Norris fends off Piastri for victory, Verstappen taken out by Antonelli

Lando Norris held off a race-long challenge from McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to claim victory at the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix.

The McLaren pair were untouchable against the rest of the field, leaving the duo to scrap for the race win, with polesitter Norris surviving a couple of challenges to take the chequered flag and close the gap to Piastri at the top of the drivers’ championship to 15 points.

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen lost ground in the standings having been shunted out of the race on lap one by the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Piastri had been given permission to battle for the lead before being warned by the McLaren pitwall that one of his attempts had been too close to the bone, with a late push unable to give him the chance to threaten due to the positioning of feuding backmarkers.

Charles Leclerc took the final step on the podium, coming home a distant third for Ferrari, who proved to be the best of the rest as Lewis Hamilton took fourth spot.

George Russell, race winner in Canada, was over half a minute behind Hamilton in fifth, with Liam Lawson an impressive sixth for Racing Bulls.

A battle of master and apprentice saw the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso hold off a late challenge from Gabriel Bortoleto for seventh, the Sauber rookie picking up his first points of his F1 career.

The second Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg also scored points in ninth, with the Haas of Esteban Ocon rounding out the points.

The initial start was aborted as Carlos Sainz failed to get his Williams off the line and was only able to be pushed away from the starting grid as Norris led the formation lap into the final corner.

Sainz eventually got going but, after coming into the pits, the rear of his Williams caught fire as his mechanics sprinted to the end of the pitlane to quell the flames – only for Sainz to be forced to retire before the restart.

Piastri past Leclerc into the first corner, as Russell got past former team-mate Hamilton, but it was behind them though where the action happened. Reigning world champion Verstappen was left waving to his adoring fans as Antonelli locked his rears and steamed straight into the Dutchman at Turn 3.

The incident brought out the safety car just moments after Hamilton had retaken fourth from the Mercedes of Russell, with the Ferrari able to hold Russell at bay at the restart.

Up front, McLaren gave Piastri the clearance to race Norris and he kept the pressure on the leader, who was racing in the clean air.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

It was lap 11 where Piastri made his move into Turn 3 after a small error from Norris, who kept a cool head and cut back underneath the rear wing of his team-mate to retake the lead.

Alex Albon compounded a dreadful afternoon for Williams, retiring at the end of lap 16 to leave both cars in the garage.

Meanwhile, out front Norris came in for his first stop at the end of lap 20, having survived a late lunge from Piastri which saw the Australian lock up slightly.

Norris switched to the hard compound but a stop of 3.1s gave Piastri a chance to push – even if he reported a flat spot from the earlier dive at Norris into Turn 4. McLaren asked Piastri if he wanted to follow his team-mate into the pits or stay out and have fresher rubber later in the grand prix.

Piastri came in on lap 24 and it was another slow stop from McLaren, 3.4s stationary in his box as he emerged over five seconds adrift of Norris, he was then given a message over the radio that his Turn 4 attempt was too close to the bone for the McLaren hierarchy.

Yuki Tsunoda, struggling for performance as the sole Red Bull remaining in the race, was battling further down the field and clipped Franco Colapinto at Turn 4, Tsunoda requiring a new front wing and dropping to the back of the field before the Japanese was handed a 10-second penalty for the collision.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

As the race past the midway point, Piastri started to close in on Norris as he took a whole second out of the leader on lap 40.

The positions remained the same heading into the second round of stops, Norris boxing a lap earlier while Piastri ended up behind the Tsunoda/Colapinto battle and was almost crashed into by the latter, who appeared oblivious to the fact he was being lapped and was handed a 5s penalty as a result.

Heading into the final 10 laps, Piastri cut the gap once more, getting to within two seconds of Norris who pleaded over the radio: “I need some place, please help.” He was later told that he hand front wing damage that the team could not address.

Norris would hold on to take the win, managing to put the tussling Alonso and Bortoleto between himself and Piastri for the closing lap.

F1 Austrian GP – Race results