Between the two litigants, the third enjoys: George Russell won the Austrian GP, bringing Mercedes back to success. The Englishman, making his second career success after the 2022 Brazilian GP, was able to take advantage of the merciless war between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. The battle heated up after the last pit stop of the Dutchman who had a problem with his left rear, losing a good part of the advantage that Max had acquired. The world champion mounted a set of used mediums, while Norris on the same lap used the set of new yellows, which would have given him a performance advantage.
Verstappen slightly flattened a tire at turn 4, losing a bit of pace and Lando Norris started the attack on the Red Bull: Lando arrived close to Max also using the track limits, so much so that he deserved a 5 second penalty . Verstappen did everything possible and impossible to avoid overtaking on three different occasions in Turn 3. The Dutchman, with a car that seemed decidedly slower than the McLaren, promptly changed trajectory when braking, repeating a “vice” that he had experienced in his youth. had made the “bad guy”. Norris, in one of the four attack attempts, also ended up wide, passing into the lead and, sportingly, he made good the position.
Verstappen overdid it on lap 64 when he crashed into Lando who was on the outside at turn 3: in the contact sought by the Dutchman, the two drivers lost their respective rear tyres: Max suffered a puncture on the left rear and managed to quickly return to the pits to restart with a set of soft tyres after a stop of just 3″, while Norris suffered more damage because the right rear tyre came off, damaging the MCL38 so much that it forced a furious Lando to retire.
Max got carried away: the “computer” went haywire and proposed some unsportsmanlike attitudes that will cause a lot of discussion. He could have followed Norris and kept the gap within the 5″ penalty imposed on McLaren for track limits, and he would probably have won the race.
But in the end he finished the Austrian GP in fifth place, gaining world championship points over his pursuers, while Norris, forced to retire, will have a regulatory aftermath because at Silverstone he will have to serve the 5-second penalty which will be transformed into three positions on the grid .
McLaren, once again, fails to win a race in which it gave the sensation of being the fastest. The success, therefore, went to Mercedes who, perhaps, saved the season with a perfect George Russell: the Englishman would have been satisfied with getting on the podium and found himself in a position to climb to the top step with a surprise victory.
The W15 would not be a car to aim for the big target, but George deserved credit for being there to exploit the big opportunity and he took it. Russell did well with a set of hard tyres that were now finished to contain the comeback of Oscar Piastri who on lap 65 passed Carlos Sainz in a whirlwind trying to catch the Mercedes: he was sixth on lap 52 when he fitted the fresher mediums, starting a comeback that could have ended if a VSC had not been decided to remove some debris that allowed Russell to cool the hards to resist the last lap. The Australian would have had another race if he had started third and had not seen his qualifying time cancelled due to a track limit.
The podium is completed by Carlos Sainz who grabs an unexpected third place. The Spaniard has capitalized to the maximum on the potential of the red: the SF-24 seemed a hair inferior to the Mercedes, confirming itself also in the race as the fourth force. And, therefore, a supporting actor. There are those who wonder what would have happened if Charles Leclerc had not had to return to the pits on lap 1 to change the wing after a contact with Piastri: it is not the time to have regrets, given that the Monegasque remained out of the points.
Lewis Hamilton is only fifth with the other Mercedes on the day that he returns to the fore with Russell: the seven-time world champion also received a penalty for crossing the white line at the entrance to the pits: a serious blunder for an experienced driver.
Haas capitalizes on important points with a Nico Hulkenberg capable of grabbing an extraordinary sixth place with Kevin Magnussen eighth. Two VF-24s in the points take the American team to seventh place in the Constructors. Bad, very bad Sergio Perez who only slipped between the two Haas: the Mexican may have a two-year contract, but with these performances it is difficult to think that he will be able to keep the wheel next year.
Daniel Ricciardo’s ninth place was also precious for Racing Bull: the Australian had a good race, finishing ahead of Pierre Gasly who continues the positive streak of Alpine. The rest doesn’t matter…
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