@GeorgeRussell63 holds off @Max33Verstappen to take #AustrianGP victory. #F1

Russell Austrian GP Victory – George Russell scored his first victory since March taking the honours at the Austrian GP ahead of Max Verstappen who came second at Red Bull’s home Grand Prix as championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed the top three for the Silver Arrows.

 

 

This was Russell’s second victory of the season and brings him into second place in the World Driver’s Championship standings behind his Mercedes’ team-mate Antonelli as the Briton heads to his home Grand Prix at Silverstone next weekend.

 

Antonelli leads on 171 points whilst Russell sits on 131 points with a 40-point buffer.

 

When the 71-lap Austrian GP began, pole-sitter Russell got a great start as the Briton covered the two Ferrari’s into turn one as Antonelli runs wide at both turn one and three.

 

Norris had a look at Verstappen into turn three, but the latter covered the former.

 

Out of the fourth corner, Hamilton ran around the outside of Leclerc to move up into second place.

 

On lap two, Antonelli for the third time ran wide into turn one and overtook Leclerc, but the Italian had to give the place back.

 

Later on, in the lap on the rundown to turn four, Verstappen made his way past Leclerc to take third place off the Ferrari.

 

Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas was the first retiree of the race on lap three after his brakes were on fire.

 

On the beginning of lap four, Russell held a 0.8 second lead over Hamilton with Verstappen third, Leclerc fourth, Antonelli fifth, Piastri sixth, Norris seventh, Hadjar eighth, Lawson ninth as Lindblad rounded out the top ten.

 

Lawson radioed to say his VCARB entry was on fire as Sergio Perez also retired for Cadillac with a brake fire making it a double retirement in the first five tours for the American outfit.

 

Race Control noted Antonelli for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, but they said no further investigation.

 

The sixth lap – Russell lead by over a second from Hamilton, so no Overtake Mode for the Ferrari man as of yet. Verstappen was a 1.7 second further off, but Leclerc behind had Antonelli on his tail.

 

On the seventh lap in the fight for fourth place, Leclerc ran out of energy as Antonelli past the Ferrari on the inside at the penultimate corner to grab the position from the Monegasque driver.

 

The eight tour – Up-front, Hamilton had an adventure out of turn one as he had lost time and had Verstappen for company.

 

Lap nine – Thanks to Hamilton’s error, Russell had run away – the Briton lead by 2.7 seconds. Verstappen looked to have a fast race car and was all over the rear of Hamilton, so this was about to roll back the years as he works out how to get past his old rival.

 

Antonelli had three seconds to make up to get into this battle.

 

The tenth lap – Verstappen was half a second behind Hamilton, but that Ferrari was so good on corner exits and can brake later. This was the battle for second, as Russell continued to build his lead.

 

Lap 11 – Red Bull started to debate an early pit stop to undercut Hamilton, but the Dutchman made his move on-track. The four-time world champion gets the position, but out-brakes himself and Hamilton retook second place.

 

The duo were side by side through Turns 6 and 7, Hamilton ran him as wide as he could, Verstappen dipped one wheel into the gravel and has to cede the place.

 

The 12^th tour – Hamilton was second – as Verstappen said Hamilton moved under braking. those two need to cool their tyres and go again, this battle was certainly not done.

 

Russell was now six seconds in-front as Hamilton pitted.

 

Hamilton emerged in 11^th place behind Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto as a tour later – Leclerc stopped for Ferrari.

 

Both Hamilton and Leclerc were on the C3 white-marked harder compounds.

 

Hamilton made his way up into ninth passing Bortoleto whilst Leclerc came out behind the Audi in 11^th place.

 

Lap 15 – Russell lead by 5.3 seconds from Verstappen. The Dutchman was starting to close in now he had some clean air. Antonelli was up to third in-front of Piastri and Norris.

 

Hadjar, Lawson, Lindblad, Hamilton and Bortoleto completed the points.

 

Hamilton was noted for his incident with Verstappen for forcing a driver off the track.

 

The 16^th lap – Antonelli had gotten his tyres working, he was starting to find some pace and was just 1.6 seconds behind Verstappen. he was seven seconds back from his team-mate Russell.

 

Lap 17 – The front cars circled again – no one was reacting to Ferrari yet. But Russell had just radioed to say the one-stop race could potentially be possible.

 

The 18^th lap – Hamilton on those relatively fresh hard tyres – he was lapping six tenths faster than Russell.

