ROUND

8

Austrian Grand Prix

2026-06-28·71 laps

George Russell converted pole position into a comfortable-looking Austrian Grand Prix win, only for the closing laps to turn tense as championship leader Kimi Antonelli — who had run wide multiple times early on and lost time behind Leclerc — used a different tyre offset to fight back through the field and close onto race-long second-place man Max Verstappen. Antonelli got within Overtake Mode range on the final lap but could not quite complete the move, leaving Verstappen to hold on for second, 1.611 seconds behind Russell, with Antonelli a further four-tenths back in third. Oscar Piastri took fourth for McLaren, well clear of a disappointing afternoon for Ferrari: Lewis Hamilton could only manage fifth after his three-stop strategy failed to deliver, while Charles Leclerc — demoted by Isack Hadjar's Red Bull after Ferrari's hard-tyre gamble backfired — trailed home eighth behind Hadjar, Lando Norris and his own late pit stop. Cadillac endured a miserable home-region weekend as both Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas retired early with overheating brakes, joined on the sidelines by Lance Stroll (suspected ERS issue) and Carlos Sainz, whose Williams stopped on the main straight with an electrical problem.

Race Winner

George Russell

Mercedes

Fastest Lap

1:10.374

Kimi Antonelli

Conditions

☀ Dry

Circuit Profile

Red Bull Ring

Lap length

4.318 km

Race distance

71 laps · 306.6 km

Tyre allocation

H C3 · M C4 · S C5

Pit-lane loss (model)

≈ 21.6 s

Tyre degradation

High

Overtaking

Easier

Pit-lane loss, degradation and overtaking are PITWALL simulator inputs for this circuit, not official figures.

Red Bull Ring circuit guide →Run this circuit in the simulator →

Qualifying

POS	Driver	Q1	Q2	Q3	Grid
1	George Russell	1:07.398	1:06.979	1:06.113	1
2	Charles Leclerc	1:07.543	1:07.030	1:06.349	2
3	Lewis Hamilton	1:07.290	1:06.994	1:06.408	3
4	Kimi Antonelli	1:07.083	1:06.763	1:06.414	4
5	Max Verstappen	1:07.407	1:07.183	1:06.475	5
6	Lando Norris	1:07.259	1:06.897	1:06.502	6
7	Oscar Piastri	1:07.487	1:06.890	1:06.511	7
8	Isack Hadjar	1:07.408	1:07.086	1:06.632	8
9	Liam Lawson	1:07.385	1:07.136	1:06.955	9
10	Arvid Lindblad	1:07.549	1:07.155	1:07.007	10
11	Pierre Gasly	1:08.038	1:07.223	—	11
12	Gabriel Bortoleto	1:08.035	1:07.293	—	12
13	Oliver Bearman	1:08.061	1:07.523	—	13
14	Nico Hulkenberg	1:08.066	1:07.611	—	14
15	Esteban Ocon	1:08.231	1:07.817	—	15
16	Franco Colapinto	1:07.894	1:08.171	—	16
17	Carlos Sainz	1:08.252	—	—	17
18	Alexander Albon	1:08.509	—	—	18
19	Sergio Perez	1:08.945	—	—	19
20	Valtteri Bottas	1:09.030	—	—	20
21	Fernando Alonso	1:09.942	—	—	21
22	Lance Stroll	1:10.363	—	—	22

Grid to Finish

Places gained or lost between the starting grid (after penalties) and the flag, for 10 of 10 classified drivers.

Biggest gains

Fernando AlonsoP21 → P18+3

Nico HulkenbergP14 → P12+2

Gabriel BortoletoP12 → P11+1

Biggest losses

Pierre GaslyP11 → P13-2

Oliver BearmanP13 → P14-1

Esteban OconP15 → P16-1

Race Timeline

🚦LAP 1Lights out — 71 laps scheduled

🏎LAP 1Russell holds the lead from pole into Turn 1 as Charles Leclerc runs wide, letting Hamilton through, and Antonelli also has a scruffy opening lap.

⚡LAP 13Lewis Hamilton pits for hard tyres moments after voicing his belief that Verstappen deserved a penalty; Red Bull does not immediately respond.

🔧LAP 13First pit stop of the race: Pierre Gasly switches to Hard

🏎LAP 15Russell has extended his lead to just over five seconds from Verstappen, with Antonelli, Piastri, Norris, Hadjar, Lawson, Lindblad, Hamilton and Bortoleto following behind.

