What the teams said – Race day in Austria

McLaren

Norris got a great start, as did Piastri behind. The Australian picked off Leclerc through Turn 1, and from there it was a two-horse race to the flag. Piastri was within DRS range of Norris for the entire first stint, even overtaking for the lead, but immediately lost out as Norris pulled out the switcheroo and cut back inside his team mate. There was one tight moment where Piastri locked-up as he tried a move, the team warning him that that was on the edge. But then they pitted Norris and left Piastri out.

Norris got the undercut advantage and wound up with a six-second lead through the second stint. They pitted one lap apart for the final stint, and Piastri was pushed onto the grass as he came out alongside Colapinto. That cost him time – and as he chased back to his team mate, he wound up just two seconds adrift at the flag. A race of what might have been for the Australian, while Norris was faultless in recording his third win of the season.

Lando Norris, 1st

"I’m very happy with the result, a 1-2 is the perfect finish for us as a team. Oscar and I had a great battle, which was a lot of fun, and we were able to maximise the pace of the car and the strategy.

"Thanks to the team for the upgrades and all of their work to get us to a place where the car was able to pull away. Now, onto my favourite weekend of the year, Silverstone."

Oscar Piastri, 2nd

"That was an intense race. I'm happy we've come away with a 1-2 after some really good racing. After a solid start, I was close to the win, but it was tough to make progress to close the gap again after the first stop.

"A big thank you to the team for the great car they've given us. To have the pace to pull away from the field whilst battling each other was impressive, and something we can be proud of. Now, onto Silverstone."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“A perfect conclusion to a very competitive weekend, and a nice way to bounce back after a tough week in Canada. It’s been made possible by great work from the trackside team, and also a wonderful effort from everyone at the factory to deliver an upgrade that has made the MCL39 a faster car.

“The racing was great today between Lando and Oscar: fair, robust in a couple of moments, but with mutual respect. This is exactly what we want to see between our drivers. Lando drove a perfect weekend with a dominant Pole position, which he managed to convert into his third victory of the season. Oscar made a position at the start, overtaking Charles Leclerc, and then stayed right on Lando’s gearbox for the first stint and very close until the end of the race.

“We’re going to enjoy the moment – but not for very long as our focus must shift to the British Grand Prix. We want another strong performance at our home race, for our technical partners, our commercial partners and most of all, our many fans at Silverstone who have been with us all the way on this remarkable journey.”

Ferrari

Leclerc thought about a move on Norris into Turn 1, but as he pulled out of it, he created a gap for Piastri to squeeze through. That left him third and that is where he stayed pretty much all race – recording a comfortable podium, if a slightly dispiriting one given the gap the McLarens ahead wound up creating. Hamilton had to fight with Russell to get P4 back after losing out on the opening lap, soon pulling away from the Mercedes in the opening stint. He briefly tried to close in on Leclerc, but a moment of understeer sent him wide and cost him a few seconds. That left him too far back to chase, and he brought his car home a lonely fourth.

Charles Leclerc, 3rd

"I rate our weekend as a team really well. We brought some upgrades which helped us to take a step forward and start closing the gap to McLaren. Unfortunately, they were just faster today. In the first corner, I wanted to close in on Lando (Norris), but that left the door open for Oscar (Piastri) who was able to pass me for second place. I pushed a lot on the first stint and had quite a bit of degradation, but that’s part of the game. We don’t have any regrets today. We gave it everything and extracted the maximum from our race. We will continue to work hard to make more progress with the aim of getting back onto the top step of the podium. That’s our main priority and the whole team deserves it."

Lewis Hamilton, 4th

"It’s been a solid weekend for the team – we continued to improve our qualifying pace and the team did a great job throughout. We didn’t have the race pace we expected, but still, we came away with some solid points and a podium, which is something we can be proud of. We’ll analyse the data carefully to understand where improvements can be made. Thank you to everyone at the track and at the factory for their hard work and commitment. We remain focused and I’m looking forward to my first home Grand Prix with Ferrari."

