2025 Austrian GP talking points: Lando Norris bounces back from Oscar Piastri clash, Max Verstappen suffers DNF at Red Bull Ring, Ferrari floor upgrades pay off, and more

Following a dramatic race in Canada, F1 returned to Europe on Sunday, June 29, for the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix, held at the iconic Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. 

With Lando Norris responding in dominant fashion to his collision with team-mate Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen seeing his title hopes dashed on the first lap, and Ferrari seemingly getting back on track, there is plenty to discuss this week. 

Sports News Blitz’s F1 writer Henry Eccles takes a look at five big talking points to come out of the 2025 Austrian GP. 

Lando Norris bounces back and dominates

After crashing out in Montreal, Lando Norris needed a good weekend for his title chances against team-mate Oscar Piastri.

And the Briton did not disappoint. 

Norris sat out for FP1 to give F2 leader Alex Dunne a well-deserved run out in the MCL39, but it was complete domination from the 25-year-old once he got his seat back. 

The McLaren driver topped the timing charts in FP2 and FP3 before a scintillating final flying lap in Q3 consolidated pole position for the race. 

Championship rivals Piastri and Max Verstappen did not get a chance to set a final flyer, after Pierre Gasly’s spin at Turn 10 brought out the yellow flags.

Even still, Norris’ performance in Q3 - to improve on what was already a scorching lap that had him on provisional pole - was a huge step forward for a driver that has continued to struggle under pressure.

His next mission was to keep the lead, with race starts a historical weakness for the Bristol-born racer. 

And he did just that, defending well against both Piastri and Charles Leclerc in the first three corners of the Red Bull Ring. 

The opening 20 laps saw a straight shootout between the McLaren drivers, with Piastri virtually stuck under Norris’ rear wing throughout.

On Lap 11, Norris ran deep at Turn 1, letting Piastri get a run at him up the hill to Turn 3, the Aussie was ahead at the exit, but a smart switchback from Norris and help from the DRS ensured he regained the lead.

Piastri then daringly thought about a move down the inside of Turn 6 but could not quite make it stick, and stayed behind Norris again.

On Lap 20, with Norris due to come in for his first pit stop, Piastri made a late lunge at Turn 4, locking up his front right tyre and just avoiding a crash into the back of his team-mate - an incident his race engineer described as ‘too marginal.’

Piastri was then given a choice - pit next lap or run slightly longer- the championship leader opted for the latter and pitted on Lap 24, but came out around five seconds behind his team-mate. 

That gap remained the same for most of the second stint, but he started to hunt Norris down after the final pit stops. 

With traffic in the way, however, and the blue-flagged Franco Colapinto even receiving a five-second penalty for shoving Piastri onto the grass while defending his own position against Yuki Tsunoda, the Aussie could not catch his team-mate. 

Norris reflected post-race: “We had a great battle, that's for sure. It was a lot of fun. For me, a lot of stress but a lot of fun. A nice battle, so well done to Oscar.

“Hopefully it was a nice one for everyone to watch, but inside the car it was tough, especially when he was in DRS.

“The DRS is so big around here, so it was hard to get him out of the gap. Once I did, I could manage things pretty well but he was still quick.”

Piastri also explained how he gave it everything to beat his team-mate: “I tried my absolute best. I probably could have done a better job when I just got ahead momentarily. But it was a good battle. A bit on the edge at times, and probably pushed the limits a bit far.”

While Piastri still leads the Drivers’ standings, Norris has reduced the deficit to just 15 points with a stellar weekend that some ought to believe could be a real turning point in his season.

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Max Verstappen’s title hopes dashed at Red Bull’s home race

Red Bull must have been pleased to just have Verstappen at the Red Bull Ring in the first place, after he avoided penalty points and a race ban in Montreal last time out. 

But that positivity was short-lived as the Dutchman’s weekend began to unravel in qualifying. 

The yellow flag caused by Gasly’s spin in Q3 stopped Verstappen from setting a final qualifying lap that Red Bull claimed could have had him on the front row.

