Austria - Race

For the 5th time in a row, Max Verstappen started the race held at the Red Bull Ring as the lead car on the grid. But, encouraged by the support of his fans who covered the stands with a sea of deep orange, was he able to convert the pole into a win? Or did he succumb to the speed of one of the McLarens, Mercedes, or Ferraris?

The Austrian Grand Prix took place over 71 laps and, over the weekend, was attended by over 300,000 viewers. Because of the high temperature which causes a higher degradation of the tires, the predicted strategies all included two pit stops. And when it came to the pre-race changes on the grid, there was only one: Zhou Guanyu started the race from the pit lane instead of P20. 

And now, let's move on to the race itself. A great reaction from Verstappen ensured a good lead ahead of Norris in second. Behind the two, a few fights for positions took place. Hamilton battled Sainz and managed to get past him, although it seemed he did gain an advantage by doing it off-track. Perez managed to gain two positions and Piastri jumped in front of Leclerc. 

The McLaren and Ferrari made contact which resulted in significant damage to Leclerc's car. The Monegasque needed to drive into the pits after only one lap since his front needed to be changed. He wasn't the only one who found himself driving down the pit lane: Sargeant was right there with him. Both drivers used the occasion to exchange their medium tires for hards. 

Back on track, Hamilton overtook Russel for 3rd place. The younger Brit was quick to take the place back. It ended up being a good thing for Mercedes since soon after Hamilton was asked to give back the position to Sainz for his first overtake, to avoid a penalty. Meanwhile, Verstappen quickly disappeared from Norris' DRS range and began building a gap between the two. 

Magnussen and Ricciardo began an early wave of pits. Hulkenberg followed behind them and so did Leclerc, the latter changing his tires for the second time since the start of the race. Both Perez and Hamilton pitted at lap 22. As Piastri reported, the Brit crossed the white line on pit entry, an offense which, if true, would result in a penalty. Sainz and Russel drove down the pit lane at lap 23 and the two cars that battled for the lead both went in at lap 24. Piastri, the last of the podium contenders still on his first set of tires, waited one lap longer. 

The already exciting Grand Prix only grew more interesting with a series of penalties, given out to multiple drivers. Hamilton was penalised 5 seconds for the incident reported by Piastri. Later in the race, Albon would suffer the same fate for the same crime. Perez got 5 seconds for speeding in the pit lane, and Alonso 10, for an incident involving Zhou Guanyu. 

Emotions run high in Alpine. The two French drivers both found a way past Fernando Alonso and began fighting each other. They traded positions and ultimately it was Gasly who came out on top. Meanwhile in the front Verstappen, who had managed to build up a significant lead, complained about a lack of grip. because of his problems, the gap between him and Norris decreased slightly. 

A second stint of crucial pit stops began with Russel at lap 47. The Brit rejoined the race in 6th and immediately set the fastest lap with his new hard tires. Sainz pitted soon after and came out behind him. Verstappen and Norris once again decided to come into the pits at the exact same time, not realising that this decision would completely change the race. 

Problems with one of Verstappen's back tires prolonged his pit enough for him to need to wait an additional second since Norris was driving toward the McLaren garage. The Red Bull driver, earlier reported for an unsafe release, needed to make sure that it wouldn't happen again. This meant that his pit stop was 6.5s long, while Norris' was only 2.9s. By the time the two cars drove out and got back to full racing speed, the gap between them melted to a bit less than 2 seconds and kept shortening since Norris was chasing Verstappen on a set of new mediums. The Dutchman only had used ones available to him. 

With the circumstances suddenly drastically different, Norris put all his might into chasing Verstappen. He achieved the fastest lap in the process and crept within DRS range of his rival. To add fuel to the fire, both drivers faced unforeseen issues: Verstappen, yet again, complained about a lack of grip, while Norris was noted to be one incident away from receiving a penalty for exceeding track limits. 

The fight heated up at lap 59 when Norris found a way past Verstappen. The Red Bull driver immediately responded, although his car was off track. While they were busy fighting each other, race control announced that Norris was officially under investigation for exceeding track limits one too many times. 

Then came the moment that completely changed the race: the two cars battling for the win made contact and both ended up with damage or punctured tires. Norries was given the penalty he was investigated for but it wouldn't matter since after he drove into the pits, one tire turned into nothing but scraps of rubber, he would not drive out again. Verstappen did continue the race after a brief stop in the pit but he was no longer a contender for the win since he had fallen to 5th and gotten a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with the McLaren.

Russel, Sainz, and Piastri made up the new top three. The Australian, chasing his first-ever win, overtook Sainz and did everything in his power to catch up to Russel. He did not manage to reach him and in an unexpected turn of events, George Russel won in Austria. 

While the result might not have been what the fans expected going into the race, it delighted those wearing Mercedes or GR63 shirts. The man who took the top step of the podium only once before became the 5th Grand Prix winner of the 2024 season! Fernando Alonso was the one who achieved the fastest lap and Lando Norris, despite not finishing the race, was voted 'Driver of the Day'. 

When it comes to the two championships, the situation tightened. Verstappen and Red Bull are still a bit ahead in both categories but the fight for P2 is closer than many anticipated. Currently, only 6 points separate Norris from Leclerc, and 23 separate Ferrari from McLaren. 

Order of the grid:

1. George Russel

2. Oscar Piastri

3. Carlos Sainz

4. Lewis Hamilton

5. Max Verstappen

6. Nico Hulkenberg

7. Sergio Perez

8. Kevin Magnussen

9. Daniel Ricciardo

10. Pierre Gasly

11. Charles Leclerc

12. Esteban Ocon

13. Lance Stroll

14. Yuki Tsunoda

15. Alex Albon

16. Valtteri Bottas

17. Zhou Guanyu

18. Fernando Alonso

19. Logan Sargeant

DNF: Lando Norris