Austria,
Sunday, 30 June, 2024
McCreadie Andias
Mercedes’s George Russell won the day at Austrian Grand Prix taking an open chance after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collided in a wild battle for the lead.
A bit of the blame could be put on Red Bull’s slow service at the second round’s collision where else Norris, who had been six seconds adrift before then, on the Dutchman’s tail in to the closing laps of the race and saw him launch a series of bids for the lead.
McLaren suffered a late round puncture while attempting to go around the outside of the Red Bull into the Turn Three braking zone, going wide in to the run-off area before heading for emergency visits to the pits with their damaged cars.
While Norris was unable to continue and dropped out of the race, Verstappen returned to the track and finished in fifth place.
Verstappen suffered a 10-second time penalty as he was attended by stewards over fault for the collision, however he still kept his fifth place.
Russell took over the lead and completed the final laps to secure just his second career win in F1 – his and Mercedes’ first since November 2022.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri ended up a close second while Carlos Sainz beat Lewis Hamilton to the final podium berth on an otherwise disappointing weekend Ferrari when they were clearing only the fourth-fastest car again.
Hamilton, who had battled team-mate Russell for third in the opening laps before dropping back, had earlier served a five-second penalty for crossing the white line on the entry to his first pit stop.
Haas team, Nico Hulkenberg crossed the line in sixth and team-mate Kevin Magnussen eighth – the pair finishing ether side of Sergio Perez, whose struggles in the second Red Bull continued – in a bumper points day for the team which moves them into seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship.