The gap between the papaya cars now stood at 3.5 seconds, with a potential grandstand finish in store.

However, Piastri’s efforts to cut Norris’ lead were hampered by traffic. With Colapinto and Tsunoda battling for position at Turn 3, the Argentinian wildly cut back across the track and forced Piastri onto the grass – earning him a five-second penalty.

From there, Norris managed the gap back to Piastri and calmly worked his way through more traffic – which involved Alonso and Bortoleto’s feisty exchange – to seal the deal and bag the win, cutting his team mate’s championship advantage to 15 points.

Leclerc completed the podium over Hamilton, followed by Russell, a high-flying Lawson and Alonso, who narrowly beat Bortoleto to seventh via some brilliant late racing but could not take the shine off the Brazilian’s maiden F1 points finish.

Hulkenberg and Ocon were the final points scorers in ninth and 10th, from Bearman, Hadjar, Gasly and Stroll, with the penalised Colapinto and Tsunoda the final classified drivers at the end of their bruising afternoons behind the wheel.

As mentioned above, Verstappen and Antonelli both watched the race from the paddock after their first-lap collision, while Williams suffered one of their worst days of the season thanks to Albon and Sainz’s double elimination.

Key quote

“It was a tough race, pushing the whole way through – tricky, hot, tiring – but a perfect result for us a team,” said Norris. “A 1-2 is exactly what we want and we did it again, so I’m very happy. We [me and Piastri] had a great battle, that’s for sure. It was a lot of fun – for me a lot of stress, but a lot of fun! A nice battle, so well done to Oscar. Hopefully it was a nice one for everyone to watch, but inside the car it was obviously tough, especially when he was in DRS. The DRS [effect] is so big around here, it’s hard to get him out of the gap, but once I did I could manage things pretty well. He was still quick, so it was good fun.”

What’s next

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