Lando Norris took his third victory of 2025 after a tense race-long battle with team-mate Oscar Piastri as McLaren took a dominant one-two at the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Defending champion Max Verstappen was knocked out of the race on lap one when he was hit by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli. 

At the start, Norris got away cleanly from pole to take the lead. Leclerc was slower away from the other side of the front row, however, and he was quickly passed by Piastri. 

Behind them, Verstappen also made a good start and into Turn 1 he muscled past Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson to take sixth place. The Dutchman then looked to attack Mercedes’ George Russell into Turn 3, but in the end, it was the other Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli that ended the Red Bull driver’s race.

The Italian rookie, trying to advance from ninth on the grid moved to the inside but misjudged his braking point. He locked up, slid through the corner and smashed into the side of Verstappen’s Red Bull. “I’m out, I got hit,” said the champion as his car came to rest. 

Both drivers were ruled out of the race and the Safety Car was immediately released. Norris settled in ahead of Piastri and Leclerc, with the second Ferrari of Hamilton in fourth ahead of Russell and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto. 

When the Safety Car left the track the battle between the leading McLarens flared. Piastri attacked on lap 6, but Norris was able to fend off the assault. The Australian wasn’t deterred, however, and over the following laps he stalked his team-mate relentlessly. And on lap 11 he went again, launching a move down the inside as they went into Turn 3. Norris let the move happen and as Piastri drifted to the outside of the corner, the Briton cut inside and out dragged his team-mate down to Turn 4 to retake the lead. 

The gripping battle continued over the course of the first stint, with Norris just about to stay just ahead of his team-mate. With the first stops imminent, Piastri went for broke on lap 20, lunging down the inside into Turn 4. This time the Australian locked up and almost collided with his team-mate. 

That was the cue for Norris to head into the pits for a set of Hard tyres. Piastri was released into free air but the Australian reported that he had a flat spot and on lap 24 he also pitted for Hard tyres. 

Piastri was losing ground to Norris and after the Ferraris pitted, the Briton moved back to P1 and into a 6.5s lead over his team-mate. The Australian was also told by his pitwall that his locked-up move into Turn 4 was “too marginal” and requested not to try something similar again. 

Behind the top two the gaps were widening as the race headed into its second half. Piastri was now 15s ahead the lead Ferrari of Leclerc, with Hamilton another few further back, while the Ferraris were 17 seconds ahead of Russell. 

The battle between the McLarens showed no signs of abating, however, Piastri once again began to reel in his team-mate and on lap 40 he had reduced his team-mate’s advantage from 6.5s to just over three seconds. 

Norris made his final stop on lap 53 and moved to Medium tyres. Piastri made his final trip to the pit lane on the following lap. The Australian watched Norris sail by and then emerged behind the battling due of Franco Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda. 

Going into Turn 3, Colapinto tried to make his way past but locked up and went wide. Tsunoda eased through to take P15, but Colapinto came back across to try to get into the Red Bull’s slipstream. However, as he did so he forced Piastri onto the grass on the right-hand side of the track and the championship leader almost lost control. The Argentinian was quickly handed a five-second time penalty. 

The incident dropped Piastri four seconds off his team-mate but once again he began to close the gap. “Need pace, can you help, please,” Norris asked his race engineer Will Joseph and after being given tips on minimising time loss in Turns 1 and 3 the gap stabilised. 

And after 70 intensely thrilling laps Norris crossed the line to take his third win of 2025 and his seventh overall. Piastri finished 2.6s behind, while Leclerc was a distant third, almost 20 seconds off top spot. Hamilton took fourth in the other Ferrari ahead of Russell and Lawson delivered Racing Bulls a strong sixth place at the flag. Fernando Alonso was seventh for Aston Martin ahead of protégé Bortoleto who took his first F1 points with P8. The Brazilian’s team-mate Nico Hülkenberg made its double points finish for Kick Sauber with P9 after a 20th place start and the final point went to Haas’ Esteban Ocon. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix – Race 
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 70 1:23'47.693 
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 70 1:23'50.388 2.695
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 70 1:24'07.513 19.820
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 70 1:24'16.713 29.020
5 George Russell Mercedes 70 1:24'50.089 1'02.396
6 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 70 1:24'55.447 1'07.754
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 69 1:23'49.130 1 lap /1.437
8 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 69 1:23'49.645 1 lap /1.952
9 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 69 1:23'55.413 1 lap /7.720
10 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 69 1:23'57.679 1 lap /9.986
11 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 69 1:24'12.547 1 lap /24.854
12 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 69 1:24'15.650 1 lap /27.957
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 69 1:24'20.748 1 lap /33.055
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 69 1:24'22.155 1 lap /34.462
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 69 1:24'30.385 1 lap /42.692
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 68 1:23'50.672 2 laps /2.979
     Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 15 20'00.228 Retirement
     Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 0 – Accident
     Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 0 – Accident
     Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 0 - Not started