George Russell wins in Austria to close the Championship gap

George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix thanks to a two-stop strategy. The Mercedes driver crossed the line ahead of Max Verstappen, with the Dutch Red Bull driver managing to keep Kimi Antonelli behind him in third. The Italian nevertheless retains the lead in the drivers’ championship.

The race at Spielberg took place today in conditions of extreme heat. Temperatures at the Red Bull Ring reached 36°C, while the track surface was at 55°C at the start of the Grand Prix.

On the eve of the race, the fastest strategy was predicted to be a two-stop, and that proved to be the case. Only Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly opted for a three-stop approach, while all the other drivers stopped twice.

Almost the entire grid started on Medium tyres. The only exceptions were Carlos Sainz and Gabriel Bortoleto, who started on Softs. The first four drivers across the line all adopted the same strategy, running two stints on Hard tyres after the opening stint on Mediums.

Russell secured victory with a margin of 1.611 seconds over Verstappen, while Antonelli finished just over three tenths behind the four-time world champion. Thanks to his win in Austria, Russell moves up to second in the championship, 40 points behind his team-mate. Kimi Antonelli leads the standings with 171 points.

George Russell – 1st

“I’m really pleased with that result. It’s never straightforward around here and we were under pressure for much of the race, particularly in the final stint, so to convert pole into the win is very satisfying.

The team did a great job with the strategy and gave me a car that I could manage well across the race. In those conditions, it’s about keeping things simple, focusing on just driving, and I think we executed that well today.

It’s also great to score strong points together as a team. Kimi did a good job to recover and get himself back into the fight, which was important for the overall result.

We know it’s very tight at the front and our competitors are pushing us hard, so we have to keep working to find more performance. For now, though, we can take the positives from this weekend and look ahead to Silverstone next week.”

Max Verstappen – 2nd

“It was a very good race for us today. The first two laps were quite fun and the first half felt really good and fun to drive. Then it was basically just about trying to manage our tyres, especially after the battles with Lewis.

Something happened with the rear axle which made me lose pace which is why I was not able to fight at the end. In hindsight we could have done the undercut to jump ahead and I think I had the degredation edge over George but overall I am pleased with P2.

We did some good racing and I didn’t expect us to be that strong against the Mercedes. It was a great effort from the team: they have worked really hard to get the upgrades to the car so thank you very much to everyone. It was better than expected and the race pace was a lot better than we thought.

I didn’t think we would fight for the win when I jumped in the car this morning, so to finish sitting here in the top 3 is a really positive result for us!”

Kimi Antonelli – 3rd

“It was not a straightforward race from my side. The first stint wasn’t where it needed to be and I struggled a bit with the brakes early on. After that, the pace was much better and I was able to get back into the fight. I think if we had a few more laps, it could have been an interesting battle for P2 at the end.

Congratulations to George on the win today. He did a great job managing the race, especially in the final stint under pressure. It’s a strong result for the whole team to have both cars scoring well and bringing home good points.

There is still a lot for me to learn, and this weekend has been a good reminder of that. I will take the lessons and come back stronger next weekend.

I’m looking forward to Silverstone. It’s always a special circuit and, with it being a sprint weekend, it will be important to be on it from the first session.”

Dario Marrafuschi – Pirelli Motorsport Director

“All three compounds available came into play today in the two- and three-stop strategies adopted by the teams at Spielberg. As expected, a one-stop strategy was not viable due to the high level of thermal degradation.

The two-stop strategies, on Hard and Medium tyres, were largely determined by the sets of tyres available to each team, carried over from Friday. The most effective approach proved to be the one that used Hard tyres for the final two stints, as adopted by the podium finishers.

Ferrari once again tried something different, stopping three times and also using the Soft, which, aided by a lower fuel load, delivered a solid performance.

While the first stop for the Ferrari drivers and Gasly was brought forward to exploit the undercut, the rest of the grid followed the pit windows we had anticipated. Conversely, the overcut attempted by some did not produce the desired results.

Even the VSC caused by Sainz did not change the picture, except perhaps for Antonelli, who pitted slightly early, losing the time advantage of stopping under neutralised conditions.

With such high track temperatures, the tyres experienced neither graining nor blistering, a sign that the development work carried out by Pirelli is clearly paying off on track.”

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