The four-time world champion had to settle for a P7 start on Sunday’s grid, where the worst was yet to come.

Verstappen made a quick getaway and was already fighting for P4 at the top of the hill at Turn 3, but that was where his race abruptly ended thanks to a mistake from Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

The young Italian got his braking point all wrong as the pack ahead of him bunched up at the corner, locking up and avoiding Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson, but not Verstappen, who was a complete passenger in the crash. 

The Dutchman was understandably angry at the incident, but was sportsmanlike in his evaluation of Antonelli’s mishap:

“Unlucky, I guess. It is what it is. I spoke quickly to Kimi, he came with me to the hospitality. I think every driver has made a mistake like that. No one does that on purpose as well so for me, that's not a big deal.

“It was not the weekend that I guess we hoped for pace wise. Then of course we were a little bit unlucky in Qualifying with that yellow flag, otherwise you start a bit further ahead.

“Then the race was unlucky again. Sometimes you have those weekends.”

The DNF was Verstappen’s first since the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, and with struggling team-mate Yuki Tsunoda the last driver to cross the line in P16, Red Bull went completely point-less at their home race in Austria. 

A disastrous weekend for Verstappen means he is now a whopping 61 points behind leader Piastri in the Drivers’, and 56 behind Norris in P2. 

After his victory in Canada and top-five finish this time in Austria, George Russell is also looming larger in Verstappen’s mirrors, with only nine points separating the pair in the fight for P3. 

With the gap to the lead now so big that even the great Verstappen would struggle to close it, the only positive for Red Bull was that two penalty points have been scrubbed from the Dutchman’s FIA Super Licence. 

Ferrari’s upgrades work their magic 

While Team Principal Fred Vasseur may have been absent from Sunday’s race, citing personal reasons, Ferrari brought long-anticipated upgrades to Austria that helped them score an impressive P3 and P4 finish. 

On Saturday, there were promising signs that floor upgrades to the SF-25 had worked a treat as Leclerc qualified in an impressive P2, with Lewis Hamilton’s P4 the best qualifying result the 40-year-old has achieved at Ferrari so far. 

When trying to take the lead from Norris, Leclerc lost P2 to Piastri on the opening lap, but later admitted the pacier McLaren was always going to get ahead eventually. 

Nonetheless, a fourth podium finish for the Monegasque this season never seemed to be in danger, as Hamilton also held onto his P4 spot. 

Leclerc reflected on the important upgrades: “We are working in the right direction for sure, this weekend proves it.

“We need to be careful to judge too quickly our upgrades. It does everything we wanted, but we need to wait maybe two or three races in order to judge it properly and to judge our actual pace properly.

“We are going in the right direction. I hope that we can bring new parts as soon as possible and if that's the case then I hope that this will close the gap even more so with the McLaren.”

Seven-time world champion Hamilton, despite finishing 10 seconds behind his team-mate in another lonely race similar to that of Canada and Spain, and complaining about brake and balance issues, still had plenty of positives to take. 

“For us to be the second fastest team this weekend, we're not a minute down from McLaren, which is positive. To bag some really strong points, I'm definitely happy with it,” Hamilton said. 

“I think everyone in the team will be happier. I think definitely the guys back at the factory can be proud of the work they've done. 

“Everyone here has definitely been a lot calmer and more methodical this weekend, definitely a better output from the team.”

Hamilton had also described Ferrari’s operations as ‘world class’ after qualifying, displaying an air of confidence we have not seen for most of his time in red so far. 

Many F1 fans will hope he can take that positivity to his home race at Silverstone this weekend - no one in the sport’s history has won as many races at the British Grand Prix than the former Mercedes man (nine). 

The P3 and P4 finish for Leclerc and Hamilton respectively, together with Antonelli’s DNF, means Ferrari are now back up to P2 in the Constructors’ standings with 210 points, just one point ahead of Mercedes.

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Things go from bad to worse for Williams

After a point-less finish in Spain, and just a P10 for Carlos Sainz in Canada, Williams failed again to bounce back in Austria. 

