A dramatic collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris gave George Russell and Mercedes their first Formula 1 win in a year and a half at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen completely dominated the first two-thirds of the race, leading Norris by as much as eight seconds.
But a long, unhappy mid-race stint on the hard tires he did not particularly like, and then a slow final pit stop where the left rear tire refused to release at the start, saw Verstappen re-enter the race narrowly ahead of Norris.
The McLaren – with new means versus a used Red Bull lot – quickly entered Verstappen's DRS range and launched one attack after another, as the two drivers' radio comments about each other's driving became increasingly terse.
A dive with 12 laps to go put Norris ahead at Turn 3, but he took the finish line after going off the track over a watercourse, quickly regaining the position.
That moment turned out to be Norris's fourth track-limit breach of the race, resulting in a five-second time penalty, but with the penalty not yet awarded the battle continued.
The next time they came together, it was Verstappen who stayed ahead by running wide.
Then came the contact when approaching the sharp turn, puncturing the tires of both cars and pushing them off the road before a strange battle between the two cars at the bottom of the hill as the two cars swayed due to the damage they sustained.
Norris decided that the damage to his car was too great and withdrew from the pits, but Verstappen returned to finish fifth. The stewards decided that the world champion was at fault in the accident and imposed a 10-second penalty on him. But this did not affect his result.
Aside from the early dice with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Russell was clearly the best of the rest behind Verstappen and Norris throughout, so he was in a perfect position to pick up the pieces after their clash and take a commanding win.
But Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri has every right to feel he was robbed.
A controversial track limits penalty in qualifying saw him drop from third to seventh on the grid, but he fought back well – passing Charles Leclerc at the start despite contact between them which broke the Ferrari's front wing, and making easy work of Sergio Perez. The Red Bull driver then passed Hamilton and Carlos Sainz during the race before finishing just 1.9 seconds behind Russell.
Sainz completed the podium, while Hamilton came in fourth place by a large margin after a race that witnessed a time penalty due to his car deviating from the entry line into the pits during his first stop in the pits due to a strange skid.
Haas had an exceptional points-scoring race with Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in sixth and eighth respectively, in a car no less powerful than Perez's Red Bull.
Early first stops and excellent tire conservation contributed to the Haas result, with Perez limited by damage he sustained on the first lap with the Piastri/Leclerc brush.
Leclerc could only recover to 11th place as teammate Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly – who had another experience with his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon – completed the scorers list.
