George Russell has boosted his title bid by seizing victory in the Austrian Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver taking his seventh career win ahead of a chasing Max Verstappen and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Russell made a smooth getaway from pole position when the lights went out, while Verstappen also bounced back from the disappointment of his crash in Qualifying to make gains in the early laps.
Antonelli did not have an entirely smooth start, the Italian running wide on several occasions.
While Russell held a solid lead for much of the following laps, Verstappen – after engaging in more than one feisty battle with Lewis Hamilton along the way – made his way up to P2 as the race progressed, resulting in the Dutchman putting increasing pressure on Russell later on.
A tense end to the Grand Prix followed as, after his final pit stop, Verstappen set about cutting into Russell’s lead – just as Antonelli was also trying to chase down the Dutchman from third. But Russell ultimately crossed the line by 1.611s from Verstappen, the Briton also moving back up to P2 in the standings in the process.
The full top 10 are- P1: Russell, P2: Verstappen, P3: Antonelli, P4: Piastri, P5: Hamilton, P6: Hadjar, P7: Norris, P8: Leclerc, P9: Lawson and P10: Lindblad.
What a result for George Russell! He needed this result massively, especially as his teammate has been flying away with it! He kept it out of trouble with a cool, calm and collected drive.
As for his teammate, a great race for Antonelli, third for the Italian.
A great result for Verstappen! Especially since he crashed out in qualifying, it was a great way to bring it back for his team’s home race. A good result for Hadjar, always scoring points which is needed at the end of the season.
A great result for Piastri! But didn’t really see much from him, but he was in a position if anything happened he would’ve benefited from that. As for Norris, not the best race for him, at one point it was unsure if he was even starting the race, so from that aspect a great day for him.
As for the Ferrari’s a decent race for the team, Hamilton with the better strategy again and he had some very entertaining battles! As for Leclerc, he was kind of in no mans land in eighth.
Double points finish for Racing Bulls! A good race for them again, they have made some great improvements, and are being consistent every race.
A weekend to forget for Cadillac, they are not having a good time at the moment, Bottas with his brakes on fire and then Perez with overheating brakes.
Incredible to be back on the top step. It’s been a little while so I’m definitely going to enjoy this one this evening. A lot of hard work from my team to get us back on track. Obviously there was a tricky run of form at one point. Max and Red Bull were incredibly quick this weekend, so kudos to them but thanks to everyone, thanks to the fans. It was pretty toasty out there, so looking forward to a drink now.
Russell on the win.
Jordan's Track Talk 
Leave a comment