Jerome D'Ambrosio, Deputy Team Principal

"We can be happy with this result. For a while now, Fred’s been saying we just need to put everything together and have a clean weekend and that’s what we did. Today, in a clean race, both our drivers ran a very similar pace. Obviously, the gap to McLaren is still big, especially during the race, but we’ll keep on pushing to close it down. The gaps between the teams change from race to race, so you just have to focus on yourself and do the best you can. Today, we moved back up to second in the Constructors’ even if by an extremely small margin and everyone in the team is keen to keep pushing to improve and do even better.

"As for stepping into Fred’s shoes, the reality is that in this team we have a lot of good people who know what they’re doing and so it didn’t really change anything in the process. The team operated well and the race was pretty straightforward from our perspective."

Red Bull

Verstappen’s race was over on the opening lap. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time as Antonelli tagged him into a spin, hitting the rear of the Red Bull hard enough to cause race-ending damage for the Dutchman. That left Tsunoda as the only Red Bull driver out there. He collided with Stroll early on as he tried to barge past the Canadian, which the stewards decided was a racing incident. But they handed Tsunoda a 10-second time penalty for his collision with Colapinto, who he tagged into a spin. That required a new front wing, and the long stop dropped Tsunoda down the back of the field on a day where P10 looked possible.

Max Verstappen, DNF

“The incident with Kimi on the first lap was unfortunate but no one does that on purpose and I knew it was an accident. He apologised to me when we were walking back from the track and he came to my room afterwards to apologise again, we get on very well, he is an amazing guy and a super talented driver. P6 for Lawson this weekend is fantastic. Unfortunately for us this weekend there weren’t a lot of positives and although we were unlucky with the yellow flag in qualifying yesterday and the incident today, we lacked pace throughout. We will have a look at everything we did from this weekend, I know how hard the Team work and we need to get a better understanding of the car. We have had some amazing performances at this track in the past and I am the most disappointed about this result in front of a home crowd, but we will continue to try and do our best and my mentality and focus will not change."

Yuki Tsunoda, 16th

"Firstly, apologies to Franco the move on him was a bit unnecessary, it was my mistake and I am sorry to my Team for the damage that caused and the time it cost us. It has been a poor day, and I am not sure what I am doing wrong right now, it is hard to find the reason behind why I can’t get it right in this car. The one lap pace is getting better but in terms of long run pace, the tyres feel like they are degrading lap by lap and very quickly. It feels like the track is chewing the tyres and it is really difficult to figure out why currently. I want to look through it with my Team and explore it more to find something different to do. I am really trying to get it right; I will look deeper into things and work harder to find the reasons. I need to focus on myself and want to improve. It is very frustrating, but I find myself in this situation and I have to resolve it myself. At the same time, I need to find the key to unlock the performance, whether it be technique or approach to this car."

Christian Horner, Team Principal

"It was a horrible race for us and desperately unlucky for Max to be taken out at turn 3 when he had done nothing wrong, he had a good start and made good progress. It’s a shame, I don’t think we would have been racing the McLarens today but we would have been racing the Ferraris pretty hard. With Yuki it was again not a great race, he had damage to the front wing, a penalty and so on, unfortunately for us it was a weekend to forget."

Mercedes

Antonelli came into Turn 3 a little hot after spotting a gap on the inside, and locked up. That sent him straight on and while he managed to avoid Lawson, he couldn’t avoid the Red Bull of Verstappen. He hit the RB21 hard enough to send both Verstappen and himself into immediate retirement – but held his hands up and apologised immediately. He was handed a three-place grid drop for the next race.

Russell picked off Hamilton into Turn 1, but lost the place back quite quickly. On a hot day, his Mercedes dropped back from the Ferraris as he couldn’t keep pace out there. Fifth was a case of damage limitation on a weekend that did not seem to play to his team’s strengths.

George Russell, 5th

"This Austrian Grand Prix weekend just confirmed where our strengths and weaknesses are with the W16. When it’s too hot, we tend to underperform, and we really struggle to keep up with the leaders’ pace. P5 was therefore the maximum we could have done today. Finishing 60 seconds away from the winning driver in Lando (Norris) shows the work we need to do. Thankfully, we know the areas where we need to improve and we will be working hard towards this.

"We now quickly move on to next weekend. Silverstone last year was a really good race. We got pole position and showed good potential before our retirement. The team tends to do really well at the British Grand Prix so hopefully we can replicate that once again. We have our fingers crossed that the conditions will be slightly cooler than this weekend and we can get back in the fight for the podium."

