The Austrian Grand Prix offered an exhilarating weekend of motion for Spherical 11 of the 2025 F1 season, with loads of massive speaking factors rising from the Crimson Bull Ring.
Lando Norris bounced again from his Canada crash to seal victory, popping out on high after one other nail-biting scrap with McLaren crew mate Oscar Piastri – whereas, behind them, Crimson Bull endured a nightmare outing at their residence occasion, Gabriel Bortoleto broke his factors duck and a number of other well-known faces watched on. This is our spherical up of all of the highlights from the Austrian Grand Prix weekend…
An epic McLaren battle for the win
A badly judged overtake try final day out in Canada noticed Norris and Piastri clash, with the previous retiring from the race whereas Piastri’s eight-race streak of podium finishes additionally got here to an finish.
The pair reset for an additional spherical on the Crimson Bull Ring, with Norris clearly which means enterprise as he established a complete hole over his crew mate in Qualifying, however Piastri was removed from fazed, declaring he was “not planning on finishing third”.
He rapidly adopted by way of on his phrases at lights out, charging previous Charles Leclerc and instantly launching a problem on Norris for the lead of the race. In presumably probably the most thrilling intra-team battles of the previous couple of years, the 2 engaged in a race-long combat that concerned either side of the McLaren storage going head-to-head, bringing technique and tyre administration into the on-track contest.
Norris had the clear benefit of beginning on pole place, however Piastri quickly shut down the hole and pursued the Briton with DRS for everything of the primary stint.
In a second that absolutely noticed the crew pit wall maintain their breath, Piastri darted previous Norris on Lap 11, snatching the lead albeit for under a short while. The unique chief remained by his facet and prevented him from edging additional forward, reclaiming first place as rapidly as he’d misplaced it.
The stress didn’t finish there because the Australian endured one other heart-in-mouth transfer quickly afterwards – closing in on Norris as soon as once more, he locked up simply behind and got here agonisingly near colliding with the rear of his automotive, however fortuitously solely emerged with an uncomfortable flat spot.
With the primary spherical of pit stops starting to kick off, the pair by no means acquired fairly as close to one another on monitor once more, as Piastri’s selection to remain out for 4 laps longer than Norris led to a six-second hole between them. A seemingly limitless stream of backmarkers, together with Franco Colapinto who pressured Piastri off onto the grass unaware he was behind, additional halted the Australian’s ambition to return into DRS vary, and Norris was capable of endure the constant pressure until the chequered flag fell.
A nightmare residence race for Crimson Bull
previous outcomes, this weekend ought to have been a return to glory for the Milton Keynes-based outfit – Max Verstappen holds essentially the most pole positions and most victories in Austria and, in fact, the circuit itself bears Red Bull’s title within the crew’s residence nation.
Hordes of individuals rocked up in orange for the event, prepared for an additional Verstappen masterclass within the Styrian hills. However they have been swiftly disenchanted by the conclusion of Qualifying because the Dutchman ended up in P7, deterred from setting a second flying lap because of the yellow flags proven while Pierre Gasly recovered from a late spin.
The session was equally, if no more, disastrous for Yuki Tsunoda, who didn’t progress to Q2 for the second time within the final three rounds and was resigned to start out the race from P18 on the grid.
Whereas Verstappen labelled the outcome “painful”, he additionally admitted that there could possibly be “some surprises within the race”, which actually proved to be correct. Perhaps he was anticipating some drama on the entrance that he may capitalise on, however the drama truly ended up involving him.
Only a few corners into the opening lap, Kimi Antonelli locked up his rear tyres and located himself unable to make the nook, as an alternative plunging straight on into the lead Crimson Bull to take each himself and Verstappen out of the race.
His regret was evident as the 2 have been seen speaking while their automobiles have been recovered, and the rookie confirmed that he had apologised instantly after the incident that prompted the reigning World Champion’s first DNF because the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. Antonelli nonetheless received a three-place grid drop for the upcoming spherical at Silverstone for inflicting a collision.
Tsunoda was pressured to tackle the function of the only real remaining Crimson Bull, however little went nicely for him. On Lap 30, he was handed by Colapinto’s Alpine and, decided to reclaim the place, he threw warning to the wind and ended up clipping the Argentine’s proper rear tyre to ship him right into a spin.
He then headed to the pits to interchange his broken entrance wing and dropped to final within the order, with issues going from unhealthy to worse as he was handed a 10-second time penalty for the collision, well and truly confirming his P16 result.
Bortoleto takes his first factors and Lawson shines
Amid a wealth of collisions and mechanical failures, it’s good that at the least one driver skilled the most effective weekend of their F1 profession thus far – enter Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
The mixture of returning to a circuit he carried out beautifully at in his junior profession and discovering the rhythm he has been looking for within the C45 got here collectively to supply the rookie’s first F1 factors.
After making it into Q3 for the primary time this season, Bortoleto raced these round him masterfully, together with his supervisor/mentor Fernando Alonso – the 2 engaged in a heartwarming battle for P7 within the ultimate laps of the Grand Prix, with the previous World Champion clinging onto the place.
He was later seen hugging the Brazilian and congratulating him on defending his Qualifying place to complete in eighth place, simply forward of his crew mate Nico Hulkenberg.
Except for Alonso, one other driver to make the one-stop technique work was Liam Lawson, who achieved his greatest Qualifying outcome thus far (P6), in the same vein to Bortoleto. He began and completed because the lead Crimson Bull-backed racer, securing an essential six factors for Racing Bulls as he escaped up the street from the Alonso-Bortoleto battle on the penultimate lap.
The largest pole margin of the season thus far
Saturday’s Qualifying was an thrilling affair, with Norris grabbing pole for Mclaren. Having sat out FP1, Norris topped FP2, FP3, Q1 and Q2 – so it was no shock when he grabbed the P1 grid slot.
What was a shock was the margin, the largest of the season thus far at 0.521s. That could be a mighty hole at any circuit, however at Austria the place the monitor is likely one of the shortest of the calendar, it laid down a type marker that Norris is again in enterprise.
Sure, there was the caveat that just a few drivers together with Piastri didn’t get to finish – and even begin – their second runs in Q3 because of yellow flags, besides, Norris seemed untouchable over one-lap.
It was the right response to some Q3 errors earlier this season, and his race-ending collision along with his crew mate in Canada.
Stars prove for Austria, with the race right here to remain
Information broke on Sunday that Austria has been handed a contract extension and will likely be on the calendar till 2041. It’s a agency favorite with followers and drivers alike, and probably the most picturesque tracks the F1 circus visits.
Loads of stars wished to evaluate that for themselves, with Liverpool’s former supervisor Jurgen Klopp attending the race on Sunday. He hung out within the Racing Bulls storage and maybe that was what impressed such a robust efficiency from the crew, with Liam Lawson grabbing an excellent sixth-place end.
Eric Bana was additionally noticed within the Austria paddock, the actor no stranger to the world of F1 as an enormous sports activities fan.
It stays to be seen if Pierre Gasly approached him for ideas – after F1 The Movie star Brad Pitt cited Gasly as the driving force most probably to make it in Hollywood, Gasly joked he may need to show to performing as a second profession until he began scoring factors.
And what did he fail to do within the race? Rating factors. Hollywood may beckon for Pierre.
Trending Merchandise
