F1 – Austrian Grand Prix RECAP: Surprise winner after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris COLLIDE

What a dramatic race that was. Our man in Austria JONATHAN MCEVOY sends this report – and I suspect there will be plenty more reaction to come throughout the evening.

Safe to say Norris is not a happy man…

Some interesting quotes from Andrea Stella, the McLaren team principal, following the collision between Verstappen and Norris.

‘The problem is that if you don’t address these things honestly, they will come back,’ he told Sky Sports.

‘They have come back today because they were not addressed properly in the past where there were fights with Lewis that needed to be punished in a harsher way.’

More reaction to bring you. McLaren star Oscar Piastri was left asking ‘what if’ after he ran out of time in his bid to catch George Russell in the final stages of the race.

Lots of class shown here from Christian Horner, whose driver was handed a 10-second penalty and universally criticised by pundits. The Red Bull chief has laid blame at the feet of Lando Norris in an interview with Sirius XM.

He said: ‘It felt like [Norris] was trying to cause something up at Turn three.’

‘Pretty shocking. Me, been pretty shhh (flirting with swearing) all weekend. Not for a lack of trying but just generally not acceptable.

‘Big congratulations to the team and to George.’

With Russell looking like he’ll be the number one driver next season for Mercedes, more days like this should come. He feels that the Silver Arrows have been turning a corner, knocking on the doors of success.

‘Today was a bit of a gift from the two in front but Canada was a missed opportunity. We deserved to win that race but got a P2, and today we deserved a P3 but won.

‘Everyone at the factory has been working overtime to bring upgrades earlier to the car.’

From the jaws of a distant third-place finish, Russell was granted a second career win from above. The battle between Verstappen and Norris had been heating up in the laps prior to their collision and came to a head in the 64th.

One of you wrote: ‘The sign of things to come… any significant pressure on him and Max resorts to Schumacher tactics. The stewards reacted too late with penalty.’

Another commented: ‘Once again Max refuses to let anyone overtake him….at all costs!’

Meanwhile, one pointed a finger at Christian Horner: ‘Horner should publicly apologise for blaming Lando.’

Lots of sympathy for Norris in the comments section, not much for Verstappen.

Thanks to all of you for being so active in the comments section after the race.

As one reader writes: ‘Utter disgrace. (Verstappen) Did it more than once and got away with it. Wouldn’t have happened if Lando had deservedly been ahead. Now Lando loses a win and Verstappen’s punishment makes no difference to his fin…’

One replied: ‘Agreed! Had the stewards reacted to it quicker it would have been avoided.’

Another commented: ‘Verstappen is such a dirty driver and in the same mold as Schumaker. As will always be the case with Verstappen he will punt any real opposition off on corners and then try and blame the person he squeezed or hit. In many ways its a blessing for the rest of the grid that Verstappen has a suspiciously fast car so is usually in front and away from them all.’

Verstappen, initially unaware that Norris had demanded an apology, did not offer one in his post-race interview. Norris had accused him of moving in the way mid-braking to hamper him during the race, while he was docked 10 seconds for causing a collision with him.

I always move my wheel before I brake and then of course you brake in a straight line trajectory. It’s always easy to say I was moving under braking but I think the guy in the car knows best. Everyone can have their own opionion but I’m the one driving. From the outside, it’s easy to judge and comment.

Was it a fair fight, he was asked?

‘I felt sometimes like his divebomebs and he’s so late on the brakes… I think it’s also just the shape of the corner which provides these kinds of issues sometimes.

‘It is what it is but it’s never nice to come together.

‘I need to look back at whay and how we touched. Of course we’ll talk about it. It’s unfortunate it happened.

‘This incident is just one thing. If you look at the race we did so may things wrong from stategy to pit stops. We created it for ourselves. It became worse and worse to drive. We need to look into the car.

Norris was sombre in his post-race interview, telling Sky Sports that the collision caused by Verstappen on lap 64 – with whom he plays padel and goes for meals – could affect their friendship.

‘I looked forward to a strong, fair battle but I wouldn’t say that was what it was in the end. Got taken out of the race.

There’s rules and if the rules aren’t followed there’s nothing I can do about that.

‘What I was doing today was easily enough for the win.

‘I’m doing a good job and happy with my efforts. I can’t do anything more than what I’ve done. Got let down today.

Could it affect their friendship, he was asked?

‘I don’t know. It depends what he says. If he says he did nothing wrong then I’ll lose a lot of respect for that. If he admits to being a bit stupid and running into me and being reckless, then I’ll have a small amount of respect for it. A tough one to take. I was trying to be fair from my side and he just wasn’t. Gutted for the team.

