Oscar Piastri pushed Lando Norris hard but the Brit won the Austrian Grand Prix with grit, nous and excellent driving despite suffering issues on board his McLaren
Lando Norris was begging for help from his McLaren team with less than 10 laps to go and title rival Oscar Piastri piling on the pressure. Perhaps it was a sign that he still does not fully believe in himself.
But he should, evidenced by how he rallied to hold off his team-mate with a damaged front wing and battery issues, no help needed from his colleagues in the garage. Because the whole Austrian Grand Prix weekend was the perfect response to his crash two weeks ago in Montreal.
He dominated qualifying and, even if Piastri showed slightly more pace at times during a sweltering Spielberg race, Norris dealt with the only attempted overtake with aplomb. Both survived another near-miss as Piastri locked up his brakes and almost slammed into the back of the Brit.
That furrowed a few brows on the McLaren pit wall but, knowing the teams’ title is basically assured and despite that unfortunate collision in Canada, the team allowed their drivers to race hard, but fair. What a spectacle it created, Norris pushed all the way by Piastri until the chequered flag.
Just 15 points separate them heading into Sunday’s British Grand Prix. Not only is it likely to be another blockbuster duel there, but the rest of the season promises to be spectacular. The same cannot be said for the teams’ championship with McLaren already 207 points clear after just 11 rounds of a 24-race season.
Red Bull’s 451-point winning margin in 2023 was the largest in F1 history but that record could be under threat if McLaren continue to dominate like this. Ferrari are now their closest challengers, moving one point ahead of Mercedes after introducing upgrades which paid off big time.
Lewis Hamilton matched his best Grand Prix result with Ferrari by finishing fourth and admitted he hadn’t expected the new floor to have such a profound effect. He said: “It didn’t seem much on paper, just a small step, but it actually had a bigger influence on our performance.”
Team-mate Charles Leclerc was third to secure his fourth podium of 2025 and he agreed with Hamilton’s assessment that Ferrari have made “mega progress”. He said: “We brought some upgrades this weekend which helped us to close a little bit the gap, but the gap is still significant, unfortunately. It’s been a positive weekend overall I think and I’m happy that we’ve maximised our potential. Now we’ve got to have a better potential.”
George Russell won in Montreal two weeks ago but, in the Spielberg sunshine, Mercedes struggled for pace. He finished fifth while rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli crashed out lap one, botching an ambitious overtake and slamming into Max Verstappen. But the Dutchman accepted Antonelli’s apology and said: “Every driver has made a mistake like that. No-one does that on purpose.”
Red Bull failed to score at their home race with Verstappen out and Yuki Tsunoda two laps down, 16th and dead last of the cars still running. But the small silver lining was Verstappen has now shed two of his penalty points and is free to race at Silverstone this coming weekend. Antonelli will take a three-place grid penalty with him to Northamptonshire as punishment for causing that smash.
