2026 Austrian Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell
1 hour ago
3 min read

Russell Finally Returns to Winning Ways in Enjoyable Austrian GP

For the first time since the season opener in Australia, George Russell was finally able to stand on the top step of the Podium with a lights-to-flag victory! Max Verstappen managed to secure Red Bull’s best result of the season at their home track, whilst Andrea Kimi Antonelli rounded out the Podium as the Top 3 were separated by less than 2 seconds!

The Biggest Talking Points

When the five lights went out, George Russell was able to successfully fend off Charles Leclerc into Turn 1, whilst Andrea Kimi Antonelli went flying off the track at both Turn 1 and Turn 3! Lewis Hamilton was able to jump Leclerc on the opening lap, whilst Oscar Piastri was able to do the same on his teammate, Lando Norris! Antonelli and Leclerc then got into a good scrap, allowing Max Verstappen to jump them both, but the Dutchman was unsuccessful in his attempt to go around the outside of Hamilton’s Ferrari into Turn 6! Both Cadillac’s suffered an early exit, with neither Valtteri Bottas nor Sergio Perez making it past Lap 5, whilst a Virtual Safety Car had to be brought out after the Williams of Carlos Sainz broke down! This was unfortunate for Kimi Antonelli given the fact that he’d literally just pit, but that’s how it goes sometimes! For some reason, Ferrari decided to pit Lewis again during the VSC, a move that took him out of the Podium places, and in turn, out of contention completely! What a silly decision!

A lot of the focus in the rest of this Race was all on Max Verstappen trying to hunt down George Russell, with Verstappen getting to just over a second behind when Mercedes decided to pit Russell! When Max pit again, he was now 10 seconds off the lead, whilst Kimi Antonelli was around 4 seconds further back! Ferrari’s day was getting worse as Charles Leclerc got overtaken by Lewis Hamilton, Isack Hadjar, and Lando Norris, meaning the man who came so close to taking Pole yesterday could only finish P8! Yikes! We haven’t even spoken about Racing Bulls, but both Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were able to bring points home for the team, whilst the chase was on out front, with Verstappen catching Russell at a good rate of notes! However, it was actually Kimi who got closer to Max, entering Overtake Mode as we entered the final lap, with Verstappen doing just enough to keep the young Italian behind!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out two 10’s for the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix, and the first one is obviously for George Russell! Nobody needed this result more than George; some weekend’s he’s had no pace, other weekend’s he’s been unlucky, but everything came together today to give Russell his first win since Australia! That in itself is insane! The other driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Max Verstappen, because I don’t think anybody other than Max Verstappen in a Red Bull could’ve split the Mercedes today! I mean, Max finished over 20 seconds clear of P4; that’s an incredibly impressive feat, and I think today was a prime example that Verstappen is still the very best of the best! Elsewhere, Andrea Kimi Antonelli showed good pace after a difficult start, Oscar Piastri should be happy to have gone from P7 to P4, whilst congrats to Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad on guiding Racing Bulls to a double-points finish!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

I might have to rename this section of the Race Reviews to “Teams Who Had a Shocker”, as it feels like I never give out 1’s anymore! As always, nobody crashed out today, whilst I can’t blame either Fernando Alonso or Lance Stroll for Aston Martin being utterly shambolic! In fairness, Franco Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, and Alex Albon all struggled for pace, whilst it was genuinely just a disappointing weekend for Alpine! Lando Norris was also nowhere today; I was very surprised by that, whilst Charles Leclerc’ poor run continued! Oh, and I can't forget about Cadillac, who had the type of day that we expected from them before the season started!