If there’s any indication of how intense elite sport can get, how about Max Verstappen’s reaction to an ultimately meaningless penalty?

Hearing he had been docked 10 seconds to no consequence after the race, the Dutchman called it ‘ridiculous’.

Worth saying at the outset here lest we glorify crashes – we’re lucky nobody was injured here. It happened on a corner with plenty of clean air and it could have been a lot worse if a barrier or other cars had been nearby.

Here are some images of the clash.

Verstappen’s 10-second penalty made no difference to his final position.

A triumphant moment for George Russell as he stands tall on the top step of the podium, hands behind his back, and hears the brass band plays the British national anthem.

Russell, Piastri, and Sainz laughed when watching footage of Norris and Verstappen’s late fracas in the cool-down room following the race.

Mercedes star Russell called it a ‘cool fight’ before saying ‘we shouldn’t laugh’ as he watched Verstappen and Norris combust.

‘Only because you won the race (would you say it’s cool)!’ retorted Piastri.

I think we can afford him some slack for being slightly self-interested about it all.

George Russell has admitted to Sky Sports that he was catching glimpses of Norris and Verstappen on the big screens and felt they could come to blows.

‘I saw that Max and Lando were going pretty hard and that Lando was going to want the race win.

‘They were going for it. I couldn’t believe how close we were, 12, 13 seconds behind. I knew it was a possiblity and was you’re always dreaming.

‘The last three races have been incredible an dmore to come.

‘If anything happens up front, wqe’re there to pick it up. Really proud of everyone and what an exciting time for us. We’re riding a bit of a wave at the moment. We could have won the race inCanada so this makes up for my mistakes.’

‘A lot of what-ifs and maybes, starting from yesterday. That’s only my fourth podium in F1 but so close to a win, it hurts a little bit Second half of the race we were coming on pretty strong.

‘Happy with another podium but when you come that close, it hurts a little bit.’

‘P3 is a good result and we can be happy and quite proud of that. This week hasn’t been easy and to come away with 15 points, we can be happy with that.’

Well, I don’t know how to even deconstruct that.

One of the first thoughts – immaturity from Max Verstappen. He got too cantankerous and elbowy at the end.

George Russell has channeled his inner Fred Flintstone in his radio celebration, shouting: ‘Yabba Dabba Doo!’

Sometimes you need a stroke of luck and sometimes you need a thousand of them.

Today Russell has got his just rewards for persevering and and Mercedes are the fourth different constructor to win this year behind Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari.

This last lap will be a procession from the Englishman. Lady Fortune has smiled on him today.

George Russell is surging to an unexpected victory in Austria. it has been a measured, composed, patient drive, and it has paid off royally.

Piastri has made up ground and is now 1.9 seconds off, but it looks as if Russell is set for his first win since 2022. Sainz still third.

Verstappen has been given a 10-second time penalty for this. Peak F1. looks like everyone is okay but man, how do you keep your nerve at that speed?

Norris has decided to pull out of the race. Extraordinary scenes amid so much damage to his car. Verstappen carries on but he is fifth.

It looks as if Verstappen veered left to squeeze out Norris and will take the blame for that one. Can’t believe what I’m watching.

Oh. My. Word. Goodbye Norris, goodbye Verstappen. After that motoring bust-up, their hopes of winning are over.

Russell suddenly finds himself in the lead, with Piastri 2.7 seconds behind. Sainz third.

There was contact there and Verstappen has definitely taken damage, with Norris surging into the lead.

Norris has been given a five-second penalty and a puncture, but Verstappen darts into the pits.

Just a quick update on everyone else.

Russell is third, Sainz fourth, and Piastri fifth. Hamilton is 19 seconds back from there in sixth.

It’s a game of cat and mouse between our top two and the stewards need to make their minds up soon to give Norris a fair chance to respond. Well, they don’t HAVE to. But that would be nice.

Stewards are investigating Lando Norris for track violations and he could be handed a five-second penalty, but the fact he gave back the place could be his saving grace.

His best hope is getting past the Dutchman and building a five-second advantage. Verstappen is defending so well, and aggressively.

This is all Verstappen and Norris now. Credit to the latter for giving us an exhiilarating finish.

Norris may have a fourth track limits violation though – he briefly got past Verstappen but had to give the place back and locked up. He could face a penalty, but we’ll hear more. Could be five seconds.

Verstappen has moved out of DRS range and Norris has looked a bit desperate with a couple of late lunges.

