F1 Austrian Grand Prix 2026 recap: George Russell returns to winning ways

George Russell won the 2026 Formula One Austrian Grand Prix, holding off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as well as his own teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

Mercedes registered a double podium as well as returned to winning ways after being beaten in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago by Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari, who endured a rough Sunday in Austria as Charles Leclerc, who started on the front row, finished in eighth, while Hamilton started in third place but finished P5.

For Russell, it was a much-needed win, his first after winning the season-opener in March, in the championship battle, allowing him to close the gap to Antonelli and move back into second place in the Drivers’ standings.

Russell led the cars off the line as the lights went off and had to see off a strong start from Leclerc. Behind them, Antonelli was finding it tough to stay on track and keep Hamilton at bay. The championship leader’s off-the-track venture at Turn 4 saw Hamilton squeeze past him as well as his Ferrari teammate to move into second place. Verstappen picked off Antonelli and Leclerc on the second lap going out of Turn 4, which saw him move into third place, with Antonelli still struggling with grip.

Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas became the first retiree of the race on Lap 3 when his brakes went up in flames.

On the fringes of the points, Isack Hadjar got past Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson for eighth place. Two laps after Bottas’ retirement, the race went from bad to worse for Cadillac as Sergio Pérez also retired due to his MAC-26 overheating.

Back on the track, Antonelli kept the pressure on Leclerc for fourth place and, after a couple of laps of battle, stormed past him at Turn 9. By Lap 10, Russell had managed to establish a three-second gap between himself and Hamilton, who was under pressure from his old title rival, Verstappen.

On Lap 11, Verstappen pulled off an incredible late move on Hamilton, going on the inside of his car at Turn 3, but the veteran Brit responded by taking the place back at Turn 4. The two cars went side by side for a couple of corners before Hamilton managed to use the straight-line speed of his SF-26 and brought out his elbows to just about hold on to P2.

Hamilton was the first to pit on Lap 13; after switching to the hard compound, he rejoined in P11. The pit stops came in thick and fast from there on, as Leclerc also came in for his stop and so did Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz. Red Bull called in Verstappen for his stop on Lap 19 from P2, which saw Antonelli move to his spot to set up a Mercedes 1-2.

Verstappen came out in sixth place, just behind Hamilton. Race leader Russell came in for his stop on Lap 20, which allowed his teammate to take the lead of the race. McLaren asked Oscar Piastri to pit on the same lap. Russell rejoined in third place, ahead of Hamilton, while Piastri joined the track in seventh place behind Leclerc.

On Lap 22, Verstappen went on the inside of Hamilton once again going into Turn 3, and just like the last time, Hamilton retook the place at Turn 4. But Verstappen responded at Turn 6 with an aggressive move, going on the inside and moving to P3.

The Yellow Flag came out on Lap 25, with Antonelli just coming into the pits, and the Virtual Safety Car was deployed as Carlos Sainz’s FW48 gave up on the main straight, resulting in Antonelli missing out on a cheap stop by just a few corners. Hamilton got a stop out of the way under the Virtual Safety Car, switching to the soft compound from the hard compound.

Once racing resumed, it was Russell, Verstappen, Leclerc, Antonelli, and Piastri making up the top five in that order. On fresher tyres, Antonelli picked off Leclerc for third place on Lap 30 heading into Turn 4. Just behind them, Hamilton was also making up places and went past Hadjar for P6 at Turn 4.

By Lap 35, Verstappen had brought down Russell’s lead to just over three seconds. It was over five seconds when the Virtual Safety Car came in.

Piastri squeezed himself into fourth place by going on the inside of Leclerc at Turn 3 on Lap 37. Leclerc was immediately under pressure again, this time from his teammate, Hamilton, who got past him at Turn 6 by going around the outside to move into P5. Having lost two places in one lap, the Monégasque went straight into the pits to switch to the hard compound.

Up ahead, Verstappen had cut down Russell’s lead to 1.8 seconds, while Antonelli was struggling to keep up with the top two. On Lap 43, Hamilton came in for his third stop, while Piastri also came in for a stop. Piastri and Hamilton rejoined in P6 and P7, respectively. Russell also got his second stop done on the same lap and rejoined in third place, with Verstappen leading the race from Antonelli.

On a new set of tyres, Piastri got past Leclerc for fifth place, while Verstappen came in for his second stop on Lap 49, rejoining in third place, almost 11 seconds behind Russell, who got back the lead of the race on Lap 51 when Mercedes called Antonelli in for his second stop. The young Italian came out behind Verstappen in P3.

Hamilton, meanwhile, kept moving up as he went past Leclerc for P5. A second Virtual Safety Car was deployed momentarily after Alex Albon’s FW48 hit a bollard at Turn 3, but the VSC came in on that lap itself. Leclerc continued to lose places as Hadjar went on the inside on the exit of Turn 4 to steal sixth place, the Ferrari driver having had a small lock-up going into the turn.

Struggling with tyre degradation, Leclerc dropped to eighth place on Lap 60 as Norris also went past him, further adding to his woes. Ferrari called in Leclerc for his third stop, switching him to the soft compound for the final ten laps of the race.

With ten laps to go, Russell held a comfortable gap of over five seconds to Verstappen, who was struggling to catch him. Antonelli, meanwhile, was making up time and space on the Dutchman and had brought the gap down to under three seconds by Lap 67.

In the end, Verstappen managed to see off Antonelli by a margin of 0.3 seconds to hold on to second place, while up ahead Russell stormed to his second win of the season. Piastri and Hamilton finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with Hadjar, Norris, Leclerc, Liam Lawson, and Arvid Lindblad rounding out the points places in that order.

Racing Bulls leave Austria with another strong double points finish. Russell’s win, meanwhile, takes him to second place in the Drivers’ standings, six points clear of Hamilton, with Antonelli holding a 40-point lead over his teammate at the top.

Piastri’s fourth-place finish takes him to P4 in the standings, a point clear of Leclerc and Norris, while Verstappen is now only six points behind Norris and Leclerc, both of whom are on 79 points.

With back-to-back race weekends, racing continues as the grid moves to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, with Russell taking some extra confidence back home after his second win of the season.