@GeorgeRussell63 takes @AustrianGP victory as @Max33Verstappen and @LandoNorris collided. #F1

Russell Austrian GP Victory – George Russell picked up Mercedes’ first victory of the season at the Austrian GP victory as both Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris collided in an intense battle for the lead.

 

 

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completed the top three.

 

When the 71-lap Austrian GP began, pole sitter Verstappen got a brilliant getaway into turn one as Norris covers Russell meanwhile behind them Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Piastri made slight contact into turn one.

 

Replays showed Leclerc was sandwiched in-between Piastri on the left and Perez on the right as they ran three-wide into the opening corner when the contact was made.

 

Leclerc suffered damage to his front wing as a result of contact with the McLaren and pitted at the end of the opening lap for a new front wing and a fresh set of the C1 white side-walled hard tyres as Verstappen held 1.036 second lead over Norris with Russell third, Hamilton fourth as Sainz rounded out the top five.

 

 

On the third tour, Hamilton tucked right behind his Mercedes team-mate Russell as the former made a dive on the inside of his fellow British-compatriot into turn three to take the position, then Russell responded with DRS on the rundown to turn four and re-passed his team-mate around the outside to take the place back.

 

The sixth lap saw Sainz overtake Hamilton for fourth with DRS assistance and overtook the Briton the inside of turn three to take the position.

 

A tour later, Hamilton with DRS assistance tucked on the inside of Sainz into turn three and covered the Mercedes also into turn four as Piastri made a bold overtake on Perez to move up into sixth place at the exit of turn six.

 

On the ninth lap, Hamilton was once again keeping in DRS range behind Sainz as the duo continued to battle for fourth.

 

Lap 10 saw Verstappen’s lead over Norris sitting at 3.996 seconds with Russell third, Sainz fourth as Hamilton completed the top five runners.

 

On lap 12, Hulkenberg pitted from eighth for a fresh set of hards and emerged in-front of Haas team-mate Magnussen in 14^th and a bit further on in the run to turn four, the latter with DRS assistance made a move around the outside of the German and made the move stick to take the position.

 

On the 14^th tour race leader Verstappen’s gap to Norris was up to 5.2 seconds with Russell third, Sainz fourth as Hamilton rounded out the top five.

 

Further down the field, Williams’ Alexander Albon with fresher harder rubber and with DRS assistance made a lunge on the inside of Leclerc’s SF-24 entry into turn three to jump into 18^th place.

 

On lap 18, Leclerc pitted for a fresh set of the mediums and came out behind Sargeant at the back as race leader Verstappen rapidly caught up to the pairing.

 

On lap 19, Leclerc made a move on the inside to pass Sargeant at the penultimate corner to take 19^th.

 

The 20^th lap saw Verstappen’s lead increased to 6.081 seconds over Norris with Russell third, Sainz fourth as Hamilton completed the top five as Ocon stopped from eighth for his fresh set of hards.

 

Ocon emerged in 17^th behind Albon’s Williams.

 

A tour later both Gasly and Stroll pitted for their fresh sets of hard and medium compounds respectively and came out in 16^th and 17^th.

 

The following lap saw fifth-placed Hamilton and seventh-placed Perez make their stops and emerged in sixth and ninth respectively on their new sets of the harder tyres.

 

Piastri told his team over the radio that Hamilton crossed the pit-entry line, which saw the incident under investigation by the stewards.

 

The next tour saw third-placed Russell and fourth-placed Sainz also pit for their new mediums and hards respectively to come out in fourth and fifth.

 

On lap 24, race leader Verstappen and second-placed Norris both stopped for their new set of the C1 compound and emerged in second and third behind the soon-to-pit Piastri.

 

The 25^th lap saw Hamilton hit with a five-second time-penalty for entering the pit-lane and crossing the white pit-entry line.

 

The next lap saw Piastri pit from the lead to take on his fresh set of hards and came back out behind fifth-placed Hamilton.

 

Race leader Verstappen is also under investigation by the stewards for an unsafe release in the pits between him and Norris on lap 25 meanwhile Hamilton apologised to his Mercedes team after his five-second time penalty as Toto Wolff told the Briton to push hard.

 

On the 30^th lap, Verstappen’s lead up at 6.959 seconds over Norris with Russell third, Sainz fourth, Hamilton fifth as Piastri completed the top six.

