Lando Norris wins Austrian GP as McLaren take dominating 1 & 2

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New Delhi: Lando Norris wins the Austrian Grand Prix, giving McLaren their first win since 2001 and first time since 2000 that they have taken 1 and 2 positions in the race, with Oscar Piastri taking home yet another podium, ensuring his lead at the top of the Championship table. Following the two McLarens were the two Ferraris, with Charles Leclerc taking his fourth podium finish of the season, followed closely by his teammate Lewis Hamilton. George Russell took fifth place, finishing where he started the race.

It was the most chaotic start of the season, with the race getting delayed after Carlos Sainz’s Williams rear brakes caught fire at the end of the pit lane. Sainz had failed to get away from the grid for the formation lap, leading to an aborted start. At the start, Norris, along with Leclerc and Piastri, got an amazing start, with the Australian driver outsmarting the Ferrari driver.

Chaos at Turn three in a 16-car race

A safety car came out in the first lap itself when Mercedes Rookie driver Kimi Antonelli locked up in the rear of the pack and crashed with Max Verstappen, forcing both drivers to retire early. This meant Verstappen had failed to finish for the first time since the Australia GP in 2024. Antonelli is under investigation, with the penalty to be carried out at the Silverstone GP.

The action, though, soon became solely focused on the McLaren duo, with the two cars fighting each other for the lead. Piastri kept inching close at every possible gap with Norris defending him very well to cling on to the position. The rivalry continued after the pit stop as well, with Norris managing to keep his lead until the chequered flag came.

At the very start, there was some pace shown from Russell, coming fresh from his Canadian GP win, closing in on his former teammate Hamilton, but eventually the pace faded away. The fourth and final retirement of the race was Alex Albon, making it the second retirement for the Williams team.

Gabriel Bortoleto takes first F1 points, Liam Lawson shines

It was a great outing for Gabriel Bortoleto, who started in eighth place and managed to keep himself there, taking crucial four points for himself with the halfway mark of the season approaching now. Having started ahead of Verstappen, Liam Lawson ended his race in sixth place for the Racing Bulls team. F1 veteran Fernando Alonso, too, remained in seventh place despite throwing everything at Lawson, having followed him for most of the day.

The rest of the pack included Sauber’s second driver, Nico Hulkenberg, in ninth place, with Esteban Ocon finishing 10th, who had some challenge from Ollie Bearman. It was the McLaren, though, who remained talk of the town, still leading the Constructors’ championship, having collected 417 points so far. For Ferrari, their outing has helped them climb back to second place, taking 210 points, just one point ahead of Mercedes. Red Bulls, despite failing to take any points from the race, are fourth with 162 points and way ahead of Williams’s 55 points.

For drivers, Piastri leads but remains only 15 points ahead of his teammate, having taken 216 points so far. Both drivers are ahead of Verstappen by a good distance, who has 155 points from the season. He is closely followed by Russell, with the British driver has 146 points so far, followed by Leclerc’s 119 points in the season.

Driver of the Day

Oscar Piastri has to be an automatic choice here, having driven like a championship leader, constantly keeping his teammate Lando Norris under pressure. The two McLarens were at a phenomenal speed and kept increasing the gap behind them. Piastri kept his teammate’s pace in check coming close to taking the lead on quite a few occasion with DRS as well. The two Ferraris were phenomenal as well, especially managing to defend the early charge from Russell’s Mercedes.