It proved to be a weekend to remember as the European leg of the 2026 season continued at the Austrian Grand Prix \u2013 with it being a particularly important one for George Russell, who returned to the top step for the first time since the opener in Australia.<\/p>\n
There were also plenty of other big talking points to emerge from the event, however, including the eye-catching performance of Max Verstappen in an upgraded Red Bull, a trickier outing for Ferrari, and an even tougher one for Cadillac.<\/p>\n
Join us as we round up all of the key moments from the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n Russell back on top \u2013 but did Antonelli lose it at the start?<\/p>\n Russell<\/a>‘s victory in the Austrian Grand Prix was only his second win on a Sunday during the 2026 season, with his previous triumph coming back at the opening round in Australia more than three months ago.<\/p>\n The win was much-needed for the Briton in his quest to cut Mercedes<\/a> team mate Kimi Antonelli<\/a>‘s lead in the Drivers’ standings<\/a>, with the margin now standing at 40 points.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tough races definitely test you psychologically, and these last two weekends for me have been vitally important to remind myself I can do it,\u201d said Russell after his win at the Red Bull Ring.<\/p>\n Russell had taken pole \u2013 albeit dramatically after setting his fastest lap with Verstappen’s Red Bull in the barrier through the final sector, the Briton having lifted at the scene of the yellow flags \u2013 and was never headed in Sunday’s 71-lap race apart from through the pit stop sequences.<\/p>\n But he had to work for his seventh career win, with a resurgent Verstappen and Antonelli hot on his heels as just two seconds separated the trio at the chequered flag.<\/p>\n For Antonelli, it was a weekend that promised much but was undone by fine details, such as backing out of his final Qualifying lap which left him fourth, having mistaken the single yellow flags for double.<\/p>\n Running deep at Turns 1 and 3 over the opening laps of Sunday’s race dropped him behind Verstappen, and the Italian teenager was forced to play catch-up over the remainder of the race before falling just short of a sixth win this season.<\/p>\n \u201cI was struggling with the brakes but after we changed tyre I reset and the pace at the end was very strong,” said Antonelli. “It was a shame I joined the party a bit too late.\u201d<\/p>\n Verstappen impresses on the weekend Red Bull bring upgrades<\/p>\n While Mercedes took their seventh Grand Prix win of the season out of eight races, Russell’s victory on Sunday in Austria was far from easy as Verstappen<\/a> put in his best performance of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n Red Bull<\/a> entered the weekend with a substantial upgrade package on their RB22 machine, allowing Verstappen to shine at the team’s home event.<\/p>\n But the four-time World Champion was left with sore knees after a high-speed crash on his final Qualifying effort through the penultimate corner, consigning the Dutchman to P5 on the grid but with a competitive package.<\/p>\n Having jumped both Antonelli and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at Turn 4 on the second lap, Verstappen shadowed Lewis Hamilton before overtaking the Ferrari driver after the first pit stops.<\/p>\n Verstappen was relentless as he closed to within one second of Russell through the middle phase of the race, but a late pit stop left Verstappen with too much to do as he had to overturn a 10-second gap.<\/p>\n He finished just 1.6s behind Russell at the chequered flag and split the Mercedes duo, stating: “To be second and close to a win I think is extremely positive for us. So in that sense, I’m very happy.”<\/p>\n Leclerc \u2018back to struggling\u2019<\/p>\n After mechanical issues forced retirements for Leclerc<\/a> in both Monaco and Barcelona, it looked like the Ferrari<\/a> man was ready to return to his best as he shone in Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring. His final lap saw him unexpectedly fly up the timesheets to take provisional pole position, which was taken away at the last moment by Mercedes\u2019 Russell.<\/p>\n P2 was still a much-needed confidence boost and suggested that the team were already reaping the rewards of their latest power unit update, especially as Hamilton<\/a> similarly maximised their one-lap pace to take P3 on the grid.