George Russell Claims Hard-Fought Austrian Grand Prix Victory

For the first time since the season opener, George Russell is a Formula One winner, with a victory in the Austrian Grand Prix. It is his second win of the season and the seventh of his career.

Four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen finished second, while Russell’s Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli rounded out the podium.

The Race

Russell maintained the lead from the pole and drove away during the first stint. Lap 10 saw the 2021 championship rivals of Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen battle for second, with the Dutchman briefly getting the better of the Brit before Hamilton retook second.

The first pit stop came three laps later, as Hamilton pit for hard tires followed by Leclerc the next lap. Verstappen and Russell pit later, with stops on Lap 19 and 20 respectively. As Antonelli pulled on to pit road on Lap 24, the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) came out due to Carlos Sainz being stopped on track. Russell led Verstappen, Leclerc, Antonelli, and Piastri coming to the end of the VSC.

Russell maintained the lead, but Verstappen ran him down from nearly six seconds to about one second throughout this stint. In order to hang on to his lead, the Mercedes driver had to execute flawlessly through every apex and into his final pit stop which came on Lap 44. Verstappen would follow suit six laps later. This left Antonelli in the lead before putting the next lap. With 19 laps to go in the race, Russell led Verstappen by 10.3 seconds and Antonelli by 14.6. With 10 laps to go, the Dutchman cut the lead nearly in half to 5.2 seconds and continued to run Russell down until the checkered flag, but it was not enough for a victory.

Russell gained 10 points on Antonelli, shrinking the 19 year old’s lead to 40 points. Piastri and Hamilton rounded out the Top 5 with Isack Hadjar, Lando Norris, Leclerc, and the Racing Bulls teammates of Lawson and Linblad rounding out the points.

“The tough races definitely test you psychologically and these last two weekends for me have been vitally important to remind myself I can do it,” Russell said following his hard-fought win.

Reliability Issues Continue

Every Grand Prix this season has seen multiple retirements, and this one was no exception.

On top of Sainz, the Cadilac teammates of Valterri Bottas and Sergio Perez retired early due to overheating breaks. The former retired Lap 3, while the latter retired Lap 5. Lance Stroll fell out of the race due to an ERS issue, joining Bottas as drivers with three consecutive retirements.

Results