George Russell takes a late win at the Austrian GP as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris crashed into each other while fighting for the win in the dying stages of the race.
Max Verstappen had another outstanding start and kept the leadership. It was a nightmare for Charles Leclerc, who broke his front wing and had to pit on the first lap.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton overtook George Russell for P3, but he was immediately overtaken back. Carlos Sainz lost one position and dropped to P5, ahead of Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri.
Leclerc dropped to P19, as Logan Sargeant pitted, too. The Monégasque fitted hard tires and started to rebuild his race.
Sainz attacked Hamilton and gained a position, meanwhile, Piastri made a beautiful overtake on Perez around the outside of turn 6.
Leclerc said on the radio that the hard tires weren’t feeling great. In the meantime, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hülkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, and Fernando Alonso made an early pit stop.
On lap 17, Leclerc already made another pit stop and went on mediums. At the front, Verstappen opened a 6 seconds gap on Norris and was about to lap the Ferrari driver.
On lap 22, Hamilton pitted and Perez also did the same. They both went on hards. The following lap, Russell and Sainz also dived into the pit and opted for medium and hard tires, respectively. Verstappen and Norris also changed tires and fitted the hards.
Hamilton received a 5-second penalty as he crossed the white line while going into the pit lane. Another penalty (10 seconds) was given to Alonso as he hit Zhou Guanyu.
Verstappen was under investigation as he unsafely rejoined the pit lane ahead of Norris, who complained on the radio. The penalties didn’t stop, as Perez was awarded a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. There was no penalty for Verstappen.
Norris was closing the gap to Verstappen, but Leclerc was behind the Britton, as he was lapped, and tried to overtake the McLaren. That caused Norris to lose some ground compared to the Dutchman.
Meanwhile, on lap 48, Piastri overtook Hamilton as the Aussie driver was still trying to fight for a podium finish.
Verstappen pitted, and he had a very slow pit stop, not only that, but he also locked up in turn 4. Norris closed the gap to 1.5 seconds. Now the Britton was close enough to attack.
Norris overtook Verstappen in turn 3, but he went off track and had to give the position back. Meanwhile, Norris was under investigation for track limits. The Britton tried again in turn 3, but Verstappen wasn’t giving up.
The two crashed into each other and both had a puncture. Norris also received a 5-second penalty, while Russell inherited the race lead. Piastri also overtook Sainz for P2 with another amazing move around the outside of turn 6.
Norris had to retire, and the virtual safety car was deployed. Verstappen also received a 10-second penalty for causing the crash, he was sitting in P7 with a 16s gap to the car behind.
In the end, Russell emerged victorious, ahead of Piastri and Sainz. Hamilton was fourth, Verstappen fight, Hülkenberg sixth, Perez seventh, Magnussen eight, Ricciardo ninth, and Gasly tenth.