George Russell boosted his Formula 1 World Championship credentials with a calm display of tyre management in the Styrian heat to win the Austrian Grand Prix, holding off a charging Max Verstappen.
The Mercedes driver converted pole position after Verstappen became his chief challenger, after Ferrari’s hopes faded, with Lewis Hamilton’s risky three-stop strategy failing, and Charles Leclerc suffering from suspected damage for most of the race.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli maintained his impressive form with third, hunting down Verstappen in the closing stages, just missing out on completing a 1-2 for the German marque.
But Russell will enjoy his triumph, as he now takes a further 10 points out of Antonelli in the title race, with his home Grand Prix at Silverstone just one week away.
How the race unfolded
At the start, Antonelli covered off Leclerc at Turns 1 and 3, but on the exit of 4, Hamilton made capital out of his teammate’s attempts to take the lead, and duly nipped through.
Leclerc then proceeded to fall further behind, this time to Verstappen in third, who jumped Antonelli, who also got ahead of the Ferrari. Piastri got ahead of Norris for P6, as Valtteri Bottas had to retire his Cadillac due to a brake fire.
Liam Lawson also complained of a fire, but was still managing to race Hadjar for eighth, ultimately losing the battle, but retaining ninth.
Another fire occurred on the second Cadillac, with Sergio Perez reporting “a lot of smoke” in his cockpit. Both cars were out.
Antonelli easily overtook Leclerc for fourth at Turn 9 on Lap 7, indicating some sort of issue for the Monegasque’s car.
By Lap 9, Russell was 2.7s ahead of Hamilton, who was now starting to feel the heat from more than just one source.
Verstappen was beginning reel him in, and was just half-a-second behind going into the next lap, with Russell now three seconds up.
Russell had been given the warning the Dutchman was closer, but he complained of a “pulling” brake, but by the time the words had left his mouth, he stamped on them to take second from Hamilton at Turn 3.
Hamilton shot back and went around the outside of Turn 4, but both would not give an inch, and on the exit of Turn 6, Hamilton squeezed him onto the gravel.
Verstappen still wouldn’t yield and tried again, but was forced to back out of it. He protested – “a clear penalty” in reference to Hamilton’s driving.
On Lap 13, Hamilton pitted for Hards and rejoined 11th, with the battle with Verstappen earning Russell a lead of almost six seconds.
Leclerc was next to pit, also for Hards, as Hamilton moved up to ninth as a result and by overtaking Gabriel Bortoleto.
With clear air, Verstappen took four tenths out of Russell, with Antonelli 1.6s behind.
Hamilton made easy work of Arvid Lindblad for ninth, as Russell indicated the possibility of a risky one-stop strategy to his team just might work.
Verstappen boxed on Lap 19 for Hards, but there was not enough time made up, as Hamilton slotted ahead for fifth place, the Red Bull rejoining the track just behind in sixth.
The one-stop for Russell looked unlikely as he came in on Lap 20, also for Hards, rejoining third, ahead of Hamilton, who was also given the benefit of ‘no further action’ from the stewards in their investigation of his earlier battle with Verstappen.
Their battle resumed coincidentally at that same time, with Verstappen repeating his earlier move at 3, and Hamilton repeating his at 4, but Verstappen got ahead at Turn 5, pushing Hamilton wide.
Lap 24 and Verstappen was now two seconds ahead of Hamilton already, with four seconds being taken out of Antonelli’s lead, as his Mediums began to wear off.
Hamilton’s challenge fades off
Carlos Sainz’s race came to an end, conveniently for him, right by the pit wall. The Virtual Safety Car was out, and Antonelli pitted for Hards immediately.
He rejoined fourth with Russell back in the lead, as Hamilton missed his opportunity to box when instructed to by the team – “You told me too late,” he said.
But one lap later, and just before the pit entry closed, Hamilton came in, surprisingly, for Softs, in an attempt to presumbly to clear Verstappen quickly at the expense of a long final stint later in the race.
The VSC ended and Russell’s lead was 5.6s from Verstappen, with Leclerc third and Antonelli fourth. Hamilton was seventh and catching Hadjar.
Antonelli took Leclerc for third, and Hamilton managed to get sixth off Hadjar with Piastri two seconds ahead.
With the 2025 longest Soft tyres stint a mere 12 laps, Hamilton was halfway through that total by now, and was still 1.7s behind Piastri in fifth, with Verstappen now under four seconds behind Russell. Ferrari’s gamble looked to be failing, as he was ordered to switch out of race mode due to the temperature of his car.
When told to re-enter race mode, he quickly took four tenths out of Piastri, and then brought the gap down to a second, but was having to hurry as his Softs were likely to be wearing off.
Piastri was now all over the back of Leclerc and dove down the inside at Turn 3 to take fourth, nudging the Ferrari front wing in the process.
Hamilton, just behind, was made to fight for taking his teammate but managed to eventually, taking him at Turn 6, and was now six tenths behind Piastri.
Russell ran wide at Turn 3, and was now just 1.6s ahead of Verstappen, who was now beginning to hunt down his prey.
Verstappen enters the chat
Hamilton, having failed to take Piastri, pitted on Lap 43, following the Australian’s McLaren. He left ahead of the Ferrari, rejoining in sixth and seventh, with both on Hards.
Russell boxed a second time, once again for Hards, rejoining in third behind Antonelli and Verstappen. Red Bull hinted that there might be a possibility of trying to extend the Softs to the end of the race, with Russell hopeful of Antonelli making Verstappen work to wear them further.
That plan was quickly binned as Verstappen told them his tyres had no more to give, and was brought in for Hards.
He rejoined 18 seconds behind Russell, who was now 7.2s behind Antonelli, who boxed for Hards, handing Russell the lead and Verstappen second place.
Hamilton and Leclerc switched places again in the Englishman’s favour, as a brief VSC descended after Alex Albon knocked a bollard off the Turn 3 apex.
Russell was now eight seconds ahead of Verstappen, as Leclerc once again began to struggle, dropping to seventh behind Hadjar – “My tyres are f***ed”, he said.
Very quickly, however, Verstappen was beginning to eat into Russell’s lead, and it was six seconds on Lap 60, as the threat of rain faintly began to appear just a handful of miles away in the area.
It was now a game of cat and mouse and mouse, as Verstappen was 5.2 seconds behind by Lap 62, but Antonelli was also inching closer in third, now just over three seconds behind the Red Bull.
With just four laps to go, the top three were covered by a mere six seconds, with Verstappen 3.3s behind Russell, with time running out to mount a challenge to Russell.
Antonelli took six tenths out of Verstappen going into the penultimate lap, with Russell now 2.5s ahead, showing an exemplary display of tyre management with the pressure on.
Going into the final lap, Antonelli was hot on his heels, desperate to complete a Mercedes 1-2, but to no avail.
Russell took victory, with Verstappen holding onto second, with Antonelli third and Piastri fourth, after an understated but very impressive performance.
Hamilton took second, which would have been a disappointment after the strength shown early in the race.
Hadjar was sixth, with Norris seventh after an incident-prone drive. Leclerc laboured to eighth, with Lawson ninth and Lindblad taking another point with 10th.
READ MORE – F1 2026 Austrian Grand Prix – Race Results
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