Introduction
Mercedes’ George Russell claimed a considerably surprising victory within the 2024 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix after a vastly dramatic finish to the race. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collided within the battle for the lead, dropping Verstappen down the order and forcing Norris to retire.
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While Verstappen had made a powerful begin from pole place to carry P1 for a lot of the race, an exhilarating duel with McLaren driver Norris unfolded when each made their ultimate pit stops on Lap 52 of 71, the place Red Bull suffered a uncommon slower cease as a consequence of a problem with the left rear wheel.
With the hole between them at lower than two seconds, Norris was scorching on his rival’s tail and made a couple of try to grab P1. But all of it got here to a head on Lap 64 when the pair made contact, inflicting each to limp again to the pits with punctures.
This allowed Russell – who had lengthy been working in third – to comb by way of to take the lead within the Mercedes, which he held till the chequered flag to say the second race win of his F1 profession.
In what might have been a small comfort for McLaren, Oscar Piastri took P2 forward of the lead Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in third. There was then a sizeable hole again to the Silver Arrows machine of Lewis Hamilton in fourth, whereas Verstappen crossed the road in fifth, a place he saved regardless of being handed a 10-second penalty for the incident with Norris.
Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen marked a powerful efficiency for Haas by taking sixth and eighth, respectively. Sergio Perez’s Red Bull was sandwiched between them in seventh. Daniel Ricciardo claimed two factors for RB within the ninth, and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine rounded out the highest 10.
It was an eventful day for Charles Leclerc, who recovered from a first-lap incident with Piastri to work his approach as much as P11 through 4 pit stops within the Ferrari. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon adopted in P12, having earlier loved a detailed battle with teammate Gasly.
Lance Stroll was the lead Aston Martin in P13 on what proved to be one other powerful day for the squad, forward of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda in P14 and the Williams of Alex Albon in P15.
Kick Sauber’s wait for his or her debut factors of 2024 continues, with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu crossing the road in sixteenth and seventeenth, respectively.
Fernando Alonso set the quickest lap on his ultimate tour however ended the day in P18. Throughout the occasion, he struggled for tempo within the Aston Martin and was penalised for pushing Zhou off the monitor earlier within the afternoon.
Logan Sargeant was the ultimate categorised runner for Williams in nineteenth, whereas Norris – carrying a five-second time penalty for exceeding monitor limits – in the end retired within the pits following the injury sustained in his conflict with Verstappen, ending a day that had been full of promise in an sad trend.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
When you least count on it, the sparks fly! The first two-thirds of the race had been typically linear; it solely took a small downside at Verstappen’s second pit cease to convey collectively on monitor the 2 excellent drivers of this weekend, thus triggering an exhilarating on-the-limit duel. It produced an exhilarating finale which, in the long run, labored out to the good thing about George Russell, who was due to this fact in a position to safe his second-ever Grand Prix win: congratulations to him and Mercedes! Overall, there was lots of overtaking on this race, a few of it spectacular.
From our finish, there have been no curveballs. The tyres carried out precisely as we had anticipated, aligning with our pre-race simulations and the information evaluation from Friday and Saturday. Our technique predictions had been largely on level, with the Medium and Hard tyres being the first selections for the race. The Medium, particularly, confirmed a slight edge, particularly on the extra aggressive vehicles. Despite having two units of Hards at their disposal, the Red Bull duo opted for the C4 for the third stint, a choice influenced by the efficiency of their rivals on this section of the race.
On the opposite hand, the C3, which suffered barely much less from degradation, labored properly for many who opted to run a really brief first stint on the Medium earlier than exploiting the better consistency of the white-banded tyres. Thus, they managed to get into the factors, as did the Haas pair of Hulkenberg and Magnussen and Ricciardo (Racing Bulls).
The day on the monitor:
As anticipated, the simplest technique was a two-stop: those that did three or extra – Verstappen, Leclerc, Alonso and Sargeant – did so for unexpected circumstances, not by selection. All the drivers lined up on the grid on Medium tyres whereas ranging from the pit lane; Zhou went with the Hard. The C4 and the C3 had been the undoubted protagonists of this race, with the C5 solely placing in an look on the finish, utilized by Verstappen for the final seven laps after his enforced cease and by Alonso, who was making an attempt for the race’s quickest lap, which he did certainly set.
Daniel Ricciardo drove the longest stint of the race, finishing a 34-lap third and ultimate stint on the Hard tyre. The prize on Mediums goes to Pierre Gasly, who did 29 laps, and on this case, too, the French Alpine driver did it in his ultimate stint.
What’s subsequent?
This was Pirelli’s busiest weekend of the 12 months, working as sole tyre provider on the Austrian Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Spa and Rally Poland. The Formula 1 season continues apace, with the traditional British Grand Prix at Silverstone subsequent weekend. Racing across the Northamptonshire monitor may even be the Formula 2 and Formula 3 vehicles. That identical weekend, there’s one other motor racing traditional, with the DTM championship spherical on the Norisring, together with the ADAC GT4, for which, as soon as once more this 12 months, Pirelli is the only provider. And that’s not all, as Pirelli may even be on the European Rally Championship spherical in Estonia and Suzuka for the GTWC Asia.
2024 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix Race Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Country | Team | Time | Points | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 63 | George Russell | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 1:24:22.798 | 25 | 111 |
| 2. | 81 | Oscar Piastri | Australia | McLaren Racing | +1.906s | 18 | 112 |
| 3. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Spain | Scuderia Ferrari | +4.533s | 15 | 135 |
| 4. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +23.142s | 12 | 85 |
| 5. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Netherlands | Red Bull Racing | +37.253s | 10 | 237 |
| 6. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Germany | Haas F1 Team | +54.088s | 8 | 14 |
| 7. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Mexico | Red Bull Racing | +54.672s | 6 | 118 |
| 8. | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Denmark | Haas F1 Team | +60.355s | 4 | 5 |
| 9. | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Australia | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +61.169s | 2 | 11 |
| 10. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | France | Alpine F1 Team | +61.766s | 1 | 6 |
| 11. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Monaco | Scuderia Ferrari | +67.056s | 0 | 150 |
| 12. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | France | Alpine F1 Team | +68.325s | 0 | 3 |
| 13. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Canada | Aston Martin F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 17 |
| 14. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Japan | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 19 |
| 15. | 45 | Alexander Albon | Thailand | Williams Racing | +1 lap | 0 | 2 |
| 16. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Finland | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 0 |
| 17. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | China | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 0 |
| 18. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Spain | Aston Martin F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 41 |
| 19. | 2 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Williams Racing | +2 laps | 0 | 0 |
| 20. | 4 | Lando Norris | Great Britain | Mclaren Racing | +7 laps | 0 | 156 |
2024 Constructor Standings
| Pos | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Red Bull Racing | 355 |
| 2. | Scuderia Ferrari | 291 |
| 3. | McLaren Racing | 268 |
| 4. | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 196 |
| 5. | Aston Martin F1 Team | 58 |
| 6. | Visa Cash App F1 Team | 30 |
| 7. | Haas F1 Team | 19 |
| 8. | Alpine F1 Team | 9 |
| 9. | Williams Racing | 2 |
| 10. | Kick Sauber F1 Team | 0 |
Here are the team-by-team highlights:
