![\"SPIELBERG,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/002499e3-614.jpg\"\/)
\nGeorge Russell ended his 112-day wait for a victory<\/p>\n
George Russell withstood Max Verstappen’s challenge to end his 112-day wait for a victory by winning the Austrian Grand Prix and breathe fresh life into his world championship bid.<\/p>\n
Russell headed into the eighth round of the season at the Red Bull Ring without a win since the opening fixture of the season in Melbourne on 8 March.<\/p>\n
But the British driver delivered an impressive performance here in the sun-drenched Styrian Mountains to cross the line 1.6 seconds clear of Verstappen.<\/p>\n
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli finished third, just three tenths behind Verstappen, to allow Russell to reduce the Italian\u2019s title advantage from 50 points to 40, a week out from the British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s triumph also elevates him ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the standings after a questionable three-stop strategy scuppered the Ferrari driver\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n
Hamilton took the chequered flag in fifth and is now 46 points off the championship pace.<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri finished ahead of Hamilton in fourth, with Verstappen\u2019s Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar sixth and world champion Lando Norris seventh.<\/p>\n
“It’s incredible to be back on the top step,” Russell said. “It has been a little while, so I am going to enjoy it this evening. Max was incredibly quick so kudos to them. It was toasty out there so I am looking forward to a drink now.<\/p>\n
“The tough races test you psychologically, and the last two weekends have been important to remind myself I can do it.”<\/p>\n
After upsetting the form book to take a last-gasp pole position, Russell held his nerve on the stampede to the opening corner with the drama unfolding behind his Mercedes.<\/p>\n
Hamilton cleared team-mate Charles Leclerc for second on lap one before Antonelli briefly moved into third only to drop two places after he ran off the road.<\/p>\n
Verstappen crashed out of qualifying at the penultimate corner, but gained two positions to take third, with Hamilton firmly in his sights.<\/p>\n
On the 11th lap, Hamilton and Verstappen traded positions at Turns 3 and 4 before the Red Bull driver dropped two wheels on the gravel at Turn 6 and called for his one-time rival to be sanctioned.<\/p>\n
“That’s a penalty, a clear penalty,” Verstappen said, aggrieved that Hamilton had left him with nowhere to go during their thrilling duel. The stewards noted the flashpoint but elected against any serious action.<\/p>\n
\nGeorge Russell ended his 112-day wait for a victory<\/p>\n
In came Hamilton for his first of a hat-trick of stops \u2013 a strategy which would backfire \u2013 promoting Verstappen to second place and 5.7secs adrift of Russell\u2019s Mercedes.<\/p>\n
Verstappen changed tyres on lap 18, with Russell stopping the next time around. And Verstappen was back on Hamilton\u2019s Ferrari gearbox for the second chapter of their Spielberg ding dong.<\/p>\n
Just as before, Verstappen cleared Hamilton at Turn 3 only for Hamilton to take the position back at the next corner. But Verstappen had learned his lesson of 11 laps previously, and rather than take Hamilton around the outside of Turn 6, he slung his Red Bull underneath the Briton\u2019s Ferrari. Was Hamilton caught napping? Either way, Verstappen had the place, and Hamilton would not see him again.<\/p>\n
Carlos Sainz broke down and a Virtual Safety Car was deployed. Ferrari called Hamilton in for a second time \u2013 from a net third on the track \u2013 and moved him on to the least durable soft tyre compound. It meant Hamilton would have to stop at least one more time. Hamilton was now seventh, and with it all to do.<\/p>\n
Up front, Verstappen was beginning to reel in Russell, and by the start of lap 40, the Dutchman was just over a second back.<\/p>\n
But Mercedes moved quickly, bringing Russell in for a second time, and when Verstappen stopped for tyres six laps later, he was the best part of 11 seconds behind. It was Russell’s to lose from here, and although Verstappen would gain almost 10 seconds in 22 laps, he failed to face a significant challenge, and actually spent the final lap ensuring Antonelli did not sneak past for second.<\/p>\n
Antonelli said: “I was a bit too excited in the first laps and I didn’t drive well and made too many mistakes. The pace at the end was very strong so it was a shame I joined the party a little bit late.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Russell withstood Max Verstappen’s challenge to end his 112-day wait for a victory by winning the Austrian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-522962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}