Lando Norris and McLaren dominated the F1 2025 Austrian GP weekend, topping practice, taking pole by half a second, and sealing a hard-fought one-two in the race ahead of Oscar Piastri. Rookie standouts, dramatic on-track battles and a first-lap clash that took out Max Verstappen made it a weekend to remember at the F1 2025 Austrian GP. Read our report now.
The Chronicle Headlines
- Lando Norris emerged victorious in a teammate battle for the win, beating out Piastri to reduce the Aussie’s Championship lead.
- The two McLarens finished over 19 seconds ahead of the closest car behind – the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
- Kimi Antonelli collided with Verstappen on the first lap, leaving the Dutchman out of the race at Red Bull’s home weekend. Antonelli was dealt a three-place grid penalty following the race which the youngster will serve at the British GP.
- A double DNF for Williams left them with a weekend to forget; Sainz failed to get off the line due to a brake issue, and Albon retired with a technical issue in the opening laps.
- More misery for Red Bull ensued when Yuki Tsunoda tangled with Franco Colapinto, landing him a ten-second time penalty and leaving him to finish in last place.
- F2 youngsters Alex Dunne and Dino Beganovic impressed in FP1, stepping into the McLaren of Norris and Ferrari of Leclerc respectively. Dunne would finish his maiden F1 FP1 session in P4.
FP1: Russell Carries on Canada Form
Hot off a lights-to-flag win in Canada, George Russell set the early benchmark for the F1 2025 Austrian GP weekend, topping Friday’s FP1 session with a 1:05.542. The Mercedes driver continued his strong run of form, narrowly bettering Max Verstappen by just 0.065s, while McLaren’s Oscar Piastri rounded out the top three.
However, most of the attention was on 18-year-old rookie Alex Dunne, who had stepped into Lando Norris’ McLaren for the session. Dunne, who is currently impressing in the F2 Championship, became the first Irish driver to participate in an F1 weekend in 22 years. The youngster finished in an impressive fourth, only 0.224s off Russell’s benchmark. His F2 weekend may not have run so smoothly after a disqualification from the Feature Race, but the future looks bright for the 19-year-old.
Verstappen struggled with the Red Bull at times, locking up and reporting problems with his stand-in race engineer Simon Rennie; Gianpiero Lambiase had taken the weekend off.
Elsewhere, there were more rookie miles for Ferrari’s Dino Beganovic, subbing in for Charles Leclerc, although floor removal work limited his track time. Lewis Hamilton’s session was hampered by a gearbox issue that sent him back to the pits. Like Dunne, Beganovic suffered a less-than-ideal weekend in F2.
Incidents for Fernando Alonso, who spun onto the grass, and Esteban Ocon, who locked up and ran wide at Turn 1, triggered brief yellow flags but there were no major upsets.
Trailling the top four, Pierre Gasly came home in fifth for Alpine, with Gabriel Bortoleto sixth for Kick Sauber, while Albon, Sainz, Hamilton and Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar completed the top ten in an encouraging session for the youngsters.
FP2: Norris Leads a McLaren 1-2
McLaren turned the tables in the afternoon session, with Norris clocking the fastest lap of the day to lead a McLaren one-two in FP2. Piastri followed just 0.157s behind, while Verstappen finished in third again, three-tenths adrift after using up two fresh sets of soft tyres.
Russell, the one to watch in the day, finished sixth as McLaren’s pace stole the spotlight in the warmer, overcast conditions. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll impressed with fourth as he continues to find his footing wrist surgery, while Leclerc bounced back from missing FP1 – and a trip through the gravel – to post a time worthy of fifth for Ferrari.
Tsunoda improved in the second Red Bull, hoping for a better weekend in bis miserable Red Bull campaign, ending up seventh ahead of Kick Sauber rookie Bortoleto. It was looking like a better weekend for the ailing Kick Sauber team as the youngster classified in eighth. Alonso and Hamilton completed the top ten.
Further down the order, Kimi Antonelli finished just outside the top ten, while the Racing Bulls pair of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar slotted into P12 and P13. Gasly, Ocon, Albon, Sainz and Bearman filled the midfield, with Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto rounding out the classification after a quiet session for Haas and Alpine.
