Lando Norris triumphs in Austria to cut Oscar Piastri's advantage in title race
Norris kept his nerve in a thrilling duel with Oscar Piastri to take his third triumph of the season, reducing the title deficit to his team-mate to 15 points from 22.
A fortnight after Norris ran into the back of Piastri in Canada, the two McLaren men came within centimetres of another collision on lap 20 of 70.
LANDO NORRIS WINS THE AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX! pic.twitter.com/YCXNsPV3BG
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) June 29, 2025
Piastri momentarily lost control of his car as he attempted a lunge at turn four, before he was warned not to attempt a similar move – a clear sign McLaren had called off the fight.
Norris took the chequered flag 2.7 seconds clear of Piastri, with Charles Leclerc finishing third. Lewis Hamilton was fourth with the seven-time world champion's wait for a first podium in Ferrari colours extending to his home race at Silverstone next weekend.
Max Verstappen's race lasted three corners after he was taken out by Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli. The first-lap retirement leaves him 61 points off the championship pace. George Russell took fifth for Mercedes.
Norris departed Montreal with his championship hopes hanging in the balance after a collision with Piastri which the British driver said made him look like a fool.
But Norris has been a driver reborn here in the Styrian mountains, securing an emphatic pole position before holding off Piastri with a statement victory.
Respect between these two after an unfortunate collision on Lap 1 in Austria 🤝#F1 || #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/spfH5NCSXD
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) June 29, 2025
Norris nailed his getaway to keep Leclerc behind on the run 200-metre charge to turn one with Piastri then launching his McLaren around the outside of the Ferrari and into second place, providing him with clear sight of his team-mate.
Verstappen had called his car 'undriveable' in qualifying on his way to taking a lowly seventh grid spot. And his torrid weekend was over on the first lap when Antonelli arrived like a torpedo at the third corner to T-bone the four-time world champion.
'I'm out, got hit, like crazy,' Verstappen said. 'F****** idiots.' In the other Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda was penalised for crunching Franco Colapinto and would finish 16th and last. A desperate weekend for Red Bull at their home event.
Back to the front, and the safety car – released following the first-lap drama – came in at the end of lap three. For the next 16 laps, Norris would never be more than a second clear of Piastri.
And on the 11th lap, Piastri made the first move when he overtook Norris on the entry to turn three. Norris did not challenge knowing that a clean exit would provide him with a slingshot on the downhill drag to the next corner, and his wily decision worked when he got his man back on the inside of the right-hander.
Clean racing from both, and the gap remained at half a second.
Norris then ran wide on the exit of the final bend on lap 15 allowing Piastri a chance to close, but the Australian resisted a challenge.
It was nip-and-tuck before Piastri attempted a banzai dive at turn four on lap 20. Piastri locked his front-right tyre and came agonisingly close to sliding into Norris' car.
McLaren promptly hauled in Norris for his first of two tyre changes. Piastri, perhaps as punishment, was left out on track with a flat-spotted tyre for four additional laps and was losing time – a signal that McLaren had seen enough.
By the time Piastri emerged from his stop, Norris was six seconds up the road.
'The feedback from the pit-wall was that the move into turn four was too marginal and we can't do that again,' Piastri was told by his race engineer, Tom Stallard.
Norris came in for his second stop with 18 laps remaining with a three-second lead. Piastri would stop the next time around and was then forced to take to the grass as he attempted to lap Colapinto in 14th.
THE TOP 10 FINISHERS 🤩#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/gchYdCm78B
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 29, 2025
Piastri continued his charge and with 10 laps to go was back within two seconds. 'I need some pace,' Norris said. 'Please help.'
But Piastri would not get a sniff as Norris took the chequered flag for his seventh career win – a perfect tonic as a pre-cursor to next weekend's British Grand Prix.
'We had a great battle, that's for sure,' Norris said. 'It was a lot of fun, a lot of stress, but a nice battle. It was tricky, hot and tiring, but the perfect result as a team.'
Piastri said on the radio: 'Sorry for my move at turn four, that was my bad.'
He added: 'I tried my absolute best and I probably could have done a better job when I momentarily got ahead. It was a bit on the edge, and I might have pushed a bit too far, but it was a good race and that is what we are here to do, to race each other and fight for wins.'
