Race Report: Victory in Spielberg

• George Russell finished first, whilst Kimi Antonelli finished third at the end of Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.

• It was a tough afternoon at the front, with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen applying sustained pressure throughout, while both drivers were required to manage a demanding and closely fought race.

• Having started on the medium compound, both George and Kimi executed a Medium‑Hard‑Hard two-stop strategy, one of the preferred approaches for today’s race.

• Verstappen, in the Red Bull, followed a similar two‑stop approach and was able to use strong late-race pace to close onto George and challenge for the lead.

• In the closing laps, Kimi put Verstappen under significant pressure for P2, reducing the gap and taking the fight all the way to the line, but ultimately had to settle for third.

• George controlled the race from the front, managing the final stint to secure the win despite the late pressure.

• With victory, George reduces Kimi’s advantage in the Drivers’ standings to 40 points whilst the team holds a 98-point advantage in the Constructors’.

• The team now heads back home for the second leg of this double-header nearby at Silverstone.

Kimi Antonelli

It was not a straightforward race from my side. The first stint wasn’t where it needed to be and I struggled a bit with the brakes early on. After that, the pace was much better and I was able to get back into the fight. I think if we had a few more laps, it could have been an interesting battle for P2 at the end.

Congratulations to George on the win today. He did a great job managing the race, especially in the final stint under pressure. It’s a strong result for the whole team to have both cars scoring well and bringing home good points.

There is still a lot for me to learn, and this weekend has been a good reminder of that. I will take the lessons and come back stronger next weekend.

I’m looking forward to Silverstone. It’s always a special circuit and, with it being a sprint weekend, it will be important to be on it from the first session.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

Today was a great result for the team and a great result for George. It was good to see him take another well-deserved win and nice to have Kimi on the podium with him. It was one of those races where we were wishing it was a lap longer as it looked like Kimi had the pace to pass Max, but a podium is a solid result.

The strategy team made good calls throughout the race. George was able to build a useful gap in the first stint, and we reacted well to cover the undercut threat from Verstappen heading into the final stint. Kimi also showed strong pace, making a good move on Leclerc early on and then using that to offset his strategy, which gave him the benefit of fresher tyres towards the end.

End of stint performance was a key factor today. It looked like only Verstappen, and our two drivers were able to manage tyre degradation effectively as the stints went beyond 20 laps, which is encouraging, particularly heading into the hotter races where that will be tested further.

It’s been a solid weekend in terms of points for the team, but it’s clear the field is very close. We’ll need to keep finding improvements and bringing performance if we want to maintain that position over the coming races.