Lando Norris delivered a statement win in Spielberg, outduelling McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in a gripping battle to reignite his title challenge at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Two weeks after their collision in Montreal, Norris and Piastri went wheel-to-wheel again, this time with cooler heads and razor-sharp precision. The 20-lap opening duel between the McLaren pair was tense, clean, and captivating, with Norris holding firm under intense DRS pressure.
Piastri briefly stole the lead at Turn 3, but Norris responded immediately, reclaiming the position at Turn 4 in a thrilling display of racecraft. “It was a lot of fun for me, a lot of stress!” Norris admitted post-race, smiling through the tension. “Hopefully it was a nice one for everyone to watch.”
The win, Norris’ third of the season, cuts Piastri’s championship lead from 22 to 15 points, as McLaren’s superiority around the Red Bull Ring proved decisive. Max Verstappen’s already fading title hopes suffered a hammer blow when he was sent spinning off by Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap.
With Verstappen out and George Russell only managing fifth, the 2025 championship is shaping into a two-horse McLaren race. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the podium but was a distant 17 seconds behind, while Lewis Hamilton brought his Mercedes home in fourth.
Elsewhere, Liam Lawson stunned in sixth for Racing Bulls, executing a brilliant one-stop strategy after losing his Red Bull seat earlier in the season. Teammate Yuki Tsunoda endured a disastrous run, finishing last once again in a car that continues to underperform.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso held off protégé Gabriel Bortoleto for seventh in an entertaining late duel, with Bortoleto scoring his first F1 points in eighth. Sauber celebrated a rare double top-10 finish, with Nico Hülkenberg ninth and both cars scoring for the first time since 2018.
Williams had a day to forget. Carlos Sainz failed to start after a dramatic brake fire on the formation lap, while Alex Albon retired from the pit lane mid-race.
