George Russell wins Austrian Grand Prix as Verstappen and Norris crash

George Russell claimed a surprise victory for Mercedes at the Austrian Grand Prix after leveraging from the unavoidable crash involving Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

George Russell stunned everyone by claiming a shock victory at the 2024 F1 Austrian Grand Prix after a dramatic late-race crash between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris eliminated the two from contention on Sunday.

Verstappen had controlled the initial two thirds of the race with a lead of eight seconds over Norris. However, after an unpleasant extended middle stint on hard tires he didn’t particularly like and a sluggish final pitstop when the left rear tyre briefly failed to release, the Red Bull star rejoined barely ahead of the McLaren.

Norris later came within Verstappen’s DRS range – thanks to the new mediums on the McLaren as opposed to the Red Bull’s worn ones – and mounted continuous attack, with the two drivers’ radio remarks about each other’s maneuvers becoming more and more tense.

With twelve laps remaining, Norris got an edge over the Dutchman around the Turn 3 hairpin with a dive, but he swiftly relinquished the position by running wide on the run-off. It turned out that the Brit had violated the track limits four times over the race, picking up a five-second time penalty but continued to battle relentlessely.

Verstappen maintained his lead by running wide the second time the two found themselves racing beside each other. However, the wheel-to-wheel battle down the hill left both cars rolling in damage after the two made contact on the approach to the hairpin, puncturing both and sending them spinning off the track.

Verstappen later returned to finish fifth while Norris retired from the race in the pits, claiming the damage to his car was too significant. The stewards handed the reigning world champion a 10-second penalty after ruling he was responsible for the incident as his result remained unaffected.

Russell was unquestionably the best of the rest behind Verstappen and Norris throughout, save for an early battle with his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. As a result, he was in a prime position to enjoy the spoils after their collision and celebrate an exuberant victory.

Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri delivered an impressive performance. He started the race from seventh on the grid after a controversial track limits penalty in qualifying dropped him from third.

However, he persevered, passing Leclerc at the start, outpacing Sergio Perez’s Red Bull and later overtaking both Carlos Sainz and Hamilton and finishing just 1.9 seconds behind Russell.

Sainz finished third while Hamilton finished a distant fourth after he was handed a time penalty for slewing over the pit entry line during his first pit stop with a crazy slide.

Haas ran an exceptional race that secured them points with Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg coming in in sixth and eighth place, respectively, as Perez’s Red Bull separated the duo.

Haas’s breakthrough came about after early initial pit stops and superb tyre conservation, while Perez was hampered by damage after getting caught in the Piastri/Leclerc tangle on the first lap.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo’s rounded out the top ten, with Leclerc only able to finish 11th.

2024 F1 Austrian Grand Prix Race Results