George Russell benefitted from a collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris to win 2024 Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen led the race until Norris made a move for the race lead into Turn 3 on Lap 64 which saw the three-time champion slam his Red Bull into title rival – Norris, causing both drivers to suffer punctures which ultimately forced Norris to retire from the race.
Russell subsequently assumed the lead and victory ahead of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz, whilst Lewis Hamilton finished fourth from Verstappen.
Nico Hulkenberg held off Sergio Perez for sixth whilst Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten.
In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen extended his title lead over Norris to 81 points.
At lights out, Verstappen made a clean start to lead Norris, Russell, Sainz and Hamilton whilst Perez nudged Piastri wide at Turn 4 as they scrapped over seventh.
Leclerc meanwhile picked up front wing damage at the opening corner as he scrapped against Hamilton which forced him to pit and go for a three-stop strategy.
Hamilton soon cleared Sainz and passed Russell for third briefly on Lap 3 but was quickly repassed on that same lap, and shortly afterwards handed fourth back to Sainz whilst Perez handed Piastri sixth on Lap 7 in order to avoid a penalty for their first lap scrap.
Haas soon triggered an early wave of pit stops with Magnussen and Hulkenberg pitting on Lap 11 and 12 respectively, whilst Verstappen stretched his lead up front until he and Norris pitted on Lap 24.
Piastri instead was on an extended two-stop strategy which saw him run longer than those ahead of him and pitted on Lap 26, which gave Verstappen the lead again and he built a near-seven gap over Norris during the middle phase of the race.
Both drivers made their second stops on Lap 52 but Red Bull struggled with Verstappen’s rear-left used medium tyre, which allowed Norris to reduce his deficit to 2.954 seconds as they exited the pit-lane.
Norris however had new medium tyres for the final stint which allowed to get within DRS range of Verstappen in the following three laps, which set up a grandstand finish as both drivers battled hard during which Norris late braked into Turn 3 on Lap 59.
Matters hit a crescendo on Lap 64 as Norris made an outside move into Turn 3 only for Verstappen to stubbornly refuse to concede the lead, which saw him deliberately slam his car into Norris to give both drivers a puncture which ultimately ended Norris’ race.
Russell consequently inherited the lead and victory from Piastri who passed Sainz amidst the fallout of Verstappen and Norris’ clash.
Hamilton finished fourth ahead of Verstappen who finished fifth after changing his tyres and incurring a 10s time penalty for his antics, whilst Hulkenberg saw off Perez for sixth.
Magnussen, Ricciardo and Gasly rounded out the top ten,
F1 now head to Silverstone from 5-7 July for the British Grand Prix, which is the home race of Hamilton, Russell and Norris plus many UK-based teams across the grid.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 71 | 1h 24m 22.798 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 71 | + 1.906 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 71 | + 4.533 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 71 | + 23.142 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 71 | + 37.253 |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 71 | + 54.088 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 71 | + 54.672 |
| 8 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 71 | + 60.355 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | 71 | + 61.169 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 71 | + 61.766 |
| 11 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 71 | + 67.056 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 71 | + 68.325 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 17 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 19 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 69 | + 2 Laps |
| 20 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 64 | Puncture |
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