Dramatic clash between Verstappen and Norris gives Russell victory in Austrian Grand Prix

A dramatic collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris gave George Russell and Mercedes their first Formula 1 win in a year and a half at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen was in complete control of the first two-thirds of the race, holding a lead of up to eight seconds over Norris.

But a long, unhappy mid-race stint on the hard tyres he didn’t particularly like, and then a slow final pit stop where the left rear tyre refused to come free at the start, saw Verstappen return to the race narrowly ahead of Norris.

Then the McLaren – on medium-sized tires versus the Red Bull’s used ones – quickly entered the range of Verstappen’s drag-reducing system and launched one attack after another, with both drivers’ radio comments about each other’s driving growing more intense.

A dive with 12 laps to go put Norris ahead at Turn 3, but he took the finish line after going off the track over a watercourse, quickly regaining the position.

It turned out that the moment was Norris’s fourth track limits breach of the race, resulting in a five-second penalty, but still not awarded as their battle continued.

The next time they came close, it was Verstappen who stayed in front by going off the track.

Then came contact on the approach to the hairpin, where wheel friction punctured both cars and sent them off the road before a bizarre wheel-to-wheel battle down the hill with both cars reeling from the damage.

Norris decided the damage to his car was too great and retired to the pits, but Verstappen came back to finish fifth. The stewards ruled the champion was at fault for the clash and imposed a 10-second penalty. It made no difference to his result.

Aside from the early dice with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Russell was clearly the best of the rest behind Verstappen and Norris throughout, so he was in a perfect position to pick up the pieces after their clash and take a commanding win.

However, Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri has every right to feel robbed.

A controversial penalty in qualifying dropped him from third to seventh on the grid, but he fought back well – overtaking Charles Leclerc at the start despite contact between the two that broke the Ferrari’s front wing, making light work of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull. He then passed Hamilton and Carlos Sainz during the race before finishing just 1.9 seconds clear of Russell.

Sainz completed the podium, while Hamilton finished a distant fourth after a race that saw a time penalty for crossing the pit entry line on his first stop with a runaway slide.

Haas had an exceptional race to take the points with Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finishing sixth and eighth respectively, with the car no inferior to Perez’s Red Bull.

Early first stops and excellent tyre conservation contributed to Haas’s result, with Perez limited by damage sustained on the first lap by a Piastri/Leclerc brush.

Leclerc could only recover to 11th after right-back duo Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly – who played another wild dice with Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon – rounded out the scorers.