Kimi Antonelli, DNF

"I am very disappointed with how today played out. After the lights went out, I was just trying to maintain my starting position but made a mistake coming into Turn Three and that cost me a lot. I did not brake too late but after trying to avoid Liam (Lawson) I locked the rear brakes. I then locked the front brakes too and could not avoid the crash with Max (Verstappen).

"We didn’t get to see how our race would have played out so apologies to the team. I also want to say sorry to Max for ruining his race too. This was a big mistake, and I know we could have fought for a good result without it. Thankfully, we’ve got a race straight away next weekend, so our full focus is already on Silverstone."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"Today was not how we wanted things to go. The mistake made by Kimi was unfortunate, but this is what racing is. We now need to analyse what happened to understand better why the tyres locked the way they did. It was a shame for Kimi, us as a team, and also for Max (Verstappen) too, but this is just part of racing sometimes.

"George meanwhile had a lonely race. He ultimately maximised the car we had today, but he was not threatened by those behind but neither had the pace to challenge the Ferraris or McLarens ahead. The limiting factors for us are a more abrasive asphalt, longer corners and high temperatures. That is what we faced today but the gap we saw today was too big to reduce it down to those three elements alone. We will look at all the data and find solutions. Fortunately, we get back racing straight away next weekend. We are more confident heading there as the lower temperatures should help us perform better and we have been competitive at Silverstone in recent years."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"It is a shame that Kimi’s race got cut short at Turn Three. He locked the rear axle going into the corner, tried to avoid the cars ahead but unfortunately locked the front brakes too and ran into Max (Verstappen). This unfortunately marked the end of his race in Austria.

"On the other side of the garage, George struggled a lot with his tyre degradation. The conditions were much warmer than what we had in Free Practice and managing his tyres carefully was the only choice he was left with. The high temperatures here just showed where our weakness is again, and we will work really hard to solve this for the upcoming races.

"After struggling this much in hot races, we now have a better understanding of where we stand and what needs to be done to perform better. The next few days will see intense work from the team and hopefully we will be able to fight for a podium in Silverstone."

Racing Bulls

Lawson was very fortunate not to be fully collected by Antonelli on the opening lap, riding his luck although he picked up some damage after bumping his way past the Mercedes. From there, the team opted to try a one-stop race for the Kiwi, and it worked out perfectly. He had to contend with Alonso on his rear wing for the majority of the race, but didn’t put a foot wrong and came home a career-best P6. Hadjar was forced wide through Turn 1 on the opening lap, and again through Turn 3. That led to an early pit stop, and left him needing a very long final stint on the hards. On aging tyres, he dropped back through the order.

Isack Hadjar, 12th

“It was a frustrating day. We did a very good race and we were comfortably in the points until 15 laps before the end of the race. We made the strategy work very well and race pace-wise we were good; I was feeling fast. Unfortunately, though, we picked up some floor damage in Turn 1, and from there, I was losing more than 1 second per lap, so it was definitely a tough end for us. It’s a shame, as without the floor damage and after Liam finishing in P6, it could have been a double team point finish. Overall, the team did a really good job this weekend, considering the fast turnaround we made from Friday to Saturday, so well done to everyone. I’m looking forward to getting back to racing in Silverstone in only a few days."

Liam Lawson, 6th

"It was a great weekend, and it feels good to execute everything well. It’s been a tough season so far, with a lot of potential, and in this race, we were quick where it mattered and managed to see it through. After the first lap, I thought it might be over, but the team made a brave call with the one-stop strategy, it worked out perfectly. Full credit to them, they’ve been working incredibly hard behind the scenes, and I’m super proud. The car was really fast all weekend, we’re constantly pushing and making small adjustments to make it more comfortable. The goal now is to carry this momentum through the rest of the season. We need to take the positives, keep fighting, and keep scoring points.”

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“We left Canada with a bit of a bitter taste, with such a tight midfield any little mistake cost loads. Arriving in Austria, we were eager to deliver a strong result in front of the incredible Red Bull Ring crowd. This circuit is a world-class venue, and racing here feels like coming home for us.

