George Russell Back to Winning Ways, Ferrari Letdown, Fernando Alonso Finishes Last in Austria

George Russell has won again. Who would have thought after his first victory in Australia that he would have to wait seven races to repeat it, but he has achieved it in Austria after a controversial pole and a race in which he managed to withstand the distant attacks of Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli by the narrowest of margins.

The major setback is Ferrari. After dominating in Barcelona thanks to the low tire degradation, only fifteen days later both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have suffered greatly with the tires. And the decisions from the pit wall, putting Hamilton into an unnecessary three-stop strategy, have not helped.

Carlos Sainz’s retirement due to a fault and a VSC

George Russell achieved a dramatic victory at the Red Bull Ring. The English driver prevailed by the smallest margin, taking advantage of the battles behind his rivals and pitting before the others so that in the end the numbers added up to just over one second, which separated Verstappen from the win.

It quickly became clear that the Ferraris would not be able to follow Russell. Although Hamilton overtook Leclerc at the start, both began to suffer tire problems that they did not have in Barcelona, and their pace suffered against a Max Verstappen who at times flirted with taking the victory, but was left with the honey on his lips.

Surely Verstappen only lacked Red Bull to be a bit more aggressive with the strategy, launching some undercut that would put him in front of Russell on track, instead of always stopping later. Even so, Verstappen almost achieved it in the last stint. Definitely, that Red Bull has improved. Isack Hadjar’s sixth place also proves it.

Although Antonelli behind was faster than Verstappen. In fact, the world championship leader crossed the line tied to the Dutchman, but settled for a third place that leaves him with 40 points of advantage in the standings. The one who fades is Hamilton, fifth even behind Oscar Piastri’s McLaren after Ferrari’s latest invention.

Ferrari tried to take advantage of the virtual safety car prompted by Carlos Sainz’s retirement to make a cheap stop with Hamilton. But that only served to put him more into traffic with little pace. In any case, just look at Leclerc’s eighth place, even behind Lando Norris, to realize that Ferrari did not have much to do in Austria.

The final points went to the Racing Bulls, ninth and tenth, with Liam Lawson ahead of Arvid Lindblad. Fernando Alonso finished in the last position among those who completed the race, three laps behind the leaders and penalized with five seconds for speeding in the pits. Another race to forget.

Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix 2026 Race Results

Formula 1 World Championship Standings

1st. Kimi ANTONELLI (Mercedes-ITA), 171 points

2nd. George RUSSELL (Mercedes-GBR), 131 points

3rd. Lewis HAMILTON (Ferrari-GBR), 126 points

4th. Lando NORRIS (McLaren-GBR), 79 points

5th. Charles LECLERC (Ferrari-MON), 79 points

Images | Mercedes, Audi