PIASTRI-MAX SWAP RUMOUR REIGNITES AS MCLAREN CHIEF\u2019S \u2018BANANA PEEL\u2019 ANSWER CAUSES STIR<\/a><\/p>\nHamilton & Verstappen do battle again! | 00:39<\/p>\n
Isack Hadjar in the second Red Bull and world champion Lando Norris in the second McLaren.<\/p>\n
Charles Leclerc was eighth in the second Ferrari ahead of the two Red Bulls of Liam Lawson and rookie Arvid Lindblad.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s beautiful to be back on the top step,\u201d said Russell.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a while so I\u2019m definitely going to enjoy this one tonight. Max and Red Bull were incredibly quick this weekend, so kudos to them. I had to push every single lap — and I\u2019m looking forward to a drink now.\u201d <\/p>\n
Leclerc and Piastri clash in Austria! | 00:42<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s win trimmed Antonelli\u2019s advantage ahead of him in the title race by 10 points to 40, the Italian teenager having reeled off five straight wins to establish a clear lead earlier in the season.<\/p>\n
Verstappen, who started fifth, made light of the temperatures of 37C (air) and 62C (track). <\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt was a very good race for us. The first laps were fun and then I managed the tyres.\u201d <\/p>\n
Antonelli said: \u201cI was a bit too excited in the first laps and I didn\u2019t drive well, but after changing tyres, I reset and the pace was strong. It\u2019s a shame I joined the party a bit too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Russell returned to winning ways after a series of disappointments.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
On an afternoon of searing heat in the Styrian Alps, Russell made a clean start from his 11th career pole to lead while, behind him, Hamilton passed Leclerc for second and Antonelli, in pure exuberance, ran off twice on the opening lap.<\/p>\n
He passed Leclerc on lap two, but had to give the place back, offering Verstappen a chance to sweep through for third.<\/p>\n
By this stage, both Cadillacs had retired with overheating and Verstappen closed on Hamilton before diving past him on lap 11, prompting a wheel-to-wheel battle as the Briton hung on to second before pitting.<\/p>\n
He returned on hards in 11th, with instructions to push as Russell pulled 5.4 seconds clear of Verstappen and Antonelli rose to third.<\/p>\n
‘Tough races test you psychologically’ | 00:21<\/p>\n
Verstappen pitted on lap 19, returning two seconds behind Hamilton before Russell came in and gave Antonelli the lead on lap 20, as Verstappen snatched third with a bruising move on Hamilton.<\/p>\n
Verstappen was involved in an intense battle with Hamilton which he felt pushed the boundaries. <\/p>\n
The Red Bull ace at one point claimed over team radio that there was a \u201cclear penalty\u201d for Hamilton when he was edged ino the gravel during a battle through the sweeps. <\/p>\n
Hamilton denied it after the race, saying it was all on Verstappen. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe went off the outside. You don\u2019t expect to go around the outside of a champion,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t expect to go around the outside of him there and hold the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he was behind at the apex, and therefore he should have backed out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Antonelli then pitted on lap 24, seconds before a brief Virtual Safety Car when Carlos Sainz stopped on the main straight. He rejoined fifth while Hamilton pitted again for used softs for another spell of spicy racing.<\/p>\n
All this left Russell leading ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli at half-distance with Hamilton chasing Piastri for fourth before both pitted on lap 43 followed by Russell.<\/p>\n
(L-R) Second placed Red Bull Racing’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen, winner Mercedes’ British driver George Russell, a Mercedes teammember and third placed Mercedes’ Italian driver Kimi Antonelli celebrate on the podium after the Formula One Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring race track in Spielberg, Austria on June 28, 2026. (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
Verstappen delighted his \u2018orange army\u2019 in the grandstands, with Antonelli 4.3 adrift and Russell third, but more stops loomed as a tactical race of shifting strategies and degrading tyres took shape.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman pitted again on lap 50, handing the lead to Antonelli who in turn pitted once more to give the initiative to Russell. With 21 laps to complete, Russell resisted as Verstappen chased him home.<\/p>\n
Antonelli calm despite Russell victory | 00:42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Russell returned to winning ways after a series of disappointments on Sunday when he claimed a measured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-766583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n