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BBC News
40 minutes ago
- BBC News
Win gives Norris 'confidence' before Silverstone
Lando Norris said his victory in the Austrian Grand Prix was "fulfilling" and "gives me good confidence" as he heads into this home race at McLaren driver drove just the sort of race he needed under intense pressure from team-mate Oscar Piastri to deliver his third win of the season and cut his deficit to the Australian in the championship to 15 the most important aspect of this for Norris was that it served as confirmation of a positive trajectory he has been on in the past few weeks after a difficult start to the season - and that it helped lay the ghosts of the last race in Canada, where he retired after running into the back of his sister McLaren."I don't need to prove any points or prove anything to anyone, honestly. I like to prove things to myself, probably more than anything," Norris said. "It's been a good clean weekend. Felt very comfortable and very on top of the car and performed exactly as I want to and as I need to."It's not that I've not been able to do it before, and the pace has always been there at certain points. It's just there's been some different reasons for different things."Certainly, coming in today and yesterday to do the job that I did, I'm pretty happy."But it doesn't come easily. It doesn't come just because I've turned up this weekend and things are better. I'm working a lot."I'm doing a lot more work than I used to away from the track with the team, on the simulator, with my own team, trying to improve everything that I can, both on and off the track. It's more a positive thing to see a lot of those things paying off immediately. Still need more, still want more. So, we'll keep working." Austria potentially a 'pivotal' race Norris was referring to the effort that has been put in by driver and team to address the difficulties he has suffered this season and which have put him on the back foot in the fight with being the superior McLaren driver on balance in 2024, that position was usurped by Piastri from the start of this win in Austria still leaves him two victories short of Piastri's tally in 2025, and the Australian still has four pole positions to his team-mate's three. But Austria was a potential pivotal race in a number of one thing, it is Norris' second win in four races - he also delivered from pole in Monaco at the end of last problem for Norris is that Monaco and Austria were punctuated by a convincing win by Piastri in Spain and, more importantly, Canada, where Norris made mistakes in qualifying that left him seventh on the grid, and then retired from the race after running into the back of his team-mate in a misjudgment while they were battling for fourth place late in the race. McLaren sat down with Norris - as they do with both drivers after every race - to review Canada, which team principal Andrea Stella described as a "benign situation" caused by "a misjudgment of proximity to the car ahead".This - Stella added in Austria - had been influenced by the fact that Piastri's car was in energy recovery mode at the time, "so he had less power, so the closing speed was faster than Lando could have anticipated".Stella added: "The conversations were all about the fact that the speed is there."Lando, pole position and victory in Monaco. When he touched the wall in qualifying in Canada, he was in line for pole position. He was the fastest car in Canada in the race. Pole position in Austria."The speed is there, we just have to polish a few things in execution and results will come, which is what Lando has demonstrated here in Austria."So very proud of Lando, very proud of how everyone handled the situation in Canada and the fact that we ended up more united and stronger." Norris 'very resilient' Norris' issue this season has not been that he has been lacking pace. It has been that he has been struggling to string laps together in qualifying to prove it. And that has been because of a specific issue with the car that has affected him more than Piastri - a lack of feel from the front Canada, McLaren introduced a tweak to the front suspension geometry aimed specifically at reducing the "numbness" or "lack of cueing" the drivers were feeling. Norris adopted it, and used it again in Austria. Piastri has not used it all, because he felt he did not need tweak is not a performance part per se. But because it increases the feel provided to the driver through the steering mid-corner, which Norris relies on heavily, it allows him to access more of the potential of the car more said: "It is to do more with the feeling that the driver has through the steering wheel in terms of understanding what's happening with the front tyres."It's available to Oscar, but this belongs to the category of things which is almost like a set-up option. It's not in itself something that increases the grip that you have available."Stella added: "We are in a period in which we definitely see that Lando is very resilient."So, credit to the work that Lando has done from a technical point of view, but also from a personal development point of view."And this is typical of all the athletes, all the champions. They never stay in the same place. It's a constant evolution from technical, like I say, professional point of view and personal." Piastri 'pushes the boundaries' Norris race in Austria was founded on a quite brilliant pole position lap, with the biggest margin of the gap was exaggerated by the fact that both Piastri and Red Bull's Max Verstappen were unable to complete their final runs in qualifying because of a spin for Alpine's Pierre Gasly at the final all Norris' rivals were impressed by his lap time, and he never looked like being beaten to race was a different matter. The first stint was a close battle between the two McLarens. Piastri's pass of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari into Turn One after the start allowed him to be within one second of Norris at the end of the first lap, and that gave him the use of the DRS overtaking aid, which gives a 0.7-second in turn, allowed Piastri to pressure Norris. And Norris, having to defend, had no possibility to get his battery back up to full power. It meant the two McLarens were tied together for the first stint.A couple of errors from Norris in the final two corners of lap 10 allowed Piastri to pass him into Turn Three on lap 11, but Norris fought back and reclaimed the position at Turn laps later, a bold dive for the inside at Turn Four from Piastri led to him locking his brakes and nearly collecting his team-mate. That earned him a censure from the team for taking too big a risk with the cars, something Piastri said was "fair comment"."Locking up and missing the back of your team-mate by not a lot is certainly pushing the boundaries," he added. "Even if I hadn't been told anything, I didn't think it was a wise decision to try that one again."It was close at some points, probably pushing the limits a bit much from my side once or twice."But we're fighting for race wins in Formula 1. It's going to be pretty tough work and pretty hard. I thought it was an entertaining race. After the first stop, maybe we didn't do the right thing giving Lando some breathing room, but the first 20 laps were pretty intense. So, it was a good battle."The fight was close all race, and after a strong middle stint from Norris, Piastri closed up again in the final stint. But Norris was able to control the gap and tick off the win. Silverstone 'more of a positive distraction' Austria was a race that made observers be thankful McLaren are operating a policy of open competition between their drivers, for Norris and Piastri were in a league of their acknowledged that an aerodynamic upgrade at the front of the car - involving new front wing, suspension fairings and brake ducts - had contributed to remains to be seen just how much they have moved the team forward compared with the rest of the field; Stella also pointed out that Austria is a track that would have favoured McLaren anyway, because their car was already strong in long, medium-speed corners, such as those that make up the final two-thirds of the lap at the Red Bull Ring. And also that Norris is "a little bit of a specialist in Austria".Next comes the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where both Mercedes and Red Bull have reasons to believe they can put up more of a his win, Norris says, he's "excited" for "the best race weekend of the year, in my opinion".And he rejected the idea that he was under any extra pressure there."Of course, it's a place I want to win more than anywhere else, but it doesn't change anything," he said. "It just puts a bit more of a smile on my face every morning when I wake up."It probably distracts me in a good way more than anything... more of a positive distraction, I would say, more than a pressure."There's pressure in every race. There's pressure to win today, to be on pole yesterday. I don't think I can put myself under any more pressure."
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