🔧LAP 51Last pit stop of the race: Pierre Gasly switches to Soft

🏎LAP 71On a different tyre offset, Antonelli closes onto Verstappen and gets within Overtake Mode range on the final lap, but cannot complete the move for second.

🏁LAP 71Chequered flag — George Russell wins

Tyre Strategy

Every stint for the 10 classified drivers with recorded pit data (10 classified in total). Bar lengths are to scale with the 71-lap race distance.

P9Liam Lawson

M 19

H 26

M 26

P10Arvid Lindblad

M 18

H 28

M 25

P11Gabriel Bortoleto

S 17

M 27

H 27

P12Nico Hulkenberg

M 21

M 24

H 26

P13Pierre Gasly

M 13

H 25

M 13

S 20

P14Oliver Bearman

M 24

H 21

M 26

P15Franco Colapinto

M 20

H 26

M 25

P16Esteban Ocon

M 18

M 15

H 38

P17Alexander Albon

M 18

M 19

H 34

P18Fernando Alonso

M 24

S 25

S 22

LAP 1LAP 36LAP 71

One-stop

0

Two-stop

9

Three+ stops

1

Longest stint: Esteban Ocon, 38 laps on Hard

Compound sequences used

Medium → Hard → Medium

4 driver(s) · best result P9

Medium → Medium → Hard

3 driver(s) · best result P12

Soft → Medium → Hard

1 driver(s) · best result P11

Medium → Hard → Medium → Soft

1 driver(s) · best result P13

Medium → Soft → Soft

1 driver(s) · best result P18

Pit Stops & Neutralisations

First stops came between lap 13 and lap 24, with a median of lap 19.

Why They Lost

Strategy and race factors that shaped the result for drivers who finished behind George Russell.

P13Pierre GaslyAlpine

▸Made 3 stops to the winner's 2, conceding track position on the extra in-lap and out-lap.
▸Pitted 6 laps earlier than George Russell (lap 13 vs 19), exposing the next stint to more wear.

P14Oliver BearmanHaas

▸Pitted 5 laps later than George Russell (lap 24 vs 19), losing time on worn tyres before the stop.

P18Fernando AlonsoAston Martin

▸Pitted 5 laps later than George Russell (lap 24 vs 19), losing time on worn tyres before the stop.

DNFMax VerstappenRed Bull Racing

▸Retired before the finish (DNF).

DNFKimi AntonelliMercedes

▸Retired before the finish (DNF).

DNFOscar PiastriMcLaren

▸Retired before the finish (DNF).

Strategy Breakdown

Simulator replay is unavailable for this race: some drivers changed tyres more than twice, and the simulator replay link can carry at most two stops per car.

POS	Driver	Strategy	Time	Gap
1	George Russell Mercedes	M→HL19→HL43	—	+0.000	—
2	Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing	M→HL18→HL49	—	+1.611	—
3	Kimi Antonelli Mercedes	M→HL24→HL51	—	+1.986	—
4	Oscar Piastri McLaren	M→HL19→HL42	—	+21.809	—
5	Lewis Hamilton Ferrari	M→HL12→SL25→HL42	—	+26.393	—
6	Isack Hadjar Red Bull Racing	M→ML18→HL40	—	+29.399	—
7	Lando Norris McLaren	M→HL21→HL47	—	+31.505	—
8	Charles Leclerc Ferrari	M→HL13→HL37→SL59	—	+45.659	—
9	Liam Lawson Racing Bulls	M→HL19→ML45	—	+1 lap	—
10	Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls	M→HL18→ML46	—	+1 lap	—
11	Gabriel Bortoleto Audi	S→ML17→HL44	—	+1 lap	—
12	Nico Hulkenberg Audi	M→ML21→HL45	—	+1 lap	—
13	Pierre Gasly Alpine	M→HL13→ML38→SL51	—	+1 lap	—
14	Oliver Bearman Haas	M→HL24→ML45	—	+1 lap	—
15	Franco Colapinto Alpine	M→HL20→ML46	—	+1 lap	—
16	Esteban Ocon Haas	M→ML18→HL33	—	+2 laps	—
17	Alexander Albon Williams	M→ML18→HL37	—	+2 laps	—
18	Fernando Alonso Aston Martin	M→SL24→SL49	—	+3 laps (incl. 5s penalty, no positional change)	—
19	Lance Stroll Aston Martin	M→SL24	—	DNF	—
20	Carlos Sainz Williams	S→ML14	—	DNF	—
21	Sergio Perez Cadillac	M	—	DNF	—
22	Valtteri Bottas Cadillac	M	—	DNF	—