Oh, wait, now he’s back within a second. This race is changing lap by lap and now Verstappen is complaining that something is wrong with the car.

This is going to be a venemous battle.

Norris has accused Verstappen of moving across to block all of his moves unfairly, blowing hot air back at him to hurt his tyres.

This is an incredible turnaround.

Lando Norris is under a second behind Max Vertsappen and can now attack him in the three DRS zones around the track.

This suddenly looks like Norris’ race.

Verstappen is miffed about a slow pit stop and has seen his seven-second advantage cut to under three seconds. And it seems that he is on used tyres. He just locked up and nearly went off at Turn Four.

We’re getting into the last 20 laps and Red Bull are still deliberating over another pit stop for Verstappen. It will have to happen – he’s only boxed once so far.

His lead over Norris is healthy but there is a bunch of lapped card behind the Englishman which would complicate any journey back. The two Haas cars in particular don’t look to be swearing fealty to anyone, though they’re a bit far back.

Poor Max is sounding increasingly exasperated and McLaren must be loving it.

He feels like he can’t keep his tyres together for much longer, but he has actually strengthened his lead over Norris to 7.2 seconds.

Leclerc is up to 11th – perhaps Ferrari’s engineers were on to something. But remember that he is on medium tyres and those boots should wilt until the end of the race, unless they’re on steroids. Or should I say ‘steeroids’.

Do we finally have a race on our hands?

Norris has slah=shed the gap to Verstappen to 6.5 seconds – just a few laps after being eight seconds off the pace. He has clear road ahead of him.

Verstappen must be wondering why he is not being brough into the pits, but as there are a lot of lapped cars behind him, he would come out into a lot of traffic.

Something of a grudge match bewteen Alpine’s Ocon and Gasly? The former is leaving at the end of the season while the other has been gifted a new deal. Less than half a second between them and plenty of DRS zones to get stuck into.

They’re battling for eighth in this race, which is some going by the French team’s standards this campaign. They’ve looked doomed ever since pre-season.

We’re at lap 40 now and we’ve just heard a chink in Verstappen’s armour – he’s complained that his tyres are ‘really bad’.

If he pits then Norris will overtake him, which isn’t the end of the world, but it does mean he will be ceding track position, at least temporarily.

The Scuderia are STILL insisting that Leclerc can make the points. White lies to appease him, I suspect. They don’t want him to lose hope despite being 17th and six points behind the next car up the road, the RB of Danny Ricciardo.

Sky are pitting the 1.8-second gap between Hamilton and Piastri as the ‘battle for fifth’. If it is a battle, it’s a limp one at the moment, but Piastri is gaining ground.

Talk about fine margins, but rules are rules.

Hamilton is forced to serve a five-second wait during a regular pit stop for this – marginally crossing the pit line.No controversy there, just regulations.

Norris is set to take another point so far as he holds the fastest lap of the race, but he’s now nearly eight seconds behind Verstappen and it’s going to take something special.

Leclerc, bafflingly, comes in for a third stop. Not sure what’s going on there but Ferrari have opted for medium tyres… until the end. 35 laps! Ted Kravitz rubbishes their ambitions for points today on Sky Sports’ commentary.

The stewards have brandished a 10-second time penalty for Alonso’s misdemeanour.

Meanwhile, Sergio perez has been given a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. That opens up the door for Haas to score more points if they can make up ground on him, and if Leclerc does storm into the points, that situation could get tasty.

Leclerc’s enginer has just told him that he is projected to finish in the points, even without a safety car. He’s languishing in 18th and has hardly budged since the first lap so I’m not sure, but then again, I’m not seeing all the numbers.

Jos Verstappen is cutting a bit of a dour figure at Red Bull’s control panel.

He has continually fallen out with team head honcho Christian Horner and you can catch up on their latest tiff below.

Verstappen has a commanding lead of 6.7 seconds over Piastri. He could take an incredibly brief nap and still be in charge of this Austrian GP.

Norris himself would strggule to sleep with just 32.6 seconds over Russell, but the Mercedes star is struggling with his car stuck in ‘launch mode’ – the setting used to boost out of the pits. They’ll want to sort that and will be able to do so remotely.

Hamilton will have to serve a five-second penalty at his next stop. This race, for which he qualified so promisingly, is turning sour. He apologises to his team.

Meanwhile, Alonso has been given a harsher penalty of 10 seconds for bumping into the back of Guanyu before.

