Yahoo Autos Late Contact Between Norris and Verstappen Leads to George Russell's First 2024 Win
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen were the heavily favored race winners.
George Russell started third after Oscar Piastri received a track limit penalty in qualifying, falling to seventh.
Piastri finished second, running out of time to defend his McLaren teammate and steal the win from Mercedes.
On lap 64 of the Austrian Grand Prix, Lando Norris made the move to pass Max Verstappen for the lead with just seven laps remaining. Verstappen veered too far left, attempting to block, and both cars ended up with tire punctures and further damage.
Norris was forced to retire from the race and, instead of collecting a win, failed to secure a face as the only retired car.
The leaders were 12 seconds ahead of George Russell in third, who all the sudden saw his second podium of the season become his first win.
"I couldn't believe how close we were to Lando and Max; we were only about 12 seconds behind," Russell told Sky Sports.
Verstappen was slapped with a 10-second penalty for the contact and fell to fifth after his pit. Norris clearly had the speed to make the pass when Verstappen's final move to save his position was deemed too aggressive.
Verstappen was told of his 10-second penalty after the race and believed it 'ridiculous' over the radio.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner agreed, "He didn't behave correctly there, Max. We're desperately unlucky, especially here."
Russell was running 12 seconds behind the leaders and saw the fierceness in their battle as early as lap 3; the British driver realized a win could be gifted his way.
"It was a tough fight up there at the beginning of the race," Russell said, "I saw on lap three that Max and Lando were going pretty hard and that Lando would want to win that race. The team has done an amazing job to get us into this fight; you have to be there in order to pick up the pieces."
Oscar Piastri started seventh after a penalty in qualifying for a track limit violation and was originally set to start where Russell did in third. He will be living with the idea of what could've been his first F1 victory instead of a celebration of his fourth podium.
"There are a lot of what-ifs and maybes from yesterday," Piastri said. "I know that's only to be my fourth podium in F1, but it's so close to a win, it hurts a little bit. Really good points, obviously. I think in the second half of the race, we were coming on pretty strong. I'm happy with another podium, just when it's that close, it's hurt a little bit."
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