 

Verstappen reported over his radio that it’s “pretty gusty out there” as he was being coached through about potential gear issues with his RB20 racer and was told by Giampiero Lambiase that “gear 7 is still fine” as his Red Bull team-mate was under investigation for speeding in the pit-lane.

 

On lap 33, Perez was hit with a five-second penalty by the race officials for speeding in the pit-lane.

 

A tour later, Leclerc stopped for a set of the C2 yellow-marked mediums and came out in 18^th behind Bottas as Ocon made his way past Alonso to take 11^th place.

 

In the battle for 11^th, Gasly with DRS assistance on the rundown made a move on Alonso and his Alpine team-mate Ocon into turn three as the latter forced the former into the run-off area as Ocon retained 11^th.

 

Gasly raged over the radio on Ocon “Why did he just run me off the track?” with Alonso also saying “wow”.

 

Alonso then stopped and served his 10-second penalty for a set of hards and came out behind Leclerc in 18^th.

 

On lap 40, Verstappen’s gap out-front was 8.063 seconds over Norris with Russell a distant third, Sainz fourth as Hamilton completed the top five.

 

A tour later, the battle for eighth between both Alpine’s intensified as Gasly with DRS assistance made a move on the outside of Ocon into turn three and done the switch back as both A524’s ran wheel-to-wheel up to turn four as Gasly made the move around the outside and moved up into eighth place.

 

Race leader Verstappen reported over the radio that his tyres were “suddenly really bad” as Alpine’s Gasly pitted from eighth and came out in 15^th place behind Leclerc on a set of mediums.

 

Ocon and Stroll both stopped a tour later for their sets of mediums and hards respectively and the pairing came out in 14^th and 16^th respectively.

 

On lap 46, RB’s Yuki Tsunoda pitted from 11^th for his set of the C1 hards and emerged in 16^th behind Stroll.

 

Lap 47 saw third-placed Russell make his second stop and fitted his F1 W15 with a new set of hards and re-joined in sixth place behind Piastri as Albon was hit with a five-second penalty for the same incident as Hamilton.

 

Sainz reacted to Russell a tour later and put on a fresh set of the C2 mediums and emerged in sixth behind Russell as in the battle for third – Piastri with DRS assistance made a move on the inside of Hamilton to move up into third place.

 

Race leader Verstappen yelled over the radio “I can’t hold this much longer” as the Dutchman talked about the lapped Haas pairing behind him who were looking to pass the Red Bull.

 

The 51^st tour saw Verstappen’s lead at 6.897 seconds over Norris with Piastri third, Hamilton fourth as Russell completed the top five.

 

Verstappen was told by his team to box as Norris also joined the championship leader in the pits as both drivers stopped for mediums with the former on a used set and the latter a fresh set.

 

Piastri also stopped from third for his new set of mediums and came out in sixth behind Sainz.

 

Verstappen suffered a front-right lock-up into turn four as the gap between him and Norris was at 1 second.

 

Norris was into DRS range of race leader Verstappen as the former charged in on the struggling Red Bull as Hamilton pitted to re-join in sixth place behind Piastri.

 

A lap later, on the run-down to turn three with DRS assistance Norris made a move on the outside of Verstappen but the Dutchman covered the McLaren as the duo remained close.

 

On the 56^th lap, both Verstappen and Norris breezed their way past Albon and Stroll into turns one and three as the gap was sitting at 0.900 seconds.

 

With 15 tours remaining, Norris unleashed his DRS once more and drew a touch closer as Verstappen reported to his team of having no grip.

 

The next tour, Norris activated DRS once more and brought the gap to 0.330 seconds to Verstappen as the latter covered the former into turn three and again into turn four – Norris was given a black-and-white flag for exceeding track limits.

 

The next lap with DRS assistance, Norris made a late lunge on Verstappen and overtook the Dutchman into the uphill turn three right hander, suffering a front-right lock-up in the process as the McLaren driver past the Red Bull off-track in the run-off area and gave the place back to the Dutchman into turn four.

 

On lap 60, Norris kept within DRS range of the race-leading Red Bull as the race stewards noted the incident of the former’s off-track pass.

 

A lap later with DRS assistance, Norris got close to Verstappen again on the rundown to turn four making a move on the outside, but the latter covered the Briton once more.

 

With nine laps remaining, second-placed Norris had another look at the Red Bull but could not get by.