<\/p>\n Hopeful that his fortunes had finally turned, Leclerc got a good launch at lights out and briefly challenged for the race lead, but his team mate was close enough to take advantage and demote the Monegasque to third. An early pit stop then did him few favours and he lost out in subsequent battles with Antonelli and Oscar Piastri \u2013 the latter duel also seeing him sustain damage to the front wing, and his race continued to go downhill from that point.<\/p>\n Another two stops followed, but the fresh tyres weren\u2019t enough to help Leclerc defend against his faster rivals and he ultimately settled for P8, adding a somewhat underwhelming four points to his season tally.<\/p>\n The result was just one part of Ferrari\u2019s tricky race day which saw Hamilton take fifth place, with the Briton left confused by their drop-off in performance as their tyre strategy failed to match up to the one that helped him secure victory last time out.<\/p>\n His day wasn\u2019t short of thrilling wheel-to-wheel action \u2013 which included more than one battle with Verstappen \u2013 but he simply couldn\u2019t keep up with the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull, leaving the Scuderia with plenty of questions to answer ahead of Hamilton\u2019s home race at Silverstone.<\/p>\n What happened to McLaren?<\/p>\n Early in the weekend, Lando Norris<\/a> and Piastri<\/a> weren\u2019t shy about emphasising how significant their gap to the frontrunners still is. The former believes that McLaren<\/a> are roughly \u201cthree months behind\u201d<\/a> teams like Mercedes, while Piastri admitted that beating Antonelli was unrealistic even after mingling near the top during Free Practice.<\/p>\n Their expectations proved to be fairly accurate as the early promise from Friday\u2019s running faded when it came to Qualifying, with Norris taking P6 just ahead of his team mate in P7.<\/p>\n There was more frustration to come for the reigning World Champion as he endured a lacklustre opening lap and lost a couple of positions, leaving him to linger behind the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar<\/a> \u2013 who was able to make the most of his team\u2019s major upgrade package \u2013 for the rest of the race.<\/p>\n One silver lining for McLaren was that they managed to finish ahead of both Ferrari drivers thanks to a confident drive by Piastri, who came out victorious in two separate battles with Leclerc to improve to P4 \u2013 his best result since the Miami Grand Prix.<\/p>\n Cadillac\u2019s update dream turns into a nightmare<\/p>\n Cadillac<\/a> headed into the Austrian Grand Prix weekend with the promise of a \u201csubstantial\u201d upgrade package \u2013 aimed at moving them off the back of the F1 grid and closer to 2026\u2019s midfield battle.<\/p>\n However, after the car was changed from front to rear, both Sergio Perez<\/a> and Valtteri Bottas<\/a> encountered major issues throughout Friday practice \u2013 the Mexican stopping twice amid electrical trouble and the Finn forced back to the pits when his machine overheated.<\/p>\n While Qualifying went more smoothly, leaving Perez and Bottas in P19 and P20 respectively, ahead of the Aston Martins<\/a>, Cadillac team boss Graeme Lowdon<\/a> admitted that the troubled Friday \u201cprobably cost us a lot of lap time as we couldn\u2019t really optimise preparation\u201d.<\/p>\n Both drivers had their eyes on cars ahead when the lights went out on race day, keen to mix it with the sport\u2019s more established teams, but any hopes of doing so were dashed after just a handful of laps when brake problems took hold.<\/p>\n Perez said afterwards: \u201cIt was a good start. We were in the fight; we were fighting [Williams driver Alex] Albon. We overtook him, he overtook us back, and things were looking good for us. Unfortunately, we had to retire quite early. It looked like we had a bit more pace to compete with the others, so it\u2019s a little bit of a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIt\u2019s been a very frustrating weekend for the whole team to have these issues. I expect a massive internal discussion on our processes and how we are doing things. We have to step up, because we cannot have these sort of issues.\u201d<\/p>\n F2 and F3 deliver action-packed Feature Races<\/p>\n