Norris edges Piastri in Austrian duel

Verstappen out in first lap chaos

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen’s already slim hopes of defending his title and becoming a five-time World Champion took a serious blow at Red Bull’s home race when he was taken out on the first lap by the out-of-control Mercedes of rookie Kimi Antonelli.

From the lights, pole position starter Norris moved right to block the path of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, which opened a path for Piastri — launching from third on the grid — to pass the Monégasque on the outside line around Turn 1. Immediately, the Australian began his hunt of Norris as behind Antonelli completely misjudged his braking into Turn 3. The Mercedes just avoided Liam Lawson’s Racing Bull, but with fully locked rear wheels he collected Verstappen’s Red Bull. Both were out on the spot.

On the radio, Verstappen reacted with understandable anger but appeared to accept Antonelli’s immediate apology. From a first F1 podium in Canada, the teenager had dropped a major clanger which cost the blameless Verstappen dear. The orange army of Dutch fans who always swarm to the Red Bull Ring had been robbed of a chance to even see their man complete a lap. As for Antonelli, he will carry a three-place grid penalty to Silverstone.

Down at Turn 4, Lewis Hamilton began a move on George Russell that ended with a well-judged pass at Turn 6, lifting the second Ferrari to fourth place just before the safety car was called to clear the Red Bull/Mercedes mess at Turn 3.

The McLarens go wheel-to-wheel

All weekend Norris had enjoyed a clear edge in pace over Piastri, claiming his 12^th F1 pole with a lap he described as near perfect, half a second faster than his team-mate. But in the race, Piastri was a much greater threat, in a manner that has become characteristic over this opening half of the season.

When the safety car released the field on lap four, Piastri piled on the pressure to force an opening. Norris has admitted there have been far too many mistakes from him this season, and after the red-faced awkwardness of his Canadian Grand Prix retirement now was really not the time to add to his tally.

But on lap ten the leader ran wide through the final two turns and here was Piastri’s chance. He made his move and took the lead at Turn 3, but as we’ve so often seen at the Red Bull Ring Norris made a good exit and had the momentum on the inside line down to Turn 4 to narrowly regain the position. All credit to McLaren’s management for allowing the pair to slug it out, especially given how it ended last time.

But on lap 20, Piastri came oh so close to stepping over the line. Using the DRS to remain a constant threat in Norris’ mirrors, he dived for the inside at Turn 4, briefly locked a wheel and almost caught the rear of the other McLaren. Later, the pitwall messaged to say the move had been too marginal and warned him not to take such a chance again. He’d taken a massive risk and just about got away with it.

How Norris beat Piastri

Norris immediately made his first pitstop, switching from medium Pirellis to hards, while Piastri waited four more laps before doing so despite managing a tyre flat spot from that Turn 4 lock-up. In the middle stint, Norris held the advantage and looked more comfortable before making his second and final stop for another set of mediums. This time, Piastri did likewise on the following lap and emerged four seconds down — then started to close in. Norris was worried, as his pleas for help to engineer Will Joseph gave away. As it was, most help came from other quarters.

Piastri was driven off the track by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, who was busy fighting the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and didn’t appear to notice the McLaren up his inside out of Turn 3. Piastri was forced onto the grass, kept his foot in and was eventually able to remove his heart from his mouth. Colapinto was penalised five seconds for the poor piece of driving.

The Australian kept up his charge, but never quite got within DRS range to mount a final attack and steal the win. Norris secured his third victory of the season with a statement performance, in what is turning into a classic and finely poised intra-team battle for the World Championship.

What they said

“It was a tough race, pushing the whole way through,” Norris summed up. “[It was] tricky, hot, tiring, but a perfect result for us as a team — and 1-2 is exactly what we want and we did it again, so I’m very happy.

“We had a great battle, that’s for sure. It was a lot of fun, for me a lot of stress but a lot of fun! A nice battle, so well done to Oscar.” That message would have been very different had Piastri’s Turn 4 lock-up ended differently.

“[I] tried my absolute best but could have done a better job when I just got ahead momentarily,” was Piastri’s verdict, “but it was a good battle, a bit on the edge at times. Probably pushed the limit a bit far but it was a good race and that’s what we are here to do. Try and race each other and try and fight for wins.”

Long may that continue.

Ferrari best of the rest

The Austrian Grand Prix was all about McLaren when it came to the win. No one else got a look in. Having lost second place on the run to Turn 1, Leclerc finished third, 17 seconds behind Piastri, while Hamilton drove solidly for fourth. That might give him a sliver of encouragement as he returns to Silverstone 12 months on from his stunning 2024 victory, and for the first time in the red of Ferrari.

Russell was deflated to finish a distant fifth, citing the heat, the track surface and the nature of the Red Bull Ring for Mercedes’ lack of competitiveness in the wake of his fine Canadian win.

Having qualified an excellent sixth, Liam Lawson ran a one-stop strategy to hold the position in the race for Racing Bulls — just what the Kiwi needed after a largely underwhelming season so far.

Fernando Alonso also only stopped once to rise from 11^th on the grid to seventh, just seeing off his protégé Gabriel Bortoleto — and getting a little mixed up with Norris on the final lap after the McLaren had lapped him. Bortoleto still had reasons to smile as from eighth, he led Nico Hülkenberg to a double points finish for Sauber, the Swiss team that will next year become Audi showing an upward curve in performance in recent weeks. Bortoleto was voted driver of the day by F1 fans, although Hülkenberg’s drive was also notable given that he started on the back row of the grid.

Esteban Ocon took the final point in tenth for Haas, just ahead of his team-mate Ollie Bearman who will be relishing the prospect of his first home Grand Prix this coming weekend. It’s all set up to be a typical Silverstone thriller.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.