There was a bit of controversy regarding George Russell’s pole after qualifying for the 2026 F1 Austrian GP, but after the gravel from Max Verstappen’s crash was settled, the result stood. It meant however that championship leader Kimi Antonelli was three places down on his team mate, and thus had some work to do.
Antonelli all over the place in the first few laps
Just two drivers, Gabriel Bortoleto and Carlos Sainz, opted to start on the soft tyres, while the rest of the field took the start on the medium tyres. When the five red lights went out it was a decent start for Charles Leclerc. However, he couldn’t manage to attack Russell properly.
Behind them Antonelli leaves the track in both turn 1 and turn 3, which puts him under pressure from Verstappen and both McLarens.
Lewis Hamilton quickly decides he will be the lead Ferrari this race and overtakes Leclerc into turn 4. Behind them Liam Lawson tries to overtake both McLarens over the grass. Somewhere in this kerfuffling Oscar Piastri goes past Lando Norris.
Starting lap 2 Antonelli goes straigt again into turn 1, this time in an attempt to overtake Leclerc. He has to let the Ferrari driver past, but that opens the door for Verstappen to overtake both of them.
Valtteri Bottas is the first DNF of the day as he parks his car with flaming hot brakes at the start of lap 3. Lawson complains of a similar issue and cannot keep Isack Hadjar behind for eighth.
Bottas is joined by team mate Sergio Pérez in retirement as he too complains about brakes not working.
Two laps later Bortoleto tries to overtake Esteban Ocon into turn 1. Further up the order Leclerc gets pressured by Antonelli and is passed eventually in turn 9.
Verstappen is pressuring Hamilton for second, and in lap 11 they battle side by side for four corners, where Verstappen complains he was pushed off. The race direction notes this incident a bit later.
Hamilton again goes for an aggressive strategy
Hamilton is the first to blink for the pit stops as he switches to hards at the end of lap 12. Leclerc follows a lap later.
The lap times of Hamilton are not that quick, and the degradation so far makes Russell think a one stop strategy is feasible.
Verstappen stops seven laps later, and a clean stop later he rejoins just behind Hamilton. This triggers Mercedes to call Russell to the box, and he too stops for hard tyres. Piastri does the same, meaning Antonelli is now leading from Norris and Russell.
McLaren’s plan to extend Norris lasts just a few laps, as Verstappen is closing in on Hamilton again. Their earlier battle was seen as correct by race direction, which prompts Verstappen to immediately dive-bomb the Ferrari driver into turn 3. Hamilton comes back into turn 4, but he is immediately attacked again by Verstappen in the next corner. This time he has to let the Dutchman go.
Sainz race comes to a premature end as his Williams goes into “lawnmower mode”, prompting a Virtual Safery Car. Antonelli however stops a little too early, leaving the pits the moment the VSC is called. Hamilton does go to the pits a lap later, switching to the soft tyres.
More battles
When the VSC is retracted Hadjar, who switched to the mediums, takes a look at the inside of Piastri. He is too far away however.
Antonelli is again behind Leclerc, courtesy of his later pit stop, and with brake issues, a pass would require some guts from the young Italian.
In lap 30 Antonelli manages to pass Leclerc into turn 4. Hamilton does the same on Hadjar for sixth. A few moments later the seven-time world champion is requested to switch engine modes for temperature reasons. This means he will have less power at his disposal.
Up front, Verstappen slowely but surely eats into Russell’s lead, reducing the gap to about three seconds.
Leclerc’s lack of pace puts him under pressure from both Piastri and Hamilton. The McLaren driver lauches an attack into turn 3, but both drivers touch. Hamilton overtakes a few corners later, which prompts Leclerc to stop immediately.
With little under half of the race to go Verstappen has brought the gap down to under two seconds. Russell outbraking himself into turn 3 does not help his case.
Aston Martin has a poor day, and to add insult to injury, Fernando Alonso gets a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
Verstappen tries to extend for race victory
Hadjar is stopping as the first of the top teams, triggering Piastri and Hamilton to stop a few laps later. Russell follows yet another lap later, staying on the hard tyres.
His team mate is now closing the gap to Verstappen, who is trying to create a tyre offset with Russell. Verstappen however loses quite some time at the moment, as Norris stops for the final time. The other McLaren of Piastri overtakes Leclerc for fourth.
Verstappen eventually stops with a little over 20 laps to go, and a gap of 11 seconds to clear. This puts Antonelli in the lead for a brief moment. His final stop drops him behind Verstappen again.
In the meantime Norris is noted for a pitlane infringement. Replay showed he had to evade a retiring Stroll and was almost sent into the path of an Alpine.
On track Leclerc is passed by Hamilton, just before the VSC is deployed for a loose bollard in turn 3. With the main contenders having already pitted for the final time, this does not create any drama.
What does create drama is Leclerc’s tyres not doing what he want’s as he gets overtaken by Hadjar. Not too much later he is overtaken by Norris, causing him to opt for another stop.
Russell holds on for redeeming win
At the lead of the race Russell makes a small mistake into turn 1, handing a second of time to Verstappen. With the gap just under 6.5 seconds and over 10 laps to go, the race isn’t done yet.
With 8 laps to go the gap is down to five seconds, but Verstappen’s tempo does not seem to be quick enough to put any real pressure on Russell.
Behind them Norris tries to put pressure on Hadjar, but goes straight into turn 3.
Antonelli is also not messing around as he closes the gap to Verstappen, and does so at a greater rate than Verstappen does to Russell.
Alonso makes it interesting for a few corners, but eventually Russell manages to hang on and win the 2026 F1 Austrian GP! Verstappen and Antonelli follow close behind to complete the podium. Piastri is fourth from Hamilton, Hadjar and Norris. Leclerc comse home in eighth, from Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.
