The winners and losers from F1’s 2025 Austrian Grand Prix

Lando Norris found redemption in Spielberg, while Red Bull suffered a disaster at its home track, and the rookies grabbed the headlines. Here’s who impressed in F1’s Austrian GP and who missed the (Steier)mark.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

Winners: Lando Norris and McLaren

Lando Norris endured plenty of criticism after his faux pas in Canada, and he knew full well that he had to nail a faultless weekend to change the narrative of his 2025 season. His openness about his flaws is sometimes used against him, but even his detractors will surely respect the way he bounced back in Austria.

Norris took a convincing pole, which was helped by team-mate Oscar Piastri being denied a second run, but the Australian admitted Norris was quicker anyway. He then kept his head cool while under a lot of pressure from Piastri, who was clinging onto his gearbox, to take his third win of the season to boost his title hopes. 

Credit to McLaren for continuing to let its drivers race freely, as promised, even after Piastri’s ambitious lunge into Turn 4. Without it, it would have been a boring afternoon of papaya domination. The latter may well carry over to the next few races. 

Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Losers: Yuki Tsunoda and Red Bull 

Yuki Tsunoda‘s woes have reached a critical level after another disappointing weekend. Both he and Verstappen lost performance into Saturday qualifying, but while Verstappen limited the damage with seventh Tsunoda was out in 18th. Yes, Tsunoda is still not entirely up to the same specification as the Dutchman, but – as we understand it – the difference is minimal. 

Tsunoda’s seat is not in immediate danger, as previous occupants have shown there doesn’t seem much scope for improvement, and promoting Isack Hadjar too early doesn’t seem like a great idea either. But the Japanese driver’s long-term prospects aren’t looking peachy, and Red Bull really needs to dig deep to find solutions now. 

Max Verstappen’s long run pace didn’t look particularly great either in FP3, but obviously we never got to see it in the race after he was taken out by Kimi Antonelli on lap 1. Red Bull has had many glorious weekends at its home track, but this… wasn’t one of them. 

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Winner: Ferrari 

Ferrari earned its fair share of criticism this season, especially in Italy, but can head home to Maranello with some momentum to build on as it was clearly the best non-papaya team in the Styrian hills. The all-new floor seems to have worked, twelve months on from a flawed 2024 upgrade that sent the team into a tailspin. 

Leclerc was powerless to resist Piastri, but third felt like a mini-victory given McLaren’s dominance, and Lewis Hamilton also had his strongest race in red despite struggling with some niggling brake and balance issues. 

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Andy Hone / LAT Images via Getty Images

Losers: Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes 

Inconsistency is inevitably going to run through Kimi Antonelli’s rookie campaign, and two weeks on from the 18-year-old’s breakthrough podium in Montreal – as F1’s third-youngest podium finisher – he’s experienced the flipside of the coin with a costly first-lap mistake that saw him spear Verstappen out of the race. Antonelli shouldn’t be judged too harshly, but it did leave the onus on George Russell to salvage something for Mercedes. 

Unfortunately for Russell, that was a lonely fifth spot as Mercedes got bogged down by its typical overheating problems on a hot and abrasive track, with Russell calling the Austrian Grand Prix “a perfect storm” for the team as it faced a fiery cocktail of everything its 2025 car dislikes. 

Mercedes will be hoping for a typically British summer next week in Silverstone, rather than the unusually toasty conditions that Spielberg (and the UK) currently faces. 

Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Photo by: Andy Hone / LAT Images via Getty Images

Winner: Gabriel Bortoleto and Sauber 

Gabriel Bortoleto has quietly impressed everyone at Sauber this season, and across rival teams too. Thus far, however, the reigning F2 champion has little to show for it. He is now finally off the mark after coming home in eighth in Austria, drawing praise from his mentor Fernando Alonso after pair’s exciting battle in the closing stages. 

Team principal Jonathan Wheatley said Bortoleto’s breakthrough result was inevitable, but the Brazilian couldn’t hide his relief as the lack of results appeared to be weighing on him. His rookie season is finally up and running. 

There’s more and more evidence that Sauber’s progress is real, with Nico Hulkenberg also looking good for Q3 until a Q1 mistake left him last on the grid. But the experienced German made an excellent start on softs and worked his way up the order swiftly, looking handy on all three tyre compounds. He eventually finished the race in ninth.  

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

Losers: Williams 

Fernando Alonso has shaken off the cartoon anvil that has been chasing him around the first quarter of the season and has apparently enlisted Aston’s logistics partner to deliver it to Williams HQ in Grove. 

After a disappointing weekend in Canada, Williams again wasted a perfectly good opportunity to score decent points, with the early exits of Verstappen and Antonelli opening up the top 10. The team believes two different technical issues hit Carlos Sainz before the race even started, and led to Alex Albon’s second retirement in consecutive races – with Albon’s issue looking similar to the one that thwarted him in Montreal. 

Suddenly, Williams’ margin in the constructors’ championship doesn’t look that handsome any longer and, with its rivals catching up on development as well, is the battle for fifth truly on? 

Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Winner: Liam Lawson  

Liam Lawson has been put through the ringer this season after his absurdly short Red Bull stint, only to come home to Racing Bulls facing an impressive Isack Hadjar – who by that point was already firing on all cylinders. And while Lawson was clearly on the back foot in terms of seat time in the VCARB 02, he has gradually improved and looked excellent all weekend in Austria. 

The New Zealander qualified sixth and stayed there after making a difficult one-stop strategy work, helped by Racing Bulls’ excellent tyre management that had already paid dividends in Barcelona. It’s a just reward for Lawson, who has faced more external criticism than he deserved. 

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

Losers: Lance Stroll and Alpine 

When Lance Stroll was asked why he missed the drivers’ F1 movie screening, his reply was a customarily brief “just stuff”. Unfortunately for the Canadian, an apt summary of his Austria weekend would be “just slow” after his Friday pace proved a mirage. 

Aston Martin’s car is clearly weaker on Sundays, with Alonso resorting to making a one-stop work, so in his defence Stroll was never going to make a heroic comeback from the rear of the field. But the gulf with a combative Alonso on both Saturday and Sunday was quite telling as Stroll is struggling to click with the AMR25. 

We’ll have to throw in a (dis)honourable mention for Alpine, too, which clearly has pace in the car but has found it so hard to extract it on Sundays. The team lacked a little luck in Austria, too, with Pierre Gasly’s car totally undrivable after picking up damage and Franco Colapinto clumsily clattering with Tsunoda. 

But after Gasly’s bright opening stint on softs, neither car was looking like it was going places, with Flavio Briatore calling its performance “increasingly concerning” in Alpine’s refreshingly forthright press release.