"Today's race began with Liam starting from the third row in P6, thanks to an exceptional performance yesterday that showcased his speed. It’s never easy to start in a new team midseason, and he needed time to get used to our car. Yesterday’s great laps show the progress he is doing, together with the team. Isack’s starting position did not reflect his true potential this weekend. He demonstrated again his speed on this short yet challenging circuit, where a fraction of a second can significantly make the difference on the standings. The race was an incredible fight on a burning hot track.

"It did not look very bright after the first lap when both our cars were involved in incidents and lost many positions. From that point onward both Liam and Isack drove an incredible one stop race, whilst most of the field elected to 2-stop, and this allowed us to fight our way back to the very top of the midfield. The pace and the race execution were brilliant, Liam was unstoppable and defended for 70 laps to Fernando.

"As for Isack, only some debris that we picked up in the second part of the race stopped us from achieving a double points finish as we lost a very large amount of downforce on his car. It’s a well deserved reward for the relentless hard work of all the women and the men in Faenza and Milton Keynes. We believe we are moving in the right direction. With Silverstone just around the corner, we look forward to another thrilling home Grand Prix. The British GP is always a sold-out spectacle, and we will reset and try our best to put on a solid performance once again for our fans and employees.”

Aston Martin

Alonso had a very good race in Austria, one of just two drivers to make the one-stop strategy work. He started on the mediums and swapped to the hards, and had to absorb heavy pressure late on from Bortoleto. He lost out briefly but was able to gain the place straight back, some very clever racing from the veteran on show with the fight taking place while the race leaders were lapping the duo. As for Stroll, he was forced wide by Tsunoda early on, and never recovered to come near the points.

Fernando Alonso, 7th

"After starting P11, I'm really happy to finish P7 today in Austria. Our one-stop strategy worked really well. I was unsure about it this morning because of the heat, but it paid off and the team made the right decision. I was able to use DRS throughout the race and I was a bit lucky in the final laps - one more lap would have been too much. It's great to end a tough weekend on a high, and the team's hunger is clear to see. Let’s carry this momentum into Silverstone next week."

Lance Stroll, 14th

"We knew coming here it was always going to be a difficult weekend. We showed some early signs of decent pace in Free Practice but couldn’t keep the positive momentum with the hotter temperatures over the rest of the weekend. It was always going to be challenging starting the race so far back today, but I also struggled with tyre degradation early on and we had to adapt our strategy because of that. We will have to look into it and use the coming days to prepare for Silverstone where we go again next week."

Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer

"A well-planned and executed one-stop strategy helped us secure seventh place this afternoon. Fernando managed the tyre plan perfectly and made the most of a good track position just behind Lawson. It was not an easy strategy to convert, but credit to Fernando and the team for making it work. Lance pushed hard and was involved in a few battles throughout the field, but he suffered with high tyre degradation and points were out of reach for him today. Our attention now turns to the British Grand Prix in just a few days' time. We will look to score more points in our home race."

Kick Sauber

Kick Sauber scored with both cars for the first time this season, their upgrades doing the business in Austria. Bortoleto started well, kept out of trouble and looked on for big points. In the end he wound up behind the one-stopping duo of Alonso and Lawson, running out of time to pick them off although he had a very good go on the last few laps of getting past his manager. As for Hulkenberg, he started last and yet climbed up into the points in a very good drive. He kept out of trouble, picked his battles wisely and grabbed his third points finish in a row.

Nico Hulkenberg, 9th

“It’s a great feeling to be in the points for the third time in a row – especially after a tough qualifying yesterday. We executed a solid race today: aggressive strategy, early first stop, and we managed to make the tyres last while keeping the pace strong. That paid off. I’ve always felt even more confident with our race pace, and today we were able to make the most of the opportunities. Since Barcelona, we’ve found a better balance with the car and the performance is coming together more consistently. That’s encouraging. We've shown consistent good performance three times in a row now on different track layouts. Double points for the team is a fantastic result – and I’m really happy for Gabi scoring his first points in F1. Big congratulations to him, well deserved. Another six points in the bag, a happy team, and positive momentum. Let’s keep pushing.”

