After taking pole by a 0.521s margin, Lando Norris starts at the top of the grid for this afternoon’s race. Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari will line up next to him in 2nd, and Oscar Piastri in 3rd.
The top nine drivers started the race on medium tyres. Pierre Gasly in 10th started on softs.
Formation Lap
Sainz, who was set to start in 19th, gets stuck in his grid box. Sainz stated, “Something is stopping the car from moving.”
Following this, the race start was aborted. Sainz was able to get his car moving again and into the pit lane. However, the rear brakes caught fire.
A second formation lap commenced at 14:15 BST.
Lap 1
The race finally got underway with Norris maintaining his lead, while Piastri seized second place from Leclerc.
The calm did not last long, though, as seconds later Antonelli hit Verstappen, which deployed the safety car.
Green Flag
The race resumed on Lap 3, with Norris still keeping his lead.mPiastri attempted to pass Norris on Lap 6 but was unsuccessful.
During Lap 7, Norris expanded the gap between himself and his teammate, while Piastri remained within DRS range. Leclerc created a 2.5s gap over his teammate Hamilton on Lap 9.
Piastri took the lead on Lap 11, but Norris utilised DRS to reclaim his position. Throughout the drama of the battle for the lead, Albon surged past Gasly, clinching 6th place.
Pit Window Open
On Lap 13, Gasly entered the pits to replace his soft tyres with the hard compound. Albon followed on Lap 14 to pit for the medium compound.
Retirement
The issues persisted for Williams and Alex Albon, who was forced to retire the car in the pit lane.
© Formula One
Russell came into the pits at the end of Lap 18, emerging back onto the track in 11th. Lap 20, Piastri went deep into turn 4 and nearly ran into Norris’ rear. Following this, Norris also pitted for hard compound tyres.
Ferrari decided to keep their cars out to extend the gap between them and Mercedes. On Lap 24, McLaren pitted Piastri from the lead, but it was a slightly slower stop. He came back onto the track 5 seconds behind Norris.
Lap 26, Hamilton took the lead as Leclerc came into the pits. He emerged behind Alonso, who had yet to stop.
New Race Lead
A lap later, Hamilton made his stop, allowing Norris to retake the lead. He came out 4 seconds behind his Ferrari teammate.
Incident!
Colapinto spun after making contact with Tsunoda on Lap 31. As a result of this, Tsunoda came into the pits for a new front wing.
© Formula One
Penalty
Tsunoda received a 10-second penalty for the earlier incident with Colapinto.
Piastri brought the gap between him and Norris down to 3.5 seconds by Lap 40. Lap 41, Norris faced struggles with his tyres and traffic as the gap between him and his teammate shortened even more.
Alonso was in a battle with Lawson to take 9th place on Lap 43. This battle was expected to have reached the end of the race. Piastri began having his own troubles with traffic, ultimately opening the gap between him and Norris again.
Second Pit Window
Leclerc made his second stop of the race on Lap 50.A lap later, Hamilton came in to pit after debating with the team over whether he could have extended his stint or not.
Lap 53, Norris made his second stop of the race onto medium compound tyres. He finished the race on these. He returned to the track 16 seconds behind his teammate, who had pitted immediately after.
Lap 54, Colapinto engaged in a fierce battle with Tsunoda as Piastri entered the track behind them. Unbeknownst to him, Piastri was present, and Colapinto nearly took him out!
© Formula One
During Lap 59, Piastri recorded a new fastest lap, narrowing the gap to the leader to just 3 seconds. Lap 60, Ocon passed Hadjar for 10th place.
Norris was informed that he had sustained damage to his front wing, which negatively affected his balance, but the team was unable to fix the issue.
Bortoleto closed in on Alonso, setting the stage for a potential seventh-place finish as they approached the chequered flag on Lap 68. During Lap 69, Bortoleto nearly completed the overtaking manoeuver, but Alonso successfully reclaimed his position.
Chequered Flag
Lando Norris wins the Austrian Grand Prix!
He finished only 2.7s ahead of his teammate, Piastri. Joining the two McLarens on the podium was Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
Gabriel Bortoleto scored his first points in Formula One too. The Brazilian driver finished the race in eighth place to secure crucial points for the Sauber team.