Norris, Piastri finish one-two after Verstappen crashes out of Austrian Grand Prix on first lap

Oscar Piastri’s lead at the top of the world championship has been cut by seven points after the Australian followed home McLaren teammate Lando Norris at a sun-scorched Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday.

It was redemption for Norris, who had been widely criticised after an attempt to pass Piastri at the Canadian Grand Prix earlier this month ended in a collision and his retirement from the race.

The British driver scarcely put a wheel wrong across the weekend at Spielberg, taking pole position before resisting every challenge from Piastri in Sunday’s race.

Oscar Piastri tries to chase down teammate Lando Norris.Credit: Getty Images

Piastri now holds a 15-point lead over Norris after 11 of the 24 rounds, with the Briton preparing to put on a show on home tarmac at the British Grand Prix next weekend, where he will be aiming for his fourth win of the campaign.

Charles Leclerc completed the podium for Ferrari, with teammate Lewis Hamilton fourth and George Russell fifth for Mercedes.

Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen suffered his first retirement of the season, in his team’s home race, after a first-lap collision with Mercedes’ Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli.

Action from the opening lap of the race – moments before Max Verstappen (far left) crashed out.Credit: Getty Images

“I’m out – I got hit like crazy,” Verstappen, third in the championship going into the race, said over the team radio.

Antonelli, who clearly caused the turn three collision, also retired and the safety car was deployed. “Sorry about that – I locked the rear,” Antonelli told his team.

The race had started later than scheduled after Carlos Sainz’s Williams was stuck on the grid as cars moved away for the formation lap.

Worse was to come for Sainz, whose rear brakes caught fire when he pulled into the pit lane, forcing Williams mechanics and track marshals to use fire extinguishers. That ended Sainz’s race before it even began. He had been due to start 19th.

It was the second time Sainz’s car had caught fire at the Spielberg track. Sainz – then driving for Ferrari – was forced to retire on the 56th lap of the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix after his car caught fire. The driver escaped unscathed on both occasions.

The race started after a 20-minute delay with all eyes on the battle up front between the McLaren pair.

Piastri briefly inched ahead on lap 11 only for Norris to snatch back the lead almost immediately.

It was nip-and-tuck before Piastri attempted a banzai dive at turn four on lap 20. Piastri locked his front-right tyre and came agonisingly close to sliding into Norris’ car.

McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris celebrate on the podium.Credit: Getty Images

McLaren promptly hauled in Norris for his first of two tyre changes. Piastri, perhaps as punishment, was left out on track with a flat-spotted tyre for four additional laps and was losing time, a signal that McLaren had seen enough.

By the time Piastri emerged from his stop, Norris was six seconds up the road. “The feedback from the pit-wall was that the move into turn four was too marginal and we can’t do that again,” Piastri was told by his race engineer, Tom Stallard.

Norris came in for his second stop with 18 laps remaining with a three-second lead. Piastri would stop the next time around and was then forced to take to the grass as he attempted to lap Alpine’s Franco Colapinto in 14th.

Piastri continued his charge and with 10 laps to go was back within two seconds. “I need some pace,” Norris said. “Please help.”

But Piastri would not get a sniff as Norris took the chequered flag for his seventh career win 2.7 seconds clear.

“We had a great battle, that’s for sure,” Norris said. “It was a lot of fun, a lot of stress, but a nice battle. It was tricky, hot and tiring, but the perfect result as a team.”

Piastri said on the radio: “Sorry for my move at turn four, that was my bad.

“I tried my absolute best and I probably could have done a better job when I momentarily got ahead.

“It was a bit on the edge, and I might have pushed a bit too far, but it was a good race and that is what we are here to do, to race each other and fight for wins.”

AAP, AP, Reuters