Lando Norris has capped off an imperious weekend with victory at the Austrian Grand Prix. In contrast to his clear run to pole position on Saturday, Norris had to dig deep to secure the win on Sunday. After swooping around the outside of Charles Leclerc at turn one, Oscar Piastri pushed his teammate hard.
On lap 11 Piastri made what appeared to be the definitive pass, but Norris gave his teammate a wide berth through turn three, cut back to the inside, and regained the initiative. Piastri tired again on lap 17 with an audacious lunge into turn four but had to bail out to avoid contact with Norris, who pitted on lap 20 and maintained his lead for much of the middle stint.
However, as the leading duo encountered lapped traffic, the gap began to shrink. Piastri’s pursuit was balked by Franco Colapinto who forced him onto the grass as the Australian tried to lap him on lap 54.
Piastri soldiered on and had, by the penultimate lap, cut the gap down to 1.3 seconds. However, both McLarens had a hard time lapping Gabriel Bortoleto and Fernando Alonso, a late lockup from Piastri ended any hopes of a grandstand finish. Norris held on to take his third win of the season, one that has done his title hopes a world of good, after his poor showing in Canada.
Max Verstappen, by contrast, had a weekend to forget. After starting seventh, having been unable to complete his final run in Q3, Verstappen’s race lasted less than half a lap. Kimi Antonelli locked up his rear wheels and made contact with the RB of Isack Hadjar at turn three, before taking both himself and Verstappen out of the race. The Italian apologised for the incident that Verstappen later described as ‘unlucky’.
With the world champion out, Ferrari were clearly the best of the rest. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton made short work of the fast-starting George Russell on lap one and ran largely untroubled in third and fourth for the rest of the race. Leclerc picked up his and the team’s fourth podium of the season, while Hamilton equaled his best-ever finish in red.
Behind them, Liam Lawson secured a career-best sixth-place finish, ahead of Fernando Alonso and this weekend’s standout midfield entry: Gabriel Bortoleto. After landing a career-best eighth place in qualifying, Bortoleto continued his strong form in the race. Running as high as fifth at one point, the Brazilian was unable to contend with the one-stopping Lawson and would eventually lose out in a last-lap tussle for seventh with Alonso. The two-time world champion’s experience kept him in front, despite Bortoleto’s tire advantage. Even so, the Brazilian’s efforts were enough for a first-point finish, Alonso being among the first to congratulate the youngster in parc ferme. Nico Hulkenberg completed an impressive comeback from 20th to 9th, making it a memorable day for Sauber.
Elsewhere, Esteban Ocon had a quiet but commendable drive to tenth, one place ahead of his teammate Oliver Bearman. Isack Hadjar survived his opening lap skirmish with Antonelli to take 12th ahead of Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll. Franco Colapinto’s prolonged scrap with Yuki Tsunoda yielded a 15th-place finish, while the Japanese driver capped off a poor weekend for Red Bull as the last car over the line.
Williams also had a race to forget as having limped to 19th in qualifying, Carlos Sainz suffered a brake issue on the grid that led to an aborted start and forced the Spaniard out of contention before the race even began. Alex Albon looked set to give his team something to cheer about before engine trouble forced him out of the running on lap 15.
With this win, Norris has reduced the championship deficit to 15 points. Having faced mounting scrutiny over his crash in Montreal, an emphatic weekend like this was just the riposte Norris needed. It remains to be seen how often he will be able to produce these world-beating performances against his formidable teammate.
