The race for the Austrian Grand Prix was run in significantly hot conditions, which was a big problem for some teams due to the large degradation of the tires, as well as the incident between Leclerc and Piastri at the start.
Verstappen went through the first corner without problems. Hamilton overtook Sainz, and in the 3rd lap he also overtook Russell for 3rd place. Before that, Leclerc had contact with Piastri where the front wing was damaged, so he had to pit immediately.
Russell responded to Hamilton and regained the position, soon Sainz did the same, so he returned to the 4th position. But the Briton was still chasing the Spaniard. Piastri, who had contact with Leclerc, Perez, overtook Perez for 6th place on the 8th lap. In the 11th lap, Verstappen already had a 4.5-second advantage over the second-placed Norris, and a lap later several drivers changed tires. The ranking of the top 5 after the 13th lap was: Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Sainz, Hamilton.
Gasly, who started 13th, reached 9th place in 17 laps. Leclerc was in the pits for the second time during the 18th lap. Verstappen extended his lead to 5.9 seconds on lap 22 over Norris, with Hamilton and Perez pitted on the same lap and Russell and Sainz doing the same on lap 23.
Verstappen and Norris changed tires on Lap 24, while Hamilton received a 5-second penalty for crossing the pit line. After changing the tires of the top 10, Verstappen increased his lead to 6.9 seconds over Norris in the 27th lap.
The three-time champion increased his lead to 7.5 seconds on the 32nd lap, and the order of the top 10 looked like this: Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Piastri, Perez, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Ricciado.
Ocon and Gasly once again had a heated battle with Gasly complaining about being pushed off track by a teammate during the 36th lap. Verstappen complained about the tires in the 40th lap in which he had an 8-second lead, while Gasly and Ocon again had a fierce duel in the 42nd lap in which Gasly overtook Ocon.
Russell and Sainz changed tires in the 46-48 period. Lap, and the Briton had the fastest lap. Verstappen started to complain about the tires during the 50th lap in which he had an advantage of 6.8 seconds, so he entered the pits on the 51st lap as Norris did.
Lando entered the DRS during the 54th Round. Nizozemav+c was complaining about the car, and the McLaren driver was getting closer and closer. Norris briefly overtook Verstappen on lap 60, but had to give back 1st position because he cut a corner.
Verstappen overtook Norris off the track on Lap 63, just as Norris had done earlier. On Lap 64 there was contact in which Norris overtook Verstappen, but Norris received a 5-second penalty and had a flat tire.
Russell took advantage of this and moved into leadership. Behind him, Piastri attacked Sainz and moved into 2nd position. Verstappen managed to get to the pits and put on soft tires, and during that time the VSC was highlighted, who gave Verstappen a 10-second penalty for contact with Norris.
The race resumed as normal on lap 68 and Russell took the lead ahead of Piastri and Sainz. The Brit held his position until the end and achieved an incredible victory in Austria.
