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4 months ago
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George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix – the dramatic victor after a smash that took Lando Norris and Max Verstappen out of the reckoning as they duelled for the lead again and again.
The world champion and his best mate on the grid, Norris, came together on lap 64. It took Norris out of the race, while Verstappen limped back to the pits, his hopes of triumph wrecked.
Verstappen was handed 10-second penalty for causing the collision. Norris got out of his McLaren in the pit box, his tyre canvas flapping on his way in.
The race came to life on lap 51 of 71, when a slow stop by Verstappen's crew and a fast one by Norris's men reduced the gap between the two to just three seconds, not the seven it had been. Norris could scent victory.
Verstappen locked up moments later and Norris was even closer to his prey. Before this, Verstappen, who started on pole had looked invulnerable.
George Russell took first place at the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg on Sunday
This was Russell's first Grand Prix victory since 2022 and it came against the odds in Austria
Lando Norris (pictured in the pits) did not finish following a late collision with Max Verstappen
Norris (left) and Verstappen made contact during lap 64 of a what had been a tense battle
Now Norris pressed his claims, trying to work his way into the DRS zone. He managed it, and attacked at Turn 3 – the spot at which they would later come to grief.
He did not get it right at the first time of asking. Verstappen can stick his elbows out at more pointed angles than any rival with his over-my-dead-body defending.
Norris tried a few times more, once taking too much pace into the corner as he tried to pass on the inside. He ran wide. He briefly took the lead at Turn 3 but Verstappen paid back the DRS trick at the next bend.
Norris was angry, complaining over the radio: 'He can't keep moving after I have moved. It is dangerous. We will have a big shunt.'
On to lap 64, Norris was again pushing hard. He tried to go down the outside and collided with Verstappen. Bang! All over for them. The stewards blamed the world champion for steering into Norris – it was marginal, to say the least – hence the penalty.
The collision occurred as Verstappen (right) tried to defend an attempted overtake by Norris
The collision that caused significant damage to Norris' car saw Verstappen penalised
British driver Russell had not won a Grand Prix since 2022 prior to Sunday's victory in Austria
Russell was there to pick up the pieces to claim the second win of his career. Piastri's team-mate Oscar Piastri finished second and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz third. Lewis Hamilton was fourth and Verstappen fifth, his face like thunder afterwards.
The drama and Russell's win is just what the organisers of next Sunday's British Grand Prix would have ordered.
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