Lando Norris secured a crucial victory at the Austrian Grand Prix, overcoming his teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri in a thrilling on-track battle. Norris kept Piastri behind for 20 laps in the first part of the race and then withstood late pressure to claim his third win of the season.
This win came two weeks after the collision with Piastri at the Canadian Grand Prix and reduced the Australian`s championship lead from 22 to 15 points.
“Well done everyone, beautiful one-two,” Norris said over the radio after crossing the finish line. In his post-race interview, he added: “We had a great battle, that`s for sure. It was a lot of fun. For me – a lot of stress! But a nice battle. Well done, Oscar. Hopefully it was good for everyone to watch. But it was tough, especially when he was in the DRS zone.”
The reigning champion Max Verstappen`s title chances, already slim, took a potentially decisive blow when he went off track on the first lap after a collision with Kimi Antonelli. However, McLaren was in a class of its own throughout the weekend.
Norris and Piastri quickly pulled away from the Ferrari drivers at the start and ran closely together early in the race. Piastri briefly got ahead, diving to the inside at Turn 3, but Norris immediately regained the inside line and overtook him at the next corner. Championship leader Piastri then nearly ran into the back of Norris`s car on lap 20 while attempting an attack, before pit stops gave the Englishman the necessary space to bring the car home.
“Sorry for the move in Turn 4,” Piastri said after finishing. “My bad.”
The race seems to have cemented 2025 as a two-driver contest, as Verstappen did not finish, and the winner of the Montreal round, George Russell, finished far behind in fifth.
Charles Leclerc took a podium third place for Ferrari, although he finished 17 seconds behind second place. Hamilton finished fourth. Liam Lawson, removed from the role of Verstappen`s teammate after only two races this season, took a superb sixth place for Racing Bulls thanks to a brilliantly executed one-stop strategy. Tsunoda, who replaced Lawson, finished last after another terrible performance in the problematic Red Bull.
Fernando Alonso finished eighth for Aston Martin, using a strategy similar to Lawson`s, and held off his protégé Gabriel Bortoleto in an interesting duel in the final laps. Bortoleto had to settle for eighth place – the first points in the rookie season for the Formula 2 champion. His Sauber teammate Nico Hülkenberg continued the team`s strong recent run by finishing ninth. This was the first time since 2018 that both Sauber cars finished in the top ten. Esteban Ocon of Haas took the final points-paying position, finishing tenth.
The race was difficult for Williams. Carlos Sainz could not start due to brake fire on the formation lap, which delayed the race start by 15 minutes. Sainz`s teammate Alex Albon retired later, stopping in the pit lane.