 

“Is my pace okay?” Hamilton asked.

 

“You are faster than Charles,” he was told – but he was now in traffic.

 

Verstappen made his stop from second on lap 19 for his his fresh set of C3 harder tyres and came out in sixth place behind Hamilton.

 

Russell stopped from the lead on lap 20 along with Piastri as both drivers fitted the harder rubber and emerged in third and seventh respectively.

 

RB’s Lawson also stopped for a fresh set of harder tyres and came out in 12^th place behind team-mate Arvid Lindblad.

 

The 21^st tour – Antonelli lead the race from Norris. Russell had emerged in third ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc and Piastri.

 

Norris was told to extend – but he replied that he does not have much tyre life with the C4’s.

 

Russell pitting surely meant he was on a two-stop race, this would be a long stint on the harder compounds.

 

Norris pitted from second on lap 22 for his fresh set of C3’s and came out in eighth place behind Hadjar.

 

The speed was picking up now, Leclerc was flying, so was Verstappen and Russell too.

 

Antonelli would come out behind quite a few cars when he pits – but with fresher rubber.

 

Verstappen got Hamilton into Turn 3, but those two switcheroo back and they were side-by-side once again – Verstappen got the move down into Turn 6 and made it stick.

 

The 23^rd tour – Antonelli lead the race by 10 seconds from his team-mate who had already pitted.

 

Behind, Verstappen was now in-front of Hamilton and he had broken the tow.

 

Replays showed Norris ran wide on his out-lap on his fresh tyres – he was out in eighth, behind Hadjar.

 

Williams’ Carlos Sainz came to a halt on lap 24 with the VSC called on lap 25. Antonelli had pitted. But the Italian came in just before the VSC was deployed and thus does not benefit from it – the rest were going at full speed.

 

So, what looked perfect timing for Antonelli had proved terrible, the championship leader had lost a full pit stop worth of time and was down in fifth place.

 

Lap 26 – Hamilton pitted for the softs, and now the pit lane entry was closed whilst Sainz’s FW48 was recovered.

 

So, Russell from Verstappen and Leclerc, Antonelli is up to fourth in-front of Piastri and Hamilton.

 

The VSC is now ending.

 

After Sainz’s FW48 was cleared, Russell lead by under five seconds from Verstappen. Can Red Bull haul in Mercedes, as Ferrari did last time out in Barcelona was the question?

 

Leclerc in third did not necessarily have great pace and thus could be rapidly under pressure from Antonelli.

 

Lap 30 – Russell’s lead was at 4.5 seconds over Verstappen with Leclerc third and Antonelli tucked behind the Ferrari in fourth, Piastri fifth, Hadjar sixth, Hamilton seventh, Norris eighth, Lindblad ninth as Lawson completed the top ten.

 

Antonelli overtook Leclerc for third on the rundown to turn four whilst Hamilton made his move around the outside of Hadjar into the turn five sweeping left hander to jump into sixth place.

 

The 32^nd lap – Verstappen had taken six tenths out of Russell across the last couple of tour, the Dutchman was starting to make in-roads on the Mercedes. The gap was still 4.2 seconds.

 

Antonelli had yet to start cutting into Verstappen’s lead from third.

 

Hamilton was being warned about temperatures – he was down in sixth place behind Piastri.

 

The 33^rd tour – Verstappen took another two tenths out of Russell. There was likely another round of pit-stops on the way.

 

Lap 34 – Verstappen was 3.9 seconds back on Russell. Red Bull also had a new set of mediums and hards available for Verstappen, so they could make an interesting call at some point in the next 15 tour or so at this stage of proceedings.

 

Antonelli was closing, but he remained nine seconds adrift in third place.

 

The 35^th lap – Leclerc was holding fourth but had Piastri and Hamilton for company whilst Hadjar was seventh ahead of Norris.

 

Lindblad and Lawson completed the top 10 runners with Bortoleto in 11^th.

 

Lap 36 – Verstappen was flying, he took four more tenths out of Russell and the lead was just 3.1 seconds now. Their tyre ages were basically the same – Russell stopped one lap later than his rival.

 

And Antonelli was still too far back to make it a two on one battle.

 

The 37^th tour – Russell lost seven tenths in the middle sector – and the gap was just 2.3 seconds. Verstappen could see Russell.

 

Further back, all eyes were on Leclerc who was defending from Piastri – not for long, Piastri barged through the Ferrari into turn 3 and the pairing banged wheels.

