AUSTRIA LOWDOWN: All the key moments as Russell triumphs, Verstappen impresses and Ferrari struggle

It proved to be a weekend to remember as the European leg of the 2026 season continued at the Austrian Grand Prix – with it being a particularly important one for George Russell, who returned to the top step for the first time since the opener in Australia.

There were also plenty of other big talking points to emerge from the event, however, including the eye-catching performance of Max Verstappen in an upgraded Red Bull, a trickier outing for Ferrari, and an even tougher one for Cadillac.

Join us as we round up all of the key moments from the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix…

Russell back on top – but did Antonelli lose it at the start?

Russell's victory in the Austrian Grand Prix was only his second win on a Sunday during the 2026 season, with his previous triumph coming back at the opening round in Australia more than three months ago.

The win was much-needed for the Briton in his quest to cut Mercedes team mate Kimi Antonelli's lead in the Drivers' standings, with the margin now standing at 40 points.

“The tough races definitely test you psychologically, and these last two weekends for me have been vitally important to remind myself I can do it,” said Russell after his win at the Red Bull Ring.

Russell had taken pole – albeit dramatically after setting his fastest lap with Verstappen's Red Bull in the barrier through the final sector, the Briton having lifted at the scene of the yellow flags – and was never headed in Sunday's 71-lap race apart from through the pit stop sequences.

But he had to work for his seventh career win, with a resurgent Verstappen and Antonelli hot on his heels as just two seconds separated the trio at the chequered flag.

For Antonelli, it was a weekend that promised much but was undone by fine details, such as backing out of his final Qualifying lap which left him fourth, having mistaken the single yellow flags for double.

Running deep at Turns 1 and 3 over the opening laps of Sunday's race dropped him behind Verstappen, and the Italian teenager was forced to play catch-up over the remainder of the race before falling just short of a sixth win this season.

“I was struggling with the brakes but after we changed tyre I reset and the pace at the end was very strong," said Antonelli. "It was a shame I joined the party a bit too late.”

Verstappen impresses on the weekend Red Bull bring upgrades

While Mercedes took their seventh Grand Prix win of the season out of eight races, Russell's victory on Sunday in Austria was far from easy as Verstappen put in his best performance of the 2026 season.

Red Bull entered the weekend with a substantial upgrade package on their RB22 machine, allowing Verstappen to shine at the team's home event.

But the four-time World Champion was left with sore knees after a high-speed crash on his final Qualifying effort through the penultimate corner, consigning the Dutchman to P5 on the grid but with a competitive package.

Having jumped both Antonelli and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc at Turn 4 on the second lap, Verstappen shadowed Lewis Hamilton before overtaking the Ferrari driver after the first pit stops.

Verstappen was relentless as he closed to within one second of Russell through the middle phase of the race, but a late pit stop left Verstappen with too much to do as he had to overturn a 10-second gap.

He finished just 1.6s behind Russell at the chequered flag and split the Mercedes duo, stating: "To be second and close to a win I think is extremely positive for us. So in that sense, I'm very happy."

Leclerc ‘back to struggling’

After mechanical issues forced retirements for Leclerc in both Monaco and Barcelona, it looked like the Ferrari man was ready to return to his best as he shone in Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring. His final lap saw him unexpectedly fly up the timesheets to take provisional pole position, which was taken away at the last moment by Mercedes’ Russell.

P2 was still a much-needed confidence boost and suggested that the team were already reaping the rewards of their latest power unit update, especially as Hamilton similarly maximised their one-lap pace to take P3 on the grid.

Hopeful that his fortunes had finally turned, Leclerc got a good launch at lights out and briefly challenged for the race lead, but his team mate was close enough to take advantage and demote the Monegasque to third. An early pit stop then did him few favours and he lost out in subsequent battles with Antonelli and Oscar Piastri – the latter duel also seeing him sustain damage to the front wing, and his race continued to go downhill from that point.

