Formula One was at the Red Bull Ring this weekend for the FORMULA 1 LENOVO AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX 2026, which turned out to be a hot event. George Russell earned pole position in a qualifying session that saw a bit of controversy. Max Verstappen crashed in Q3, and there were a lot of questions about whether or not the double yellow flags should have been waved. Russell was cleared of any wrongdoing, lining up in the top spot on the starting grid.
All of the lead cars had a fairly even start, maintaining position into the first corner. Kimi Antonelli ran wide in the first corner and then again in turn three, struggling to slow the car. Lewis Hamilton disposed of his teammate around the outside of turn four, promoting himself to second position.
Charles Leclerc lost another position to Antonelli in the first corner, but the Mercedes driver bounced over the kerbs in the first corner again. He decided to give the position back to Leclerc to avoid a penalty, but this left him vulnerable to Max Verstappen, who made quick work of Antonelli and also overtook Leclerc into turn three. Antonelli was under pressure from the two McLarens behind, but managed to fend them off. Antonelli got by Leclerc five laps later.
With a heat advisor in place at the circuit, the hot temperatures proved to be difficult for some teams. Cadillac was one of those teams, suffering a double retirement only a few laps into the race, with both drivers retiring due to a brake fire, potentially indicating some design flaw in the Cadillac. Liam Lawson reported brake issues early on, but recovered as the field spread out more. Verstappen and Antonelli both complained about pulling to one side under braking.
This didn’t stop Verstappen from fighting with Hamilton over P2. Verstappen overtook Hamilton with a lunge into turn three, but Hamilton took back the position the following corner. The duo were side-by-side into turn six, and Verstappen was run out of space in turn seven and had to back off. Verstappen complained about the move. The stewards noted the incident, but took no further action.
Hamilton was the first to pit on lap 12, exchanging his medium tyres for hards. Leclerc did the same on the following lap, while Verstappen extended his stint by five laps before pitting.
The battle between Hamilton and Verstappen resumed on lap 22, with Verstappen using a late lunge into the third corner. Hamilton regained the position on the run down to turn four, but Verstappen had the last word with an overtake on the inside of turn six.
At the front, Antonelli had inherited the lead, extending his stint while others pitted. He finally pitted on lap 25, but it was unfortunate timing, as Carlos Sainz suffered a catastrophic engine failure coming out of the final corner, parking on the main straight. The virtual safety car was deployed as Antonelli was leaving the pit lane. If he had waited one more lap, he could have benefited from a cheap pit stop.
Hamilton did take a cheap pit stop under the VSC, with Ferrari gambling on the soft tyres and locking itself into a three-stop strategy. Ultimately, this wouldn’t pan out for the Brit.
He did manage to get by his teammate on lap 37 on the outside of turn six. Leclerc had a brush with Oscar Piastri a few corners earlier. Piastri made a dive into turn three, just clipping the front wing of the Ferrari on the corner exit. Leclerc pitted for fresh hard tyres at the end of the lap, and Hamilton pitted for hards a few laps later.
Back at the front, Russell was being rapidly chased down by Verstappen. Russell made his final pit stop on lap 44, avoiding any battle with the Red Bull. Antonelli did his best to pressure Verstappen, getting to within a second of the Dutchman before Red Bull pitted him for new hard tyres. Antonelli also pitted a couple of laps later.
There was another brief virtual safety car the lap after Antonelli pitted. This was to allow marshals to pick up a bollard that had been attacked by Alex Albon.
After only 20 laps on the hard tyres, Leclerc again began to struggle. He battled with Isack Hadjar, who had launched a lunge into turn three. The two were side-by-side into turn four, with both cars locking up, showing how hard they were pushing. Hadjar came out ahead. A few laps later, Lando Norris overtook Leclerc, dropping him to P8. With a massive gap to the cars behind, Ferrari called Leclerc in for a free pit stop to the soft tyres, although he stayed in P8.
Russell didn’t really face any pressure in his final stint at the lead of the race. Verstappen was under pressure from Antonelli in the closing laps, with the Italian getting to within a second of the Red Bull on the final lap. He didn’t have enough pace to go for an overtake, having to settle for the bottom step of the podium.
There is a busy week of Formula One still to come. The drivers and teams will head to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix at the venue where this amazing sport all began in 1950. It will be a sprint weekend, so that means double the racing. The sprint will be held on July 4, and the main event will be the following day on July 5.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 71 | 1:26:37.979 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 71 | +1.611 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 71 | +1.986 | 15 |  | |
| 4 | 71 | +21.809 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 71 | +26.393 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 71 | +29.399 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 71 | +31.505 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 71 | +45.659 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 70 | +1 Lap | 2 | ||
| 10 | 70 | +1 Lap | 1 | ||
| 11 | 70 | +1 Lap | |||
| 12 | 70 | +1 Lap | |||
| 13 | 70 | +1 Lap | |||
| 14 | 70 | +1 Lap | |||
| 15 | 70 | +1 Lap | |||
| 16 | 69 | +2 Laps | |||
| 17 | 69 | +2 Laps | |||
| 18 | 68 | +3 Laps | |||
| DNF | 45 | ||||
| DNF | 23 | ||||
| DNF | 4 | ||||
| DNF | 2 |
| 1 | K. Antonelli | 171 |  | |
| 2 | G. Russell | 131 | -40 |  |
| 3 | L. Hamilton | 125 | -46 |  |
| 4 | O. Piastri | 80 | -91 | |
| 5 | L. Norris | 79 | -92 | |
| 1 | Mercedes | 302 | | |
| 2 | Ferrari | 204 | -98 | |
| 3 | McLaren | 159 | -143 | |
| 4 | Red Bull | 115 | -187 | |
| 5 | Alpine | 57 | -245 | |