 

And then Hamilton was all over the back of his team-mate. Hamilton them made his way through too.

 

Leclerc opted to pit immediately for another set of harder compounds and emerged in eighth place behind Norris.

 

The 39^th lap – Russell reportedly ran wide, that’s how he lost those eight tenths.

 

The gap was hovering just under two seconds, with Russell looking like he might be struggling on the harder tyres. Certainly, more than Verstappen.

 

Antonelli was 6.3 seconds behind the duo.

 

Lap 40 – Hamilton saved a big moment – he got a snap. That took him out of the battle with Piastri for a few corners as he recovered.

 

Russell also had suffered a lock-up, and that meant Verstappen was just 1.3 seconds back from the Mercedes.

 

At the halfway point on lap 41 – Russell lead by 1.3 seconds from Verstappen with one round of pit stops likely still to come. Alonso had a time penalty for speeding in the pit-lane.

 

The 42^nd lap – Verstappen had stopped gaining – he was in the dirty air behind Russell and was starting to slide around.

 

Lap 43 – Both Piastri and Hamilton boxed for a fresh set of hards and came out in sixth and seventh respectively behind Leclerc.

 

Russell pitted a tour later from the lead for another set of harder rubber and with a 2.3 second stop – came out in third place behind Antonelli.

 

The 45^th tour – Verstappen did not react – he remained out. Red Bull were going for a tyre offset strategy. Antonelli had one from the first stint, and it didn’t overly help him.

 

Lap 46 – Race leader Verstappen was 4.4 seconds clear of Antonelli. Russell was now 16.5 seconds off the lead, having already stopped.

 

“If Kimi keeps extending, Max will think about extending and put us at risk,” Russell explained.

 

The 47^th tour – Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was told to come in and retire the car to become the fourth retiree of the Grand Prix.

 

Lap 48 – Norris pitted from fourth for a fresh set of C3’s and came out in eighth place behind Hadjar.

 

Piastri made a move on the inside of Leclerc into the turn three right hander to take fourth place off the Ferrari.

 

Lap 48 – Antonelli did have some pace – the championship leader had a tyre offset on Verstappen and was just 2.9 seconds behind the Dutchman.

 

How long would these two stay out was the question? Russell was flying behind.

 

The 50^th lap – Verstappen pitted for a fresh set of the harder tyres and emerged in third place and 10.9 seconds behind Russell.

 

Antonelli pitted from the lead on lap 52 for his fresh set of C3’s and came out in third place behind Verstappen as Norris’s pit-lane infringement was noted by the stewards.

 

Lap 52 – Hamilton made a lunge up the inside of team-mate Leclerc on the rundown to turn three to move up into fifth place.

 

The VSC was very briefly deployed for a bollard on the track and was cleared quickly – Replays showed Albon cut over the apex and hit the bollard, knocking it onto the track.

 

The 54^th tour – Verstappen had taken over a second out of Russell, who was clearing traffic in the form of Bortoleto. But would the Dutchman run out of laps was the question? – the Red Bull driver needed enough tyres to catch up to Russell and then get past him.

 

There was a tiny bit of rain bubbling up on the radar too at this stage of proceedings.

 

Lap 55 – Russell had some clear air, so he was able to keep the gap to Verstappen quite stable – but he was coming up behind the two Racing Bulls, so might lose some time next time round as he cleared Lawson and Lindblad.

 

Verstappen had a lap or so before he needed to lap Bortoleto.

 

The 56^th tour – Antonelli’s tyres were only two laps fresher than Verstappen’s, but whilst he took a few tenths out of the Red Bull driver, he wasn’t really closing up enough to get in the battle for second place.

 

Further back there was an entertaining battle between Hadjar and Leclerc – which the Frenchman got the job done. That was for sixth place.

 

“There tyres are *****,” reported Leclerc.

 

Lap 57 – Russell lost some time clearing Lindblad, and Verstappen had a chunk of fresh air with which to try and chase down the lead Mercedes.

 

The 58^th lap – That gap was coming down – just 6.6 seconds between Russell and Verstappen.

 

Lap 59 – Norris was the next to get past Leclerc, who was really struggling with his harder tyres.

 

That was for seventh place – Ferrari’s race had unravelled with struggles on the harder rubber.

 

Leclerc pitted on lap 61 for a set of used softs and emerged in a safe gap behind reigning world champion Norris down in eighth.

