Mercedes’ George Russell claimed a somewhat unexpected victory in the Austrian Grand Prix after a hugely dramatic end to the race saw Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collide in the battle for the lead, dropping Verstappen down the order and forcing Norris to retire.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team
GEORGE RUSSELL – 1st Place
Mercedes’ George Russell claimed a somewhat unexpected victory in the Austrian Grand Prix after a hugely dramatic end to the race saw Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collide in the battle for the lead, dropping Verstappen down the order and forcing Norris to retire.
While Verstappen had made a strong start from pole position to hold P1 for much of the race, a thrilling duel with McLaren driver Norris unfolded when both made their final pit stops on Lap 52 of 71, where Red Bull suffered a rare slower stop due to an issue with the left rear wheel. With the gap between them at less than two seconds, Norris was hot on the tail of his rival and made more than one attempt to snatch P1. But it all came to a head on Lap 64 when the pair made contact, causing both to limp back to the pits with punctures. This allowed Russell – who had long been running in third – to sweep through to take the lead in the Mercedes, which he held until the Chequered flag to claim the second race win of his F1 career.
Oracle Red Bull Racing
MAX VERSTAPPEN – 5th Place
Verstappen Claims Fifth Place At Red Bull Ring To Boost 2024 Formula One Title Hopes
Max Verstappen escaped a late clash with 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship title rival Lando Norris to claim fifth place at the Austrian GP on Sunday around the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. The Dutchman recovered to score 10 points, extending his title lead over the McLaren driver to 81 points as Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Pérez finished in seventh place.
The Visa Cash App RB duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda finished in ninth and 14th places respectively, with the next race coming quickly at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 7.
“We were battling today and Lando tried to move around the outside, and then we touched with the rear tyres. It was very hot so immediately we had a puncture. From my side, it seemed like a weird move but we obviously need to review this and of course, we will talk about it.
The shape of the corner also provides these kinds of issues sometimes and it is never nice to come together. This, however, isn’t currently my main focus as we need to take a look at the overall performance today and the difficulties we had with the car.
It was very hard to manage the tyres, the first stint was not too bad and I had a fairly comfortable lead, the second stint was difficult; I think we stayed out a bit too long and then there was the issue with the pit stop. The overall Team performance wasn’t what we expected it to be and the strategy didn’t work that well in this case. It was a shame because of the lead that we had. There are definitely a few things we need to improve looking to next week and hopefully we can work on the performance, tyres and balance.”
Max Verstappen’s fifth-place finish at the Austrian GP adds valuable points to his lead in the 2024 Formula One World Championship, providing a crucial boost ahead of the upcoming British Grand Prix.
SERGIO PEREZ – 7th Place
“It is very disappointing to be in this position today. The race started really well and we had a solid start, but then I picked up some damage on Lap 1 and the car struggled and was sliding so it was very difficult to fight towards the front. With the damage, I was off balance and made a mistake going into the pitlane and got a five-second time penalty which hindered us towards the end of the race.
There are a few things that we need to look back at and carefully analyze everything, the race pace was a question mark today as I felt like we did some really good improvements after yesterday. Overall we lacked performance, it was a very difficult race and one that I struggled a lot in.
Next weekend I hope we can have a solid, clean showing, and hopefully will be able to sort all of the problems from this weekend to be able to move forward as there are still a lot of races left. On to Silverstone.”
CHRISTIAN HORNER – CEO and Team Principal
“For so much of the race we had it under control, we had an eight-second lead and it looked like it was all ok. We lost some time in the pit stop as we had a wheel nut that stuck on the left rear, that cut Max’s lead down more than we would have liked and from there it was hard racing. Lando exceeded track limits and was going to get a penalty but then there was the contact and that was really frustrating, it was tough racing between those two. We’ve still managed to get some points though and extend both Championships, 10 points in the Drivers and 16 in the Constructors, the pace of the car has been very strong this weekend, we have had two poles, Max led the race for all but nine laps and then the Sprint victory yesterday so it hasn’t been totally disastrous, but, yes, still frustrating, we really would have liked the win, but that is racing.”
RB Formula One Team
DANIEL RICCIARDO – 9th Place
“It was a tough race and I think we were a bit more on the defense, so it took a lot of concentration and effort. I had a good start on the outside and was looking good, but then I lost a couple of positions as there was no more room and I had to go wide. Once we settled after the start of the race, I think we did well; the team did a good job with the strategy to secure the position over the Alpines, and then I feel like I drove a good defense against Fernando (Alonso) and then Pierre (Gasly) in the last stint. We made a nice step from Barcelona, and it’s been a better weekend, so I’m happy to bring home some points. Now we’ll try to make another good step forward for Silverstone and then maybe that puts us in another fight for points.”
YUKI TSUNODA – 14th Place
“The race started well, I was behind Alpine and Daniel after the start, but by the third stint, I was way behind. The pace was off, and we’ll have to find out why. For sure Daniel did a good job during today’s race, so in the end, we had a good conclusion, and we seem to understand more about what direction we as a team have to take for the coming races, so that’s a positive.”
CLAUDIO BALESTRIO – Chief Engineer Vehicle Performance
“We decided to start today’s race on mediums, similarly to the majority of the other cars, and at end of Lap 2 Daniel was in P12 and Yuki in P13. At this stage, we decided to split the two strategies, pitting Daniel and leaving Yuki out for the first stint. The undercut worked very well with Daniel as we were able to gain positions against the two Alpines, but the Haas cars were able to stay in front of him for the rest of the race. In the last laps, he tried to put additional pressure on Magnussen, but we were not able to overtake him, so Daniel finished P9, scoring two very important points. As for Yuki, his race was different and a bit more difficult. We went long for the first stint on the medium and the pace was similar to the car in front on a similar strategy, but running a shorter last stint, we were not able to maximize the advantage, finishing P15. Mixed feelings, but we are still positive, and we now switch our thoughts to next week’s race in Silverstone, where we will try to improve further and get more important points.”
LAURENT MEKIES – Team Principal
“In the few days since Barcelona, everyone at the factory and at the track has been working hard on extending our understanding of the updates we introduced in Spain as part of our aggressive development program. That work continued here during the only Free Practice session, while the Sprint also provided us with valuable data. It is never ideal to do specifications comparison during a Sprint weekend, but we felt that it was a necessary investment for our midterm future. The team and drivers did a very good job putting together the best configuration possible for Saturday and Sunday. We are bringing home two good points, with Daniel finishing in P9 after an intense battle today, and following yesterday’s strong qualifying, which saw us finishing up at less than two-hundredths from Q3. Yuki was only a fraction behind in both qualifying and the race, but with the midfield battle being as tight as ever, it was enough for him to fall outside of the points today. Once again, we only have a couple of days before we are back on track, this time at Silverstone, not far from our UK-based headquarters. The smallest pace difference can make you go from a points finish to the back of the grid, so everyone at the factory will be flat out to further pursue our car development program.”
Highlights on Youtube: Race Highlights | 2024 Austrian Grand Prix
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