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Mercedes’ George Russell wins the Austrian Grand Prix in a battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The final lap of the race saw Russell slowly caught by Verstappen, while British team-mate Kimi Antonelli chased down the Dutchman.
Russell took his first victory since the season opener in Australia to take second place in the championship and close the gap to Antonelli to 40 points.
Antonelli caught Verstappen in the final lap but the four-time world champion held on to his best result of the year.
Verstappen’s impressive second place marked a step forward in form after Red Bull introduced major upgrades to their car for their home race.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastre finished a strong fourth, while Lewis Hamilton, who battled Verstappen for second in the first third of the race, dropped to fifth behind Ferrari’s confusing strategy.
The main stories of a great tournament were:
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Russell returns to the top step of the stage after an amazing weekend performance
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Red Bull’s revival despite Verstappen’s qualifying failure.
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After showing early promise, Ferrari is fading.
Russell, who was impressive in many ways when he took pole position on Saturday, initially looked to be in control of the race as he took the lead at the start and built up a good lead over Hamilton.
The seven-time champion spent the first part of the race trying to catch Verstappen and spun out on lap 11. Turn around and turn around.
It was early – and it sealed Hamilton’s fate as a contender early in the race.
Russell and Verstappen stayed behind Hamilton and stopped within six and seven laps of each other.
At the start of the race, Antonelli briefly dropped to fifth place after a strong effort with Hamilton, Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc winning laps three and four.
But the virtual safety car brought by Carlos Sainz’s Williams lasted until the 24th lap before stopping on the pit straight.
That set the tone for the tournament. As the race continued, Verstappen came in five seconds behind Russell, and Antonelli battled his way past Leclerc.
Verstappen’s gap to Russell was reduced to just 1.3 seconds when the Briton stopped for the second time on lap 43, and Red Bull dropped the man for a further six laps to make tire compensation.
Antonelli, on the other hand, stopped two laps after Verstappen, and the peak of the tension was set.
Verstappen had a 10 second deficit to close with 20 laps to go and Antonelli five on Verstappen.
For a while, it looked like Verstappen would catch Russell, but Antonelli was always a threat.
The gaps closed progressively over the remaining laps, and the trio crossed the line in one lap, with Russell Verstappen leading by 1.6 seconds, with Antonelli just 0.3 seconds behind.
