It’s fair to say the Austrian Grand Prix lived up to expectations, delivering the overtaking spectacle we’ve been craving with Austria having secured its place on the Formula 1 calendar until at least 2041. McLaren dominated up front after Kimi Antonelli caused lap 1 carnage but the stories through the field from the abysmal Alpines and superstar Saubers left nothing to be desired.

McLaren battle in front after Kimi’s collision

McLaren were well suited to both the weather and track characteristics around the Red Bull Ring and it showed with Lando Norris taking the largest pole margin of the year- over half a second clear of his nearest rival Charles Leclerc. Oscar Piastri managed to clear the leading Ferrari at turn one before Antonelli dive bombed Max Verstappen at the top of the hill causing both to retire after heavy contact.

Mercedes and Red Bull have come together on numerous occasions with the last being Verstappen causing contact with George Russell in Spain. This has curtailed Verstappen’s chase of Norris for second in the drivers’ standings, now sitting 46 points adrift of the British driver.

Antonelli paid the price and will have a three-place grid drop for the British Grand Prix this weekend.

Meanwhile, the McLaren fought hard with Oscar Piastri having numerous opportunities to pass his title rival for the lead of the Grand Prix. A few of these moves were very borderline from the Australian but his inability to pass in the first stint ultimately saw him come home second but with a healthy margin of 17 seconds to third-place finisher Leclerc.

Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren F1 Team. (Photo by Song Haiyuan/MB Media/Getty Images)

Lando Norris took the chequered flag by 2.5 seconds to claim his third win of the season and close the title margin to 15 points. Norris will need to keep this momentum up at his home race in Silverstone but no doubt Piastri will come back stronger at a track he has favoured in the past.

Atrocious Alpine deserve more criticism

This next point may seem very direct but it’s for good reason. Alpine were expected to be battling VCARB and Williams for best of the rest in 2025 after strong pre-season testing in Bahrain. Instead, the French outfit sits dead last in the constructors’ championship, 15 points away from Sauber.

Pierre Gasly has scored all of his team’s points but the inability of his team to develop a car that can regularly fight for points is concerning. Haas, Aston Martin and Sauber have all out-developed them this season and taken healthy points hauls in Austria, leaving Alpine behind.

Flavio Briatore now sits as the man in charge and instead of focusing on driver changes should implement some strong technical staff changes to help aid a struggling team coming into a new regulation change.

On the topic of drivers, Franco Colapinto’s racecraft needs to be called into question after Austria. I am not blaming the Argentinian for the collision with Yuki Tsunoda as he was in the right and owned the corner at turn three but his inability to obey blue flags when Piastri came charging past put the Australian onto the grass.

No matter if you see a driver or not blue flags should indicate that you need to check your mirrors for lapped cars. Colapinto seems to have the Alpine drive locked in for the rest of the season and whilst for now that’s the right decision his lack of pace is hardly a huge step from Jack Doohan.

Jack Doohan (Photo by Michael Potts/BSR Agency/Getty Images)

Gabriel Bortoleto makes his mark

The great thing about the 2025 season is that we get to see the development of so many rookie drivers. Kimi Antonelli has clearly taken most of the plaudits but in Austria, it was the turn of Gabriel Bortoleto to get his applause as he was rightly voted driver of the day.

His eighth place ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg in ninth was his first points at the top level of motorsport as he had a near-perfect weekend. Qualifying in the same position before executing a strong race, and he nearly got past his manager Fernando Alonso for seventh.

Credit should also go to Liam Lawson for finishing sixth. Whilst I believe that VCARB is much better than the Sauber, the New Zealand native outperformed Isack Hadjar all weekend and scored his first points this year. Sauber now moves to 26 points and is just three points away from passing Haas and Aston Martin.

It’s nice to see those green machines get points once again.

Wretched Williams’ luck

Williams had an incredibly unlucky weekend in Austria. Points were probably off the cards with neither Alex Albon nor Carlos Sainz starting in the top ten but through neither driver’s fault, Williams didn’t even get the opportunity to try.

Sainz stalled on the grid as technical issues led to his car overheating by the time he finally got the car moving. His rear brakes spectacularly caught fire and refused to be extinguished, ironically extinguishing his race before the lights even went out.

Albon suffered his third DNF in as many races with a mechanical issue on lap 16. Williams remain fifth in the standings with a healthy lead of 19 points but ahead of their home race, they’ll want to put up a much better showing.