Gabriel Bortoleto, 8th

"What a race! I am thrilled to have scored my first points in Formula One, especially as we achieved a double points result, too. It was an amazing race – super intense from start to finish, and I am really proud of what we have done today, together, as a team. The pace was strong, the strategy worked out just right, and the whole team did an incredible job. We put the weekend together, stayed sharp in every moment, and I finally got my first points. This is a testament of how much progress we have made and of what we are capable when everything clicks. This is just the beginning, though: for me, it means to keep pushing, keep improving, and aim for even bigger results. The battle with Fernando [Alonso] at the end was a fun one – he didn’t make it easy! – but today was really about the team and taking this important step forward together."

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal

"A fantastic result for the team here in Austria. Nico becomes the first Sauber driver since Valtteri in 2022 to score points in three consecutive races – and it’s only the eighth time in our 32-year history that a driver has climbed from 20th or lower to finish in the top nine. We hadn’t finished in the top eight here since 2001 – so this result is something very special for the team.

“Gabriel was on a medium – medium – hard strategy and showed strong pace but, unfortunately, got caught in traffic and lapped by the McLarens near the end – otherwise, I think he could have finished higher. He’s shown impressive pace and consistency all weekend and truly deserves his first points in Formula One. With Nico, we took a bold approach on a soft – medium – medium strategy, and his smart, measured drive delivered our first double points finish of 2025.

“Huge credit to everyone at the factory – Mattia and the whole team have done an outstanding job bringing these upgrades. The tools are correlating well, the car is responding, and the team is executing to increasingly high standards. We leave Austria energised for Silverstone and ready to fight for every place and for every point."

Haas

Haas might have struggled for one-lap pace this weekend, but their race pace was good. They split strategies, starting Bearman on the softs and Ocon on the mediums. Both made up places and got their elbows out, and briefly it looked like they might score with both cars too. But Bearman’s second stop dropped him back, and both he and his team mate ran out of time to chase down Hulkenberg ahead. Still, Ocon scored which is important as the midfield fight tightens up once again.

Esteban Ocon, 10th

“I’m very happy, looking at where we were in qualifying it’s a great recovery by the whole team. We got a point for consolation but it means a lot as it shows we have a really good race car, we just need a bit more in qualifying, trying to get a bit more performance. The car was very solid and reliable, and I thank the team for that – as we ended in the interesting positions at the end. It was tough racing out there today, how I like it, but it was a bit too tough perhaps because it could’ve cost us a lot more – but we should be pleased with the point.”

Oliver Bearman, 11th

“It was a good race overall, we made good progress. On the first stint on softs, I had a good opening stint but it left us with a lot to do on the next two sets of tyres. We really struggled in the middle stint and that’s where my race came undone. The final run was a bit better but I had to go quite early onto the mediums, so it was another long stint. Overall, I’m glad with the progress we made getting to P11 and P10 with Esteban, we had good race pace today.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“To get to P10 from P17 is positive – normally a very good result. What’s not as good is with Esteban I think we could’ve done even better. Esteban’s driving was really good, his first and second stints were so strong, I feel we may have pitted just a bit early on the first stop. That eliminated the chance to do a one-stop race with him which I think we could’ve done with his tyre management and pace. On Ollie’s side his first stint on softs was good, and the pit stop was good, but it was the second stint on hard tires where he just had no pace and fell backward. We don’t understand that yet, so we need to look into it. It’s good we scored a point but our competitors scored more so we have some catching up to do in Silverstone. We have a new package coming for the next race, so we need to get the maximum out of it – a tenth makes a big difference – so we need to be on it.”

Alpine

The two Alpine drivers had eventful races. Gasly had a great start on the soft tyres, but once those ran out of life, he dropped back. The Frenchman fought his way back into the top 10, but his second stop dropped him into traffic and he couldn’t recover late on a day where many of Alpine’s rivals scored. As for Colapinto, he was tagged into a spin by Tsunoda. Those two had multiple moments throughout the race, and were busy fighting when Piastri exited the pits. Colapinto seemed to not see the McLaren and forced him wide onto the grass – a move that earned him a five-second time penalty.

