The Mercedes driver capitalised on Max Verstappen’s and Lando Norris’s lap-64 crash to say an unlikely victory.
George Russell has gained the Austrian Grand Prix for Mercedes after Purple Bull’s triple world champion Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris collided late within the race whereas preventing for the lead.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed second with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz third at Spielberg, Austria’s Purple Bull Ring on Sunday.
The gifted win was a primary for Mercedes since November 2022, when Russell triumphed in Brazil, and the second of the Briton’s profession.
“It’s not over till it’s over,” declared the jubilant winner after taking the chequered flag in a race that saved up its pleasure till the final 20 laps, when the battle between Verstappen and Norris boiled over.
A gradual 6.5-second pit cease for Verstappen throughout lap 52 introduced Norris proper again into vary and the following duel noticed the McLaren automobile having fun with a drag discount profit as Norris tried to overhaul.
“The crew have achieved an incredible job to place us on this battle. You’ve received to be there on the finish to select up the items and that’s the place we had been,” Russell stated earlier than stepping as much as the highest of the rostrum.
“We had been solely about 12 seconds behind and I knew it [the collision] was a chance. You’re all the time dreaming.”
Russell had began third, with Verstappen on pole and Norris alongside on the entrance row, however the win was handed to him after 64 of the 71 laps.
Each frontrunners suffered punctures, Norris limping again to the pits and retiring whereas Verstappen rejoined and completed fifth behind Mercedes’s seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Stewards handed the Dutch driver a 10-second penalty for inflicting the collision, however that made no distinction to Verstappen’s outcome and he elevated his championship benefit to 81 factors over Norris.
Nico Hulkenberg was sixth for Haas, a serious enhance for that crew, with Purple Bull’s Sergio Perez seventh and Kevin Magnussen eighth for Haas.
Daniel Ricciardo gave RB two factors in ninth and Pierre Gasly took the ultimate level for Renault-owned Alpine.