FP3
Norris bolstered McLaren’s growing dominance by setting the fastest time in Saturday’s final practice session, edging out Piastri in a close McLaren one-two at the Red Bull Ring. The weekend was already shaping up to be a fierce one for the two vying for Championship contention.
Norris clocked a best lap of 1:04.324, finishing 0.118s ahead of Piastri. Verstappen slotted into P3, 0.210s back, as he continued to wrestle with a nervous car.
Track limits and off-track moments were the main theme of FP3, with several drivers including Norris and Piastri running wide or bouncing through the gravel. Piastri pushed hard trying to close the gap to his teammmate, forcing the team to check for floor damage after rattling over the kerbs at Turn 9.
A spin for Hadjar at Turn 10 briefly brought out yellow flag, but the Frenchman recovered without damage. The Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton completed the top five, but Hamilton was still over four-tenths back from Norris. Russell followed closely in sixth for Mercedes, separated from his rookie teammate Antonelli by just 0.035s.
Qualifying
Norris continued his superb weekend at the Red Bull Ring by storming to pole position, delivering a stunning 1:03.971 to secure the top spot by more than half a second. Norris was the only driver to break into the 1:03s, securing the largest pole margin of the season so far in the process.
Having set the pace in Q1 and Q2, Norris raised the bar again in Q3 with a blistering lap that left Leclerc trailing by 0.521s. Piastri had looked set to challenge – but the Aussie was caught out by a late yellow flag courtesy of Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman spun, leaving the Championship leader to settle for third.
Hamilton took fourth for Ferrari, ahead of his old teammate Russell in fifth. Lawson finished the session with a career-best sixth, outqualifying home favourite Verstappen. The Dutchman was also affected by Gasly’s late spin and had to abandon his final attempt, ending up seventh.Bortoleto continued to impress for Kick Sauber, making Q3 for the first time and claiming eighth on the grid.
Further down, Fernando Alonso narrowly missed out in 11th for Aston Martin as he continued to chip away at the Silverstone team’s shocking start to the season.
Race
Norris converted his dominant pole into victory on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring, holding off his teammate in a tense intra-team battle. It was night-and-day to his run in Montreal last weekend out as he claimed his third win of the season – his first since Monaco.
Norris got away cleanly from pole, but immediately came under attack from Piastri who had jumped Leclerc at the start. The Aussie was on a stormer and briefly got ahead, before a clean fight saw Norris return to the front of the pack. A close moment at Turn 4 saw Piastri lock up while on the attack, forcing a strategy change and making the Championship leader run longer in the middle stint in an attempt to undercut his teammate.
Despite pushing hard on fresher tyres, Piastri couldn’t find a way back through, finishing just under three seconds behind as McLaren secured a dominant one-two.
The Best of the Rest
Behind them, Charles Leclerc took a solid podium in third for Ferrari at the F1 2025 Austrian GP weekend – although a staggering 19-seconds behind the McLarens. Hamilton secured some more strong points in fourth; a solid day for the Ferrari team who were without their team principal Fred Vasseur, who had left the track due to personal issues. Russell brought his Mercedes home in fifth after surviving an incident-filled opening lap that saw his teammate collide with Verstappen under braking, putting both out of the race immediately. To add insult to injury for Verstappen, he never managed to make it to his grandstand filled with supporters at Turn 6.
Lawson converted his standout qualifying into sixth place for Racing Bulls, ahead of Alonso’s Aston Martin and Gabriel Bortoleto, who capped off a breakthrough weekend with his first F1 points in eighth after a fierce battle with Alonso. Hulkenberg recovered strongly from the back to score more points for Kick Sauber in ninth, with Esteban Ocon rounding out the top 10 for Haas.
Bearman, Hadjar, Gasly, Stroll, Colapinto and Tsunoda all finished outside the points, with Tsunoda receiving a ten-second penalty for spinning Colapinto mid-race. Williams endured a miserable Sunday as Albon and Sainz both failed to see the chequered flag. Sainz was unable to start at all due to an issue that sent his Williams’ brakes up in flames, while Albon failed to finish for the third race in a row.
Can Norris Clinch His Maiden Home Win at Silverstone?
Next up on the calendar is the British GP – can Norris make it two-in-a-row and claim a home victory, or will his teammate spoil the party?
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