Verstappen and Norris collide to give Russell the win in Austria

George Russell wins the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix after Verstappen and Norris make contact in the fight for the lead.

The start of the race was a rather cagey affair. Russell looked to try and steal 2nd place away from Norris, but it was well defended by the McLaren driver, keen not to let himself get stuck behind Russell for two weeks running. However, the slight squabbling allowed Verstappen to open a gap of over one second to form by the end of the first lap.

Elsewhere on lap 1, Leclerc got pinched into turn 1, damaging his front wing and compromising his entire race as he needed to come into the pits. Sergio Perez had forced Oscar Piastri wide on the exit of turn 4 causing Piastri to fall behind Leclerc briefly as well, though would retake the position from Perez not too long after.

Whilst the gap at the front was steadily growing, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz were battling for 4th place, after Hamilton gave the position to Sainz after he gained an advantage by leaving the track at turn 1.

Pit stops were starting rather early, with the likes of Riccardo and Magnussen having came in as soon as lap 10. Even Leclerc, who had already pit once, would come in on lap 18, spending just 15 laps on that set of hard tyres, which were looking to be a bad tyre for many of the drivers coming onto them.

Hamilton, having now lost a bit of ground to Sainz, came in to the pits on lap 21, possibly hoping to gain an undercut. Instead, he’d get a 5 second penalty, having gone slightly over the white lines on pit entry.

There was a collision at the back of the field on lap 22, as Alonso locked his brakes into turn 3 and hit Zhou Guanyu from behind. Forutnately for both drivers, neither of them seemed to pick up significant damage.

The first signs of trouble for Verstappen came around lap 29, when he reported a potential issue going on with downshifting. Whilst this wasn’t anything to worry about in the end, it was the first indication that the race might not go as smoothly for Verstappen as he’d have liked.

The two Alpines were having a feisty battle as they looked to make their way back through the field. As the two made it past Alonso at turn 3, Gasly would try and overtake Ocon round the outside, but was forced off track. Gasly was unhappy with Ocon’s conduct in this incident, but was more pleased after managing to overtake his teammate just a few laps later.

Verstappen started to really struggle with his tyres, and Norris was starting to slowly close the gap down, but not to a point where he could threaten to challenge for the win at this time. Verstappen was however worried about keeping the lapped cars behind him, such was his issues on the hard tyres.

Verstappen and Norris would both come in for their 2nd stops on lap 52, and whilst Norris would have a fairly average stop, Verstappen’s was poor, taking 6.5 seconds to complete, closing the gap for the lead down to three seconds, which was then cut down further when Verstappen locked up at turn 4. Now the tables had turned, and Norris was really chasing down for the win.

Norris was quickly able to fall within DRS range, and would go on to make his first attempt to take the lead on lap 55, diving very late into turn 3. However, it appeared that Verstappen moved slightly under braking in a reactive move to Norris’ dive, something the McLaren driver was not happy about at all.

Norris by this point had received three track limit warnings by this point in the race, so when he made another attempt to overtake Verstappen on lap 59, only to end up going off track once again, it looked likely that he would receive a 5 second penalty. Desperation would undoubtedly start to creep in, as Norris would need to get the overtake done soon if he had any chance of building that gap to win.

Norris would continue to make attempts to overtake Verstappen, but the defence, whilst controversial, was keeping the world champion ahead for the time being.

Things finally came to blow on lap 64, as Norris would once again attempt an overtake at turn 3, this time around the outside. He got alongside the Red Bull well, but Verstappen would move to squeeze Norris further outside, and the two would end up crashing. The collision would result in a puncture and a 10-second time penalty for Verstappen, seeing him fall down to 5th, whilst Norris, along with a puncture, would receive bodywork damage too severe to continue the race with.

This situation meant that Russell was in prime position to take the second win of his career, and the first that both he and Mercedes have scored since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix. He just had to hold his nerve, and ensure that Piastri behind couldn’t make up any ground, which is exactly what he would go on to do.

Race Results

1. George Russell 1:24:22.798
2. Oscar Piastri +1.906
3. Carlos Sainz +4.533
4. Lewis Hamilton +23.142
5. Max Verstappen +37.253
6. Nico Hulkenberg +54.088
7. Sergio Perez +54.672
8. Kevin Magnussen +60.355
9. Daniel Ricciardo +61.169
10. Pierre Gasly +61.766
11. Charles Leclerc +67.056
12. Esteban Ocon +68.325
13. Lance Stroll+1 lap
14. Yuki Tsunoda +1 lap
15. Alexander Albon +1 lap
16. Valtteri Bottas +1 lap
17. Zhou Guanyu +1 lap
18. Fernando Alonso +1 lap
19. Logan Sargeant +2 Laps
20. Lando Norris – DNF

Drivers Championship

1. Max Verstappen – 237 points
2. Lando Norris – 156 points
3. Charles Leclerc – 150 points
4. Carlos Sainz – 135 points
5. Sergio Perez – 118 points
6. Oscar Piastri – 112 points
7. George Russell – 111 points
8. Lewis Hamilton – 85 points
9. Fernando Alonso – 41 points
10. Yuki Tsunoda – 19 points
11. Lance Stroll – 17 points
12. Nico Hulkenberg – 14 points
13. Daniel Ricciardo – 11 points
14. Oliver Bearman – 6 points
15. Pierre Gasly – 6 points
16. Kevin Magnussen – 5 point
17. Esteban Ocon – 3 points
18. Alex Albon – 2 point
19. Zhou Guanyu – 0 points
20. Valtteri Bottas – 0 points
21. Logan Sargeant – 0 points

Constructors Championship

1. Red Bull – 355 points
2. Ferrari – 291 points
3. McLaren – 268 points
4. Mercedes – 196 points
5. Aston Martin – 58 points
6. RB – 30 points
7. Haas – 19 points
8. Alpine – 9 points
9. Williams – 2 points
10. Kick Sauber – 0 points