Pierre Gasly, 13th

“A very disappointing afternoon in the end for the team. We have a lot to understand and analyse as I just felt a lack of grip all race and really struggled across all the stints. I am not sure why, maybe some damage to the car, maybe not, but we need to review this one in detail as it was a very long afternoon and a frustrating outcome. We had a very good start, up to sixth place at the end of the first lap. After that, there is not much to say other than it being a difficult race. We move onto Silverstone straight away now for the home race of Enstone. It is always a fantastic event and one I look forward to going to, this time aiming to bounce back from this tough weekend.”

Franco Colapinto, 15th

“It was a hot and frustrating afternoon today. We had a good start but as the race went on, we struggled with the car and the balance, which did not really work for us as a team. We lacked pace today and we suffered more with the tyres than usual with high degradation. Right now, we do not know why, so we need to sit down together as a team and carefully review it. I had the incident with Tsunoda at Turn 4, which set us back a bit and lost us some time. Yuki came to me and said sorry afterwards, but it's a pity as the car felt different following the contact, potentially due to some damage. We have a short time between now and Silverstone where we will go back to the factory at Enstone and work hard with the aim of coming back stronger at the team's home race next weekend.”

Flavio Briatore, Executive Advisor

“Ultimately, we have lost ground to our direct rivals in the Championship after another race without scoring points and, frankly, this level of performance is increasingly concerning. While yesterday the car was quick and should have been well inside Q3 with two cars, Sundays are a very different story for us and it is important we understand why this is, especially if we want to turn this season around from this difficult position.”

Williams

Williams had a day to forget in Austria. Sainz didn’t manage to pull away on the Formation Lap to cause the start to be aborted. He did manage to get away, whizzing round to pull into the pits and start from there. But then his brakes caught fire, and the damage done by that and extinguishing the flames damaged his car too badly for him to take part in the race. Albon had a great getaway when the race did start, and was running solidly in the points. But just after his pit stop, he was called back by the team to retire the car with an issue. That is Albon’s third DNF in a row.

Alex Albon, DNF

"A very frustrating and disappointing day. We had a great start; we were a bit fortunate as the waves parted for us, but we were in the right place at the right time, had a good car, executed a nice overtake on Pierre [Gasly] and were pulling away from the cars behind. Then we ran into this issue which looks similar to the one in Canada, but we need to review it. We've had three DNFs in a row and it's the same car as it was at the beginning of the year, so we need to investigate why it was more reliable then. It's possibly the temperatures that we're running at, but it is in the races that we are suffering. We can't afford for it to happen at Silverstone as that's a good track for us and we've missed out on points today, so we need to deep dive and find a solution."

Carlos Sainz, DNS

"Too many issues yesterday, too many issues today. This weekend I couldn’t show the true pace that I know we had and that leaves me frustrated. However, it’s time to stay focused and work even harder as a team to learn from this tricky period and bounce back. I’m fully confident that if we manage to execute clean weekends, better results will come soon. Up next is our home race at Silverstone, so let’s keep pushing to make the most out of it!"

James Vowles, Team Principal

"A very disappointing day. We had the pace today to comfortably finish sixth, and yet we walk away with a double DNF. We had two different issues that need to be understood to make sure we rectify them going forward. We’re on a good journey towards building a fast car but we're not complete yet in terms of operation and reliability. We 13 races in front of us this season and they're key races to build this muscle and this capability to make sure that, as we move up the grid and we get faster and faster, we're able to fight at the front with the very best."

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“The first race weekend in the height of summer saw our tyres behave as expected, both yesterday in qualifying and today in the race. Over 70 laps run in very high temperatures – the track varied between 52 and 55 °C – degradation across the three compounds was higher than during Friday free practice, when temperatures were between 15 and 20 °C lower, however not by a significant amount.

“All three compounds proved they could play their part, both at the start, with five drivers choosing the C5 for the first stint, while Stroll tried to do something different, fitting it with about 15 laps remaining. As expected, the two-stop was the quickest strategy, but those who tried the one-stop proved to be pretty competitive, to the extent of finishing in the top ten. In terms of performance, the Hard and Medium proved to be quite similar, while the Soft was competitive in the opening laps, but then obviously dropped off, starting from around laps 7 and 8.

“Now we head for Silverstone, a track that is always very hard on tyres. We have chosen a trio of dry weather compounds that is a step softer than in the past (C2, C3 and C4) and we are keen to see how they will perform and what effect this will have on race strategy.”