Another two stops followed, but the fresh tyres weren’t enough to help Leclerc defend against his faster rivals and he ultimately settled for P8, adding a somewhat underwhelming four points to his season tally.

The result was just one part of Ferrari’s tricky race day which saw Hamilton take fifth place, with the Briton left confused by their drop-off in performance as their tyre strategy failed to match up to the one that helped him secure victory last time out.

His day wasn’t short of thrilling wheel-to-wheel action – which included more than one battle with Verstappen – but he simply couldn’t keep up with the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull, leaving the Scuderia with plenty of questions to answer ahead of Hamilton’s home race at Silverstone.

What happened to McLaren?

Early in the weekend, Lando Norris and Piastri weren’t shy about emphasising how significant their gap to the frontrunners still is. The former believes that McLaren are roughly “three months behind” teams like Mercedes, while Piastri admitted that beating Antonelli was unrealistic even after mingling near the top during Free Practice.

Their expectations proved to be fairly accurate as the early promise from Friday’s running faded when it came to Qualifying, with Norris taking P6 just ahead of his team mate in P7.

There was more frustration to come for the reigning World Champion as he endured a lacklustre opening lap and lost a couple of positions, leaving him to linger behind the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar – who was able to make the most of his team’s major upgrade package – for the rest of the race.

One silver lining for McLaren was that they managed to finish ahead of both Ferrari drivers thanks to a confident drive by Piastri, who came out victorious in two separate battles with Leclerc to improve to P4 – his best result since the Miami Grand Prix.

Cadillac’s update dream turns into a nightmare

Cadillac headed into the Austrian Grand Prix weekend with the promise of a “substantial” upgrade package – aimed at moving them off the back of the F1 grid and closer to 2026’s midfield battle.

However, after the car was changed from front to rear, both Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas encountered major issues throughout Friday practice – the Mexican stopping twice amid electrical trouble and the Finn forced back to the pits when his machine overheated.

While Qualifying went more smoothly, leaving Perez and Bottas in P19 and P20 respectively, ahead of the Aston Martins, Cadillac team boss Graeme Lowdon admitted that the troubled Friday “probably cost us a lot of lap time as we couldn’t really optimise preparation”.

Both drivers had their eyes on cars ahead when the lights went out on race day, keen to mix it with the sport’s more established teams, but any hopes of doing so were dashed after just a handful of laps when brake problems took hold.

Perez said afterwards: “It was a good start. We were in the fight; we were fighting [Williams driver Alex] Albon. We overtook him, he overtook us back, and things were looking good for us. Unfortunately, we had to retire quite early. It looked like we had a bit more pace to compete with the others, so it’s a little bit of a shame.”

He added: “It’s been a very frustrating weekend for the whole team to have these issues. I expect a massive internal discussion on our processes and how we are doing things. We have to step up, because we cannot have these sort of issues.”

F2 and F3 deliver action-packed Feature Races

In F2, Nikola Tsolov took a fourth victory of the season for Campos Racing in Austria, as he came through from third on the grid to win the Feature Race.

He overtook Alexander Dunne down to Turn 1, and then made his way past his team mate Noel Leon – who had started on pole – into Turn 3. Tsolov did lose the lead briefly in the middle of the race, but was able to retake P1 and drive off into the distance.

It was a double podium for MP Motorsport behind, with Gabriele Mini in second ahead of Oliver Goethe. That leaves Mini in the lead of the championship, by just two points from Tsolov.

In the F3 Feature Race, Noah Stromsted won an eventful encounter for TRIDENT from fourth on the grid, battling hard to climb through the field which saw plenty of wheel-to-wheel racing.

The race came alive after an early Safety Car, with the lead changing hands a number of times, and at one point six cars were in contention for the podium places. But in the end Ugo Ugochukwu for Campos Racing and Freddie Slater (TRIDENT) completed the top three.

The result leaves Ugochukwu on top of the standings, 16 points clear of Slater as Stromsted climbs up to sixth.