Not what he or Merecedes needed – Hamilton is under investigation for crossing the white line at pit entry. If he is penalised it won’t be a huge one but he’s 1.6 seconds behind fifth-placed Sainz and can’t afford to lose much more ground. He just oversteered coming in to the pits.

Sauber driver Zhou was irate at Fernando Alonso for bumping in to him and knocking him off the track.

‘What the f*** is he doing?’ he complained down the radio.

Martin Brundle joked that Alonso had ‘more ambition than adhesion’ and the grizzled driver will have to watch himself.

We’re on lap 20 now and Russell is around five seconds up on his team-mate. They’re third and fifth.

But in the third lap Hamilton almost secured dominance over him. If this exchange had endeda different way, could Hamilton had been further up the road by now?

Norris still holds the fastest lap but is losing ground on Verstappen constantly.

And a humiliating sign for Leclerc – Verstappen is closing in to lap him. It’s not happening yet but he’s not a million miles away.

The Monegasque driver has had to pit again due to the tyre degradation after pit-stopping so early.

Wily Haas veteran Kevin Magnussen’s response to an order to save his tyres and go long? ‘F*** that.’ Classy.

Leclerc has lot a position again and is suffering from tyre degradation.

Verstappen is almost six seconds quicker than Norris so far and there has been no movement in the top few places for a few laps.

Baby steps for Leclerc – he’s up to 18th after his first-lap debacle and will be hoping for a sfety car as well as adopting a long strategy, you’d expect.

Perez is reporting side pod damage on his Red Bull, likely from when he got caught up in the crossfire of Leclerc and Piastri.

Verstappen still has a healthy lead of now five seconds over Norris, who himself is almost three points up on Russell. Hamilton is in fifth where he began.

Hulkenberg has also come into the pits – Haas are really switching it up today.

The first cars are coming in to the pits – Magnussen and Ricciardo. Neither have been major players in this race but just occupying mid-table. They come out on hard tyres and are ready for a long haul.

Verstappen now has a 3.2 second advantage over Norris, which would be giving him almost half a minute of a lead by the end of the race.

Perez has largely been out of the conversation in seventh and the worry for Verstappen is if any team can occupy second and third, perhaps they can mix strategies and put him under pressure.

Sainz and Hamilton have been involved in a furious battle for fourth but the Spainiard has held on to his position. This is personal – Hamilton is replacing him at Ferrari next year and he won’t want to cede any ground to him.

The stewards will be looking at the incident leclerc and Piastri, who claims he was pushed off the track by the Monegasque driver at the first corner.

‘He pushed me off, I was side by side at the apex.’

We’re hearing that Piastri has potentially taken some damage from his collision from Leclerc, who is already around 40 seconds off the lead, while Sargeant, who also had to pit, is rock bottom. Not the company Ferrari want.

Both Haas drivers are running in the points.

Norris set the fastest lap at the second time of asking and has a healthy advantage of the two Mercedes cars, who are bickering. Russell regains third place from Hamilton, who is pushing for a podium.

Leclerc is down in 19th. Disastrous start for him.

Hamilton is already up to fourth while Leclerc is having to box after losing part of his front wing after a collision with Piastri at the first turn.

Verstappen already has a second over Norris and is out of DRS range.

That’s it, we’re underway!

Max Verstappen springs out in a good start and makes strong ground ahead of Lando Norris, who goes wheel to wheel with George Russell at Turn Three.

The cars have now set off on their formation lap ahead of what we anticipate to be a two-stop race for most teams.

Red Bull have been threatened and had their noses bloodied in recent weeks, with Norris and Leclerc stealing wins. Can Horner guide his team to another win, and a crucial one at that?

There’s a 10 per cent chance of rain.

Can you feel the excitement rising? I don’t know why, but the pre-race music and anticipation for lights out never fail to set my pulse racing.

There’s nothing quite like it. Welcome to 71 laps of mayhem, drama, cataclysm, thrill, and jeopardy. Round 11 of the F1 World Championship, here we go.

‘Would Max Verstappen ever consider joining Mercedes in 2025? No, there is no reason. Why would he?

‘The (Red Bull) car is ultra-dominant, maybe he is going to win every race. 2026 is our main year where lots of things change and I think it could be quite attractive to drive with us but whether it’s Max and whether he can get out of his contract I don’t know.’

The assembled fans in Spielberg have been treated to some Queen as part of the pre-race show. ‘We Will Rock You’ was blasted out to fans on a race weekend which has, in the past, exceeded 300,000 spectators.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments ahead of today’s race.

Crucially, how do you think the Brits will get on?

