Lando Norris won out in a thrilling race-long battle with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to win the Austrian Grand Prix.

But, while Norris gave his title hopes a major boost, Max Verstappen’s perhaps went up in smoke after he was punted out the race early doors by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.

Austrian GP: Norris wins McLaren battle, Verstappen eliminated

Medium tyres were by far the most popular starting compound in Austria, the top nine all opting for the yellow-walled rubber, with P10 Pierre Gasly on softs, as was Isack Hadjar, Franco Colapinto, Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg.

For Carlos Sainz, his nightmare Austrian GP weekend continued as he failed to get away from the grid, reporting that his Williams was stuck in first gear.

Chaos ensued, as Norris brought the pack onto the start-finish straight as the marshals were trying to push Sainz away – under yellow flags only – as an aborted start was soon confirmed, and Sainz was able to get up and running, making his way around the Red Bull Ring for a pit-lane start, or so he thought.

Reporting that the car felt like it was “braking” as he parked at the end of the pit lane, fire emerged at both rear sides of the Williams, as the crew sprinted down with fire extinguishers and told Sainz it was “game over”.

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After a delay of 10 minutes, a fresh formation lap was held, reducing the distance of the Grand Prix to 70 laps. Lights out, Norris got away well, covering off Leclerc on the inside line, which allowed Piastri through to challenge Norris in the run to Turn 3.

Norris withstood the charge, but there was chaos behind as Kimi Antonelli steamed into Verstappen, eliminating them both from the race. Both drivers were thankfully fine, as Verstappen headed over to debrief with the young Italian as they left the scene and the Safety Car was deployed.

The stewards confirmed a post-race investigation of the Antonelli and Verstappen incident.

Norris dropped the hammer through Turn 9 to restart the race heading onto Lap 4, Piastri and Leclerc close behind, while Hamilton was under extreme pressure from Russell.

“Lewis just closed the door under braking,” Russell complained.

Out front it was quickly turning into a two-horse race as Norris and Piastri pulled away from Leclerc, Piastri told “your call on the racing situation” as he took a look at a Turn 4 overtake on Norris.

The McLarens chose teamwork, Piastri enjoying Norris’ DRS as Leclerc continued to drop back, the Ferrari driver five seconds off the lead, with deputy team principal Jerome D’Ambrosio calling the shots for the Scuderia this afternoon, after Fred Vasseur went home for personal reasons.

That was until Lap 11 as Norris went wide out of Turn 1. Through came Piastri at Turn 3, Norris cut back, got the momentum and ensured both McLarens went into Turn 4 side-by-side, which saw Norris come out still the leader. Piastri almost spotted a gap at Turn 6, but Norris held the outside line and with the better exit, stayed ahead.

Lap 15 and Piastri was taking another look at Norris, snubbing a T1 opportunity. But Norris had his team-mate covered at Turns 3 and 4 as this gripping battle continued.

Piastri was taking a tighter line through Turn 6, as the call came to Norris from race engineer Tom Stallard to follow that lead.

Leclerc meanwhile was being ordered by his race engineer Bryan Bozzi to lift and coast at every corner. “That’s what I am doing, Bryan,” was the message back.

Lap 20 and we had the next instalment of Norris versus Piastri, which so nearly ended in contact again, Piastri locking-up at Turn 4 and narrowly avoiding the sister McLaren. With Norris heading for the pit lane for hard tyres at the end of that lap, it was clear Piastri desperately wanted to get past his team-mate for preferential strategy treatment.

With Piastri reporting he had a flat spot on the tyres, McLaren told him it looked “okay to continue” as he got the chance to flex his muscles in clear air. “Four [seconds] with delta” was the strategy option Piastri chose, in hope of using fresher tyres to attack Norris later in the race.

Piastri boxed on Lap 25, a 3.4-second stop comparable to Norris’, but he returned to the track almost six seconds behind Norris. The order came that if he caught back up with Norris, he was not permitted to pull another move like that near-miss at T4.

While McLaren were controlling proceedings, the afternoon got worse for Williams as Alex Albon was told to retire the sole remaining FW45, an issue spotted which required further investigation.

Tsunoda and Colapinto soon reinforced the perils of Turn 4, Tsunoda taking the inside line and sending Colapinto into a spin. That meant a front wing change for Tsunoda, in what had turned into a gruelling Sunday afternoon for Red Bull.

A 10-second penalty for Tsunoda did not improve the mood, while Gasly did not know “how much longer I can stay on track” as he felt an issue with the Alpine car for the team to investigate.

There had been a mid-race lull in the McLaren action out front, but that was starting to change as Piastri’s strategy began to come towards him, Norris’ lead down to three seconds.

McLaren though believed traffic was more to blame as Norris queried where Piastri was quicker, the gap up to four seconds when both McLarens were through the backmarkers.

20 laps remained and Hamilton – running P3 – insisted that he did not want to pit, but Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami was having none of it, Hamilton’s wishes to extend falling on deaf ears as he made his second stop, ditching hards for mediums and coming out P4 behind Leclerc.

Norris boxed from the lead on Lap 53, an improved 2.5-second stop for mediums, as Piastri was told to unleash any pace he had left and box at the end of the lap.

An incredible two-second flat stop for Piastri was ideal, but McLaren’s hard work was soon undone as Piastri got caught up in the latest battle between Tsunoda and Colapinto, the latter forcing Piastri onto the grass between T3/4. The stewards quickly put that one under investigation.

Having survived that Colapinto scare, Piastri had 3.5 seconds to make up on Norris, while Colapinto was slapped with a five-second penalty.

Piastri had tyres fresher by just one lap in this crucial final stint, but the gap to Norris was coming down. Lap 59 of 70 and it was now 2.7s.

2 seconds… “I need some pace, please help,” was the call from Norris. 1.7 seconds… McLaren were blaming this latest batch of traffic.

But then, they discovered damage on Norris’ front wing which was impacting the balance, Joseph delivering that news, as well as confirmation there was nothing they could do.

Piastri continued to close through the last-lap traffic, but went deep at Turn 4, freeing Norris to take the chequered flag and bring a thrilling Austrian GP to its conclusion, McLaren’s first win in Austria since 2001.

Leclerc completed the podium for Ferrari, his fourth visit of the season.

2025 Austrian Grand Prix timesheet:

1 Lando Norris McLaren
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +2.695
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +19.820
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +29.020
5 George Russell Mercedes +62.396
6 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +67.754
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1L
8 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber +1L
9 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber +1L
10 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +1L
11 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team +1L
12 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1L
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1L
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1L
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1L
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing +2L
DNF Alexander Albon Williams
DNF Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing
DNF Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
DNS Carlos Sainz Williams

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