After a qualifying session shaped by Max Verstappen’s crash and yellow flags, George Russell converted pole position into victory at the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, leading all 71 laps to win for Mercedes by 1.611 seconds over Verstappen. Kimi Antonelli recovered from a poor start to finish third and complete a Mercedes double podium, and Russell’s second Grand Prix win of the season, his first since the Australian Grand Prix in March, cut Antonelli’s championship lead even though the rookie remained top of the standings.

Verstappen challenged Russell at several stages and Red Bull’s race pace improved, but he could not close the gap after the final pit stops. Oscar Piastri was fourth for McLaren and Lewis Hamilton fifth for Ferrari, which again missed the podium after a mistimed Safety Car pit stop and a three-stop strategy that did not pay off. Among the other classified finishers were Isack Hadjar, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad, Gabriel Bortoleto, Nico Hülkenberg, Pierre Gasly, Oliver Bearman, Franco Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, Alexander Albon and Fernando Alonso. Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas did not finish.

Racing Bulls left the Austrian Grand Prix with a historic double points finish and a messy in-race team-order dispute, as Liam Lawson took ninth and Arvid Lindblad finished 10th at the Red Bull Ring. The result was Racing Bulls’ first double-points finish since the team’s Minardi-era debut in 1985, and its third consecutive double top-10 finish. The team moved to 44 constructors’ points and to within 13 points of fifth-placed Alpine. Lawson extended his points streak to four straight Formula 1 races, the first time a New Zealand driver had scored in four consecutive F1 races since Denny Hulme in 1973. He stayed 10th in the drivers’ standings on 30 points, with six points finishes in his seven completed races this season.

The race was clouded by confusion over instructions from the pit wall. Lawson was told to manage overheated brakes, Lindblad was instructed to hold position, and Lindblad later passed Lawson after the first pit stops and stayed ahead through the middle stint. Lawson voiced frustration on the radio, after an early message had briefly raised concern that his car might be on fire before he later said the issue was brake smoke in the first stint that settled down after the opening laps. Racing Bulls later restored the order by pitting Lawson earlier in the second stops, which let him retake the position. A team spokesperson said the episode came from a misunderstanding about the hold-position instruction, and both drivers downplayed the incident after the race.

Lawson said Racing Bulls had made a step in race pace and said the car settled after the opening laps. He was also cleared of any penalty after an alleged practice-start infringement, with stewards ruling that his actions were appropriate in the circumstances. Lawson said he had not expected an attack from Lindblad and suggested they might need to talk after the race. Lindblad said he was happy with the result, called the weekend a positive learning experience and said he had issues with hard tires and braking.

Max Verstappen said a Red Bull simulator run at Silverstone made him laugh because Formula 1’s 2026 cars felt dramatically different on the British Grand Prix circuit’s fast, flowing layout, with drivers spending long stretches flat out and having barely any battery available around the lap. He said Silverstone could be the toughest track of the season so far for battery depletion because its straights and high-speed corners leave little chance to recharge, and he pointed to Copse and the Maggots-and-Becketts sequence as especially demanding sections that could slow the cars through the lap.

Verstappen contrasted Silverstone with tracks such as Monaco and Austria, where heavier braking zones give drivers more opportunity to manage the car’s systems. He said the new regulations have improved the chassis compared with the stiff ground-effect cars, but the energy-management rules still make the cars feel unnatural. He also suggested the same issue could be even more pronounced at Spa-Francorchamps because of its longer straights, longer lap distance and faster corners.