Red Bull are something like a duck this year – serene above the water but flapping below.

They’ve got a 24-point cushion over Ferrari to sit top of the constructors’ standings, which isn’t so commanding by their typical form. And with the Christian Horner scandal earlier this year, it looked as if the team could be torn apart.

Now we’ve got another spat involving Max Verstappen’s father, Jos.

‘I’m just about to ruin Mozart forever,’ composer Hans Zimmer tells Martin Brundle on his grid walk, holding a guitar.

Mercedes supremo Toto Wolff sat down for an emotional interview as he opened up on the exit of Lewis Hamilton – who will be taking the stage door to Ferrari and drawing the curtains on an illustrious Silver Arrows stint – and which youngster is destined to sit at the wheel for the famous team one day.

We’ve got less than 25 minutes until the race now and the grid have been going through their last preparations for the race.

Hours have been spent painstakingly detailing the cars for the race and the drivers will know every nook and cranny of the course. Strategies, however, can be in flux dependent on weather and whatever the race throws at teams. It’s a mix of thorough preparation and adaptability.

Mail Sport’s best wishes go to Martin Brundle and his wife after news has emerged that they are taking time apart from one another.

The legendary F1 presenter, known for his quirky grid walks with Sky Sports, has been married to Liz for 40 years.

It’s never nice to report on family issues in sport and we all need to remmeber that real people are at the heart of this.

In case you missed it, Gasly has penned a fresh multi-year deal with Alpine. They’ve had a tricky year – they’re ninth in the constructors’ standings – but they know a good driver when they see one.

Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon, Kobbie Mainoo… plenty of players have been of fans’ lips as they call for Gareth Southgate to make changes at Euro 2024, but why has nobody mentioned George Russell?

Well, this. Russell shows off his teckers and while it’s better than anything I could achieve, it’s short of the standard needed for professional football.

It’s good that he focused on his karting studies as that football career never worked out.

He might have the face of an angel but vocally Yuki Tsunoda can be more devilish.

The Japanese RB driver, who has been in the best form of his career in recent months, has been docked a huge sum of cash for his potty mouth after a slur.

He has apologised and explained that he did not understand the fully meaning of the slur.

This is what people mean if they refer to this as a home race for Max Verstappen.

Is he Austrian? Absolutely not. Does that matter one bit? Nope – he’s the toast of the stands after hordes of orange-clad Dutch fanatics flocked out to support him.

Norris was in a sober mood after qualifying second almost half a second behind You Know Who.

Often a self-critical character, he admitted the result exposed the ‘gap’ between him and Verstappen.

You can listen to his comments here.

That’s right, get your tissues out. We could be seeing the last of Ricciardo in F1 in coming weeks.

The amiable Australian may well be replaced by emerging talent Liam Lawson after Red Bull overlord Helmut Marko admitted that the seat should be to a junior driver soon.

Aged 34, Verstappen is no spring chicken. With Perez having signed an extension until 2026 with Red Bull, he will have to dart in elsewhere or risk slipping out of the sport altogether.

Yesterday saw our 20 intrepid speedsters take part in a sprint race.

Don’t call it boring just because Verstappen won, because it was anything but.

Norris did have the chance to win when he divebombed past Verstappen at Turn Four, but he quickly lost the lead as team-mate Piastri darted past – and it was Piastri who finished second ahead of the Brit.

Perez will be disappointed to be languished in eighth while Alonso was off the pace, finishing 14th and scoring no points.

This is how we line up today.

A solid opportunity for the Brits, with Norris second, Russell third, and Hamilton fifth. Expect plenty of opportunities for overtaking on one of the calendar’s shorter courses this afternoon.

Mercedes have picked up their form recently. Could we even see Norris or Russell take a stab at top spot? It will take a clever strategy to outdo Red Bull – Verstappen qualified almost half a second faster than Norris.

The big news coming in to this race weekend is that Max Verstappen will not be joining Mercedes next season.

the Silver Arrows has hoped to capitalise on the disarray caused by the Christian Horner scandal, with Mercedes chief Toto Wolff very open about his affection for the three-time World Champion.

But Verstappen has poured cold water on those ambitions and given Red Bull a major boost ahead of this race.

Hello and welcome to Mail Sport’s live blog of the F1 Austrian GP.

Tens of thousands of Dutch fans have descended on Spielberg for Red Bull’s home race as Max Vertsappen targets a third consecutive win.

Meanwile, Lando Norris starts in second as he looks to build on his stellar recent form and bag a second win of his career.