Seventh Heaven For Mercedes As Russell Wins In Austria

George Russell en route to victory in the Austrian Grand Prix. (Jiri Krenek/Mercedes photo)

By Thomas Hughes, SWN Open-Wheel Correspondent

SPIELBURG, Austria (June 28, 2026) — Sunday’s Lenovo Austrian Grand Prix occupied a peculiar in-between space: not enough doubt about the winner to suggest a different result was realistically on the cards, but just enough uncertainty to make the outcome feel more complex than a straightforward procession.

Ultimately, the race ended the same way that many others have: Mercedes-AMG Petronas was the team that supplied the race-winning car. However, it wasn’t the prodigious Kimi Antonelli raising the winner’s trophy and chugging the champagne with a first-place finish at the Red Bull Ring.

Instead, it was his teammate George Russell doing so; the Briton slashed the deficit to his teammate by 10 more points with his second victory of the Formula One season.

Russell claimed the season opener at Melbourne, Australia, but went into a six-race winless drought thereafter. In that time, Antonelli claimed five victories, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona, Spain serving as the lone non-Mercedes victor.

Russell, however, has slashed the deficit by 28 points over the last two races, moving himself back up to second in the F-1 driver’s championship. The victory was Russell’s first since March.

“It was a hell of a fight at the beginning,” Russell said. “We knew it was going to be challenging. I got on the grid, I saw my battery level, I had nothing in the tank, made a bad start, and then obviously had some really tight battles with Charles, so I was really glad to cross the finish line. But honestly, thank you so much to the whole team because it’s been a long time coming to have this car beneath us and I’m, yeah, going to start off in a better way.”

Russell led into the late goings, but after Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took his final pit stop, the Dutchman began to bear down on Russell. The Briton ultimately won the race by 1.611 seconds over Verstappen, despite dealing with lap traffic late on.

Despite Verstappen not claiming the win, he still found a season-best second-place finish. Through eight rounds, Verstappen — driving a Red Bull that is still working through its first season with Ford — sits seventh in the driver’s championship with 73 points to his name.

While Russell didn’t lead every lap, he was the net-leader for nearly the race’s entirety, only ceding the lead during pit stop cycles.

Late in the going, he ran wide at turn three, allowing Verstappen to close the lead further, but he navigated the 10-turn circuit deftly from there, claiming his second victory of the season, his seventh career win and Mercedes AMG-Petronas’ seventh win of 2026.

“I was having to push every single lap, and when you push those boundaries there’s bound to be a small mistake or two in there, and I know how quick the guys were behind,” Russell said. “Obviously Kimi has been extraordinarily quick this whole season, so every lap I was looking at the timing board. We pitted on the early side, and I knew it was going to be a long stint, but the team timed it to perfection.”

Thirteen laps in, the pit cycles began with Hamilton the first into the pits. His Ferrari teammate Leclerc followed him, emerging in 11th place. At the end of the opening pit cycle, Russell held the lead as the Virtual Safety Car came out on lap 24 for Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who had stopped on track due to an electrical issue.

That negated a potential free stop for Antonelli, and Russell extended his lead to four-plus seconds over Verstappen. By lap 37, Verstappen’s deficit to Russell was just over two seconds, while Leclerc lost positions to Piastri and Hamilton in succession.

Verstappen cut Russell’s lead down to 1.2 seconds by lap 42, and he eventually pitted while the Briton stayed out. The Dutchman continued to cut the lead down from eight seconds down to just under four seconds with five tours to go.

Simultaneously, Antonelli was running down Verstappen — though both ran out of time, as Russell claimed victory No. 2 of 2026. 

"Incredible to be back on the top step," Russell said. "It's been a little while so I'm definitely going to enjoy this one this evening. A lot of hard work from my team to get us back on track. Obviously, there was a tricky run of form at one point. Max and Red Bull were incredibly quick this weekend, so kudos to them but thanks to everyone, thanks to the fans. It was pretty toasty out there, so looking forward to a drink now."

Behind the Briton, Antonelli navigated car troubles and continually cut into Verstappen’s second-place bid, finishing just .375 seconds back at the checkered flag. Antonelli cited a struggle with figuring out the brakes around the Spielburg circuit.

“The first laps were really bad; I was a bit all over the place,” the young Italian said. “There will be for sure weekends where [Russell] is going to be in front, and weekends I will be in front. He is very strong, especially in qualifying; he still has that little edge. I will be back stronger in Silverstone.”

Antonelli had to hand a position back in the early goings of the race, and he was noted twice for leaving the track and gaining a further advantage, though no further action was taken.

Pivoting back to Verstappen, the Dutchman engaged in several battles with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, including skirmishes in the opening laps, then back-and-forth tussle on Lap 22 that Verstappen emerged victorious from.

In that scuffle, Verstappen seized second for a moment. With the pair heading side-by-side through turns six and seven, Hamilton ran the Dutchman wide, forcing Verstappen to cede.

Hamilton ultimately finished fifth, relinquishing second place in the championship to his former teammate Russell. Ahead of him was McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who finished just under 22 seconds behind the triumvirate of Russell, Verstappen and Antonelli.

Hadjar jumped to eighth in the championship as a result, vaulting Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. 

McLaren’s Lando Norris finished in seventh position, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc claimed eighth — a disappointing outcome given that Leclerc started second and dropped two places on the opening lap.

Both Leclerc and Hamilton ran three-stop strategies and dealt with overheating throughout the race despite an upgraded power unit. Ferrari netted only 14 points from the weekend in total.

Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the points-paying positions in ninth and 10th, respectively.

Both Cadillac drivers retired within the first 10 laps due to break overheating, continuing a point-less campaign for the new American-based outfit. In the opening eight races, the team has sustained a combined six total retirements, and it is the lone team to not score any points this season.

The F-1 circus will be back in a week’s time when it pops back up in Great Britain for the Pirelli British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The race is set for Sunday, July 5, at 10 a.m. ET (3 p.m. local time), live in the United States on Apple TV.

The finish:

Race (71 laps): 1. 63-George Russell, 2. 3-Max Verstappen, 3. 12-Kimi Antonelli, 4. 81-Oscar Piastri, 5. 44-Lewis Hamilton, 6. 6-Isack Hadjar, 7. 1-Lando Norris, 8. 16-Charles Leclerc, 9. 30-Liam Lawson, 10. 41-Arvid Lindblad, 11. 5-Gabriel Bortoleto, 12. 27-Nico Hulkenberg, 13. 10-Pierre Gasly, 14. 87-Oliver Bearman, 15. 43-Franco Colapinto, 16. 31-Esteban Ocon, 17. 23-Alexander Albon, 18. 14-Fernando Alonso, 19. 18-Lance Stroll, 20. 55-Carlos Sainz, 21. 11-Sergio Perez, 22. 77-Valtteri Bottas.