George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collided while battling for the lead.
This marks Mercedes’ first victory since the 2022 season. Norris was forced to retire the car after suffering too much damage, but Verstappen continued, finishing fifth after switching to soft tires. It had been a leisurely drive for the Red Bull driver until what seemed to be the final pit stops with 20 or so laps to go, but a lengthy pit stop (just over six seconds) put the lead in jeopardy.
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Norris closed in on Verstappen, and the two kept tangling.
At one point, Norris received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits, the final infringement coming when he tried to take the lead but went out off the track. Verstappen got a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.
Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz round out the podium.
“Boomshakalaka! Yabadabadoo,” Russell calls over the radio. “Well done. We had to pick up the pieces, well done.”
Verstappen 💥 Norris
Incredible scenes at the Red Bull Ring 😵#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/YvD0dg2TUH
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 30, 2024
An upset win for Mercedes
It has been a long time since the Silver Arrows have won a race, the last being at Brazil in 2022. It’s no secret that Mercedes’ performance hasn’t been as strong when the current regulations took effect, compared to its dominant reign from 2014 to 2021 as the constructors’ champions. But over the last three races, it has taken a step forward, Russell noted.
“I feel that Montreal was probably a victory that we missed out on, and we ended up finishing P3. Today was a deserving P3, and we got the victory,” he said. “So it’s funny how this sport turns around, and just credit to all the team for the hard work they’ve done such huge progress since the start of the year.”
Three laps before the Norris-Verstappen collision happened, Russell’s race engineer told him over the radio that the two were battling hard and, as the Briton recalled, “We can win this.”
“And I said, ‘Look, we need to sort of secure P3 first, let me drive.’ And I knew Oscar was fast behind. And then when I got into the lead, I knew it was going to be a challenging last six laps. My tires were difficult. That VSC helped marginally because my tires were overheating and that just allowed me to cool them down. But it’s a bit of a strange one to win a race like this, for sure. But as I said, it’s racing.
“Sometimes it goes against you.”
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The Norris-Verstappen battle
As Sainz said in the cooldown room, “Ah, it was going to happen at some point.”
The incident that changed the race may have occurred on Lap 64, but the battle was brewing long before. Verstappen may have dominated in 2023, but Norris became his closest competitor this season, closing the gap bit by bit in recent races. The McLaren driver won his first F1 race in Miami last month and gave F1 a taste of a fight brewing at Imola (though Verstappen still won despite Norris’ late charge). In Canada and Spain, Verstappen emerged victorious while Norris took P2.
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Come Sunday in Austria, they battled for the lead once again. Verstappen and Norris pitted on the same lap, but Red Bull’s stop was roughly four seconds slower than McLaren’s, putting Norris hot on Verstappen’s tail. As the battle wore on, both drivers complained about each other over the radio, like Norris claiming Verstappen made an illegal move under braking with 15 or so laps to go.
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Norris finally passed Verstappen a few laps later but ran off the track. He had already been shown a black-and-white flag for track limit infringements, and this one led to a five-second penalty. But they remained close to each other.
Several laps later, the two cars approached Turn 3, and Norris made a move on the left of Verstappen. The Dutchman moved to the left before turning in, and the two collided, leaving Norris and Verstappen with punctures. The Red Bull’s tire stayed intact, unlike the McLaren’s. Norris had to retire the car, and Verstappen was hit with a 10-second penalty for the incident, which he said, “I’ll look back at it but 10 seconds seems a bit severe for me. I didn’t feel like it was anything kind of aggressive, going on in that move.”
Norris didn’t mince his words when discussing the fight.
“I expect a tough battle against Max, I know what to expect. I expect aggression and pushing the limits and that kind of thing, but all three times he’s doing stuff that can easily cause an incident, and in the way it’s just a bit reckless, it seemed like a little bit desperate from his side,” Norris said. “Doesn’t need to be. He’s got plenty of wins but a bit desperate to do what he could to not let me past. I know he’s going to be aggressive so I’m in a way not surprise … I just expected a tough, fair, respectful on the edge bit of racing, and I don’t feel like that’s what I got.”
(Photo: Joe Klamar / AFP via Getty Images)