His comments came after he finished second at the Austrian Grand Prix, his best result of the season, where Red Bull introduced a seven-part upgrade package. Verstappen said the updated car made him feel competitive for the first time this year, with the biggest gains in grip and corner speed, and that those improvements helped him challenge for the win before a rear-axle problem hurt his pace in the second half of the race. He said Red Bull still needs to understand what went wrong late in the race, and he added that he was pleased Formula 1 and the FIA had listened to his feedback, which helped shape regulation changes planned for 2027 and 2028.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has questioned how Ferrari can keep loading major upgrades onto its 2026 Formula 1 car while staying under the sport’s $215 million cost cap, calling the team’s development pace “limitless” and saying Ferrari may soon run out of budget room after “throwing things at their car.” Wolff’s criticism came after Ferrari added another update package at the Austrian Grand Prix, where it also made its first ADUO-influenced engine change. He pointed to Ferrari’s repeated revisions to the SF-26 since the April break, including aerodynamic updates in Miami and Barcelona, a new engine specification, revised front wing elements and the unusual rear-wing package nicknamed the “Macarena wing.” Ferrari’s development push has helped it close the gap to Mercedes, and it has outperformed Mercedes at Barcelona.

The dispute has grown as Formula 1 teams face tighter cost controls intended to limit spending. Rival teams have become increasingly frustrated by the perception that Ferrari is committing unusual resources to steady performance gains, and Wolff remains the most vocal critic. He suggested Ferrari could slow its pace later in the season, while noting that Ferrari and Audi have moved quickly to use the FIA’s Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system to improve their engines.

Wolff contrasted Ferrari’s approach with Mercedes’ more cautious spending, saying Mercedes has held back parts it already has ready so it can deploy upgrades strategically and has no immediate engine upgrades planned. The comments came after Mercedes won in Austria, where George Russell took his first victory since the season opener and held off Max Verstappen and rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who finished third. Ferrari finished fifth and eighth at the Red Bull Ring, and Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told Wolff the battle made for good television.

Ferrari’s Austrian Grand Prix left the team arguing that its bigger problem was pace, not strategy. Team principal Fred Vasseur said Ferrari’s race was lost earlier when the cars were pushed too hard and began to overheat, while the team struggled to match Mercedes and Max Verstappen. Ferrari had started second and third with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, but finished eighth and fifth after its pace fell away. The team was the only top-four outfit to commit to three pit stops, and its straight-line speed was also compromised.

Hamilton said he had already warned Ferrari about tire management, strategy and straight-line speed at the Red Bull Ring. He said the car still lacked outright pace, estimating Ferrari was about two to three tenths off the front-runners. Vasseur said the team had taken strategic risks to try to make up for being slower, and Leclerc backed that view, saying no strategy would have looked good without stronger underlying pace. Hamilton’s hard-tire stint after the virtual safety car did not deliver the progress Ferrari expected, and he later used a different engine mode to help control temperatures.

The result contrasted with Ferrari’s upbeat qualifying, when Leclerc took second and Hamilton third behind Mercedes’ George Russell, whose pole came after Max Verstappen’s crash triggered yellow flags. Vasseur said Ferrari remained in the fight and could still challenge if it executed properly, but he also said the underperforming upgrade package had not met expectations. That has increased pressure on the team ahead of the British Grand Prix, with Ferrari now looking to solve its performance and race-management problems rather than focus on one bad call.

McLaren’s strong Friday pace turned into a disappointing qualifying result at the Austrian Grand Prix, as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished sixth and seventh at the Red Bull Ring. Norris said the team ended up “where we deserve to be,” while Piastri called McLaren “just not quick enough” after the team failed to turn promising practice speed into a front-row challenge.

Norris was 0.009 seconds ahead of Piastri, and both McLaren drivers were about four-tenths of a second slower than pole-sitter George Russell of Mercedes. Ferrari filled second and third on the grid with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, and McLaren also slipped behind Max Verstappen. Norris said his lap felt decent and that gaining more places would have required mistakes from others, while Piastri said he may have overpushed while searching for extra time.

The team had looked competitive in practice, with both drivers near the front on Friday, but McLaren said the MCL40 lacked the outright speed needed to fight at the front on a single lap. Norris sustained minor rear brake duct damage in Q1, but McLaren repaired the car quickly enough for him to continue. Both drivers and the team pointed to Sunday’s expected heat, tire degradation and strategy as possible chances to recover in the 71-lap race.