 

Antonelli was trying to get involved here – he was 3.9 seconds behind Verstappen but just could not close in quickly enough. A messy first few tours had cost him the chance of fighting with his teammate for the lead today, unless we get some late drama and potential rain.

 

Lap 62 – Further back, Racing Bulls got both cars into the top 10 in Qualifying, and they were running in ninth and tenth respectively and looking on course for a double points haul.

 

The 64^th tour – Up-front, Russell lead by 5.1 seconds, and Verstappen was only closing to the tune of one tenth a lap.

 

Lap 65 – Hamilton was all over Piastri before their last stops – but on this tyre, Piastri had been able to comfortably remain in-front and was in fourth place, four seconds clear of the Ferrari driver.

 

The 66^th tour – Second-placed Verstappen had now taken a chunk out of Russell’s gap – the Dutchman found traffic in a better place and got the benefit of a slipstream whilst Russell caught the tailenders at a less opportune moment.

 

Lap 67 – Russell was leading the race – he had done so since he cleared the first few corners from pole on the opening tour, bar the pit stop periods where he briefly fell back.

 

The Briton had over three seconds on Verstappen, and there were not many laps to go.

 

The 68^th tour – Russell and Verstappen’s gap was stabilising, the gap behind is coming down a tiny bit – Antonelli was 2.2 seconds back, but he was also running out of time to make a move.

 

Antonelli was only 5.8 seconds off the lead after running wide three times and having what had played out as a slightly slower strategy was very impressive.

 

The penultimate lap – Russell lead Verstappen by 2.7 seconds.

 

But Antonelli was within a second of the Dutchman and had Overtake Mode to his advantage.

 

Russell reached the chequered flag to take the Austrian GP victory by 1.611 seconds over Verstappen whilst Antonelli completed the podium.

 

Piastri was the lead McLaren in fourth place ahead of Hamilton who took fifth and Hadjar who placed sixth.

 

Reigning world champion Norris finished the Austrian GP seventh and in-front of Leclerc who settled for eighth.

 

RB’s Lawson and Lindblad rounded out the final points’ places for their teams’ first home Grand Prix of three.

 

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2026 Austrian GP – The Top Three

 

 

2026 Austrian GP Winner – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W17 – (25 Points):

“Incredible to be back on the top step. It has been a little while so will definitely enjoy this one this evening. Max and Red Bull were incredibly quick this weekend, so kudos to them. I was having to push every single lap, I knew how quick the guys were behind.”

 

2^nd Place – Max Verstappen, #3, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Ford-RBPT, RB22 – +1.611s – (18 Points):

“It was a very good race for us; the first few laps were quite fun. Honestly, I think the car was in quite a good window for half of the race, then we picked up a few issues to prevented me from finding a nice rhythm. But to be second this close to a win, I’m very happy. I knocked my knees [in yesterday’s crash] which isn’t nice but today was okay.”

 

3^rd Place – Andrea Kimi Antonelli, #12, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W17 – +1.986s – (15 Points):

“I was a bit too excited the first few laps and didn’t drive well, had a few too many mistakes. But once I changed tyres I reset and the pace was strong. Just a shame I joined the party a little bit too late.”

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Formula 1 Lenovo Austrian Grand Prix 2026 Race Results Classification (71 Laps)

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	71	1:26:37.979	25
2	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	71	+1.611s	18
3	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	71	+1.986s	15
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	71	+21.809s	12
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	71	+26.393s	10
6	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	71	+29.399s	8
7	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	71	+31.505s	6
8	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	71	+45.659s	4
9	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	70	+1 lap	2
10	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	70	+1 lap	1
11	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	70	+1 lap	0
12	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	70	+1 lap	0
13	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	70	+1 lap	0
14	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	70	+1 lap	0
15	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	70	+1 lap	0
16	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	69	+2 laps	0
17	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	69	+2 laps	0
18	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	68	+3 laps	0
NC	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	45	DNF	0
NC	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	23	DNF	0
NC	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	4	DNF	0
NC	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	2	DNF	0

* Provisional results.

FORMULA 1 LENOVO AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX 2026 – RACE RESULT

Click here for the 2026 F1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings

 

Round nine of the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship heads straight to the famous Silverstone Circuit, in Silverstone, United Kingdom for the Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2026 from Friday July 3-Sunday July 5.

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F1 #Qualifying: @GeorgeRussell63 pips @CharlesLeclerc to dramatic #AustrianGP pole.