 

On lap 63, Norris made a move on the inside into turn three of Verstappen as the latter ran into the run-off area as the Dutchman ran back in-front of the McLaren.

 

On the 64^th tour, Norris once again activated DRS out of the exit of the opening corner and moved on the inside as the Dutchman moved left as both collided into turn three as both drivers ran off track.

 

Norris clipped the left-rear of Verstappen’s RB20 as the Dutchman suffered a puncture, whilst Norris also suffered a right-rear puncture in the incident with Verstappen.

 

Verstappen and Norris then pitted as the former emerged in fifth place as the latter retired due to a damaged rear floor and got his with a penalty for his incident.

 

Russell moved into the lead as Piastri also made the overtake on Sainz to move up into second place as the virtual safety car was called to clear the debris.

 

The race went back to green on lap 67 as Verstappen was hit with a ten-second time penalty for his collision with Norris.

 

With three tours remaining, Russell’s lead was at 2.345 seconds over Piastri with Sainz third, Hamilton a distant fourth as Verstappen completed the top five.

 

Russell crossed to line to win the Austrian GP 1.906 seconds over McLaren’s Piastri as Sainz completed the final points place 2.627 seconds off the Briton.

 

The other Mercedes of Hamilton took fourth as Verstappen settled for fifth following his tangle with Norris.

 

Verstappen over the radio after hearing he was hit with a 10-second time penalty said “That’s just ridiculous, you can’t just send it left or right. What do you want me to do?”

 

Horner responded, “We were desperately unlucky”.

 

Hulkenberg managed to hold Perez behind on the final lap to finish sixth as Magnussen came home eighth completing a solid points haul for Haas.

 

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and Alpine’s Gasly completed the final points positions.

 

Ferrari’s Leclerc ended the Grand Prix outside the top ten, recovering to 11^th place after his opening lap incident and in-front of Ocon who took 12^th and Stroll who was 13^th.

 

The second RB entry of Tsunoda took 14^th and ahead of Williams’ Albon who came home 15^th and Sauber duo Bottas and Zhou who followed in 16^th and 17^th respectively.

 

Aston Martin’s Alonso and Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant brought up the rear.

 

The aforementioned Norris was the sole retiree of the race.

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2024 Austrian GP – The Top Three

 

 

2024 Austrian GP Winner – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W15:

“Incredible. I think it was a tough fight out there at the beginning of the race just to hold on to that third place and I saw on the TV that Max and Lando were getting pretty close, and I knew Lando would want to try to get that race win. The team has done an amazing job to put us in this fight and you’ve got to be there in the end to pick up the pieces.”

 

2^nd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – 1.906s:

“Yes, there is a lot of what ifs and maybes, starting from yesterday [with the qualifying lap time deletion]. I know it is only my fourth podium in F1 but so close to a win, it hurts a little bit.”

 

3^rd Place – Carlos Sainz, #55, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24 – 2.627s:

“Quite an eventful race up front… for us it was about keeping up with Mercedes as we thought George might have quite a bit of an advantage on race pace. We tried everything to keep up with him. Then Oscar was coming really, really quick at the end.”

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Formula 1 Qatar Airways Austrian Grand Prix 2024 Race Results Classification (71 Laps)

 

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	71	1:24:22.798	25
2	81	Oscar Piastri	MCLAREN MERCEDES	71	+1.906s	18
3	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	71	+4.533s	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	71	+23.142s	12
5	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	71	+37.253s	10
6	27	Nico Hulkenberg	HAAS FERRARI	71	+54.088s	8
7	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	71	+54.672s	6
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	71	+60.355s	4
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB HONDA RBPT	71	+61.169s	2
10	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPINE RENAULT	71	+61.766s	1
11	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	71	+67.056s	0
12	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	71	+68.325s	0
13	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	0
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB HONDA RBPT	70	+1 lap	0
15	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	0
16	77	Valtteri Bottas	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	70	+1 lap	0
17	24	Zhou Guanyu	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	70	+1 lap	0
18	14	Fernando Alonso	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	0
19	2	Logan Sargeant	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	69	+2 laps	0
20	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	64	DNF	0

* Provisional results.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1239/austria/race-result.html

 

Click here for the 2024 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings

 

Round 12 of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship heads straight to the legendary Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, Towcester, United Kingdom for the Formula 1 Qatar Airways British Grand Prix 2024 from Friday July 5-Sunday July 7.

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