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Mercedes' George Russell has won the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. Despite starting from pole, Russell had a tough day in the office with Verstappen posing a major challenge, surely helped by Red Bull's car updates. Kimi Antonelli finished a very close third.
Agreed, had they stopped earlier it's likely Antonelli would have overtaken Verstappen.mzso wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 17:12I don't think they could have made it with the grid position. This is pretty much as close as they could get.Unc1eM0nty wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 17:09Max should have won today, they should have gone for the undercut when they had the chance
Both Ferraris struggled for pace on the hardest compound today but on the medium compound were at least competitive even with a straight line deficit. They'd have been better doing medium, medium, soft but didn't have the tyres for that option. Would have thrown a Ferrari in to the mix at the front later in the race where the hards condemned the red cars to fight for mid places.
Might have if Max had been able to get by Lewis quickly in the early stages - he certainly lost time to George playing around with Lewis. Ironically, Lewis helped George today...mzso wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 17:12I don't think they could have made it with the grid position. This is pretty much as close as they could get.Unc1eM0nty wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 17:09Max should have won today, they should have gone for the undercut when they had the chance
Verstappen's hards only dropped ~half a second over the final stint, so degredation wasn't really much of an issue. It only looked like that because Antonelli was closing in.
He wasn't getting any closer to Russel for the last several laps with a tire age adventage and Antonelli closed in on him. With mediums he would have been dead in the water even earlier, an easy target for Antonelli.search wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 18:18Verstappen's hards only dropped ~half a second over the final stint, so degredation wasn't really much of an issue. It only looked like that because Antonelli was closing in.
No idea if he would have won on the mediums, of course, but if you decide to go for a late sprint from behind, imo it should be on the tires you at least have a chance on to fly by. If you lose 2nd as a result, who really cares.
He was closing on Russell the entire final stint, just ran out of laps, so did Kimi.mzso wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 19:53He wasn't getting any closer to Russel for the last several laps with a tire age adventage and Antonelli closed in on him. With mediums he would have been dead in the water even earlier, an easy target for Antonelli.search wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 18:18Verstappen's hards only dropped ~half a second over the final stint, so degredation wasn't really much of an issue. It only looked like that because Antonelli was closing in.
No idea if he would have won on the mediums, of course, but if you decide to go for a late sprint from behind, imo it should be on the tires you at least have a chance on to fly by. If you lose 2nd as a result, who really cares.
No he wasn't by the end he didn't get closer at all. Antonelli was still gaining, just not enough.Badger wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 19:59He was closing on Russell the entire final stint, just ran out of laps, so did Kimi.mzso wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 19:53He wasn't getting any closer to Russel for the last several laps with a tire age adventage and Antonelli closed in on him. With mediums he would have been dead in the water even earlier, an easy target for Antonelli.search wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 18:18
Verstappen's hards only dropped ~half a second over the final stint, so degredation wasn't really much of an issue. It only looked like that because Antonelli was closing in.
No idea if he would have won on the mediums, of course, but if you decide to go for a late sprint from behind, imo it should be on the tires you at least have a chance on to fly by. If you lose 2nd as a result, who really cares.
5 laps to go, gap 4s.
Wtf are you talking about? Verstappen was gaining on Russell nearly as much as Antonelli was on Verstappen in the last ten laps.
It stabilized for a good while, 4-ish seconds for several laps. Since it was obvious Verstappen wasn't catching him, he didn't need to push anymore in the very last laps.
It never stabilised. Why are you arguing basic facts, or do you take us for complete fools? 15 laps to go the gap was 8,5s, 10 laps to go it was 6s, 5 laps to go 4s, etc.mzso wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 23:57It stabilized for a good while. Since it was obvious Verstappen wasn't catching him, he didn't need to push anymore in the very last laps.
The issue was the rear suspension problem max developed midway through the second stint.search wrote: ↑28 Jun 2026, 18:18Verstappen's hards only dropped ~half a second over the final stint, so degredation wasn't really much of an issue. It only looked like that because Antonelli was closing in.
No idea if he would have won on the mediums, of course, but if you decide to go for a late sprint from behind, imo it should be on the tires you at least have a chance on to fly by. If you lose 2nd as a result, who really cares.