On Saturday, floor damage and brake problems combined to see Sainz qualify in a lowly P19, problems that seemingly went unresolved into the Grand Prix. 

On Sunday’s Formation Lap, Sainz was stuck in first gear and could not get his car moving for some time, causing an aborted start. 

The Spaniard reset his FW47, and made his way to the pit lane, but once stopped there, his brakes caught fire and suddenly the 30-year-old’s race was over before it even started.

The former Ferrari driver reflected on a disappointing weekend: “Yeah, very disappointed obviously to come to Austria and not be able to race, after even so many issues yesterday in Quali and this issue today.

“Going through a bit of a bad run with a lot of issues as a team so, in a short period of time before our home Grand Prix, we need to regroup and see what we can do better.”

Team-mate Alex Albon qualified further ahead but still out of the points positions in P12, but did very well to make his way up to P6 during the chaotic opening laps. 

It was not long, however, before Albon’s race also came to an end.

On Lap 16, the Thai driver was forced to retire due to issues he said were similar to those he encountered in Montreal - meaning he has now failed to finish in the last three Grand Prix.

Williams have since confirmed that they are investigating the issues with Albon’s car, after Team Principal James Vowles rued a ‘very disappointing day’ for the Grove team. 

“We had the pace today to comfortably finish sixth, and yet we walk away with a double DNF. We had two different issues that need to be understood to make sure we rectify them going forward,” Vowles said.

“We're on a good journey towards building a fast car but we're not complete yet in terms of operation and reliability. We have 13 races in front of us and they're key to make sure that we're able to fight at the front with the very best.”

For most of 2025, Williams’ P5 in the Constructors’ has looked relatively secure, but with Alpine the only team behind them failing to score points at Austria, the midfield battle is far from over, even though they sit 19 points ahead of Racing Bulls in P6.

Gabriel Bortoleto scores first ever F1 points for resurgent Sauber

Ever since bringing upgrades to Barcelona, Sauber have been in excellent form, but it had only been veteran Nico Hulkenberg picking up the points - a stunning P5 finish in Spain was followed up with an impressive P8 in Canada. 

And while Hulkenberg scored points yet again, this time with a miraculous recovery from P20 to P9, it was finally time for rookie Gabriel Bortoleto to join him after a P8 finish. 

It was a fantastic weekend for 2024 F2 champion Bortoleto, whose first victory in the junior category actually came at Spielberg last year. 

On Saturday, the young Brazilian stunned fans with a P8 qualifying finish, ahead of fellow rookie Antonelli, after making Q3 for the first time in his F1 career. 

And as the chequered flag was waved on Sunday, Bortoleto held position, but not before a thrilling last-lap battle with Fernando Alonso, the founder of the rookie’s management team, A14 Management, and his mentor throughout F2 and F3. 

During the final laps at the Red Bull Ring, the apprentice hunted down the master, closing a nine-second gap between them before an ‘intense battle’ took place. 

Bortoleto, with much fresher tyres, got ahead of Alonso on Lap 69, diving down the inside of Turn Three, but the wily two-time world champion regained P7 after an expert cutback. 

The battle went on to the very end, and was so hardly fought that Alonso went side-by-side with McLaren’s Norris, who had just lapped him under blue flags, with the Spaniard almost making contact with the race leader at Turn 4. 

Alonso held on to P7, much to Bortoleto’s disappointment, but the Brazilian was delighted with his first-ever points haul in F1. 

"I always knew I was capable of it. I'm not in Formula 1 for a random reason. It's just good to be in the points finally, more for the team than for myself because they really deserve to have points and everything.

"For myself, I'm here because I want to win one day. I'm not going to be happy because I scored a few points, you know? But for sure it's already an achievement.

“We should be happy with every small achievement and we are going in the right direction to achieve our bigger dream, which will one day be winning championships.”

The next race weekend in the 2025 F1 calendar is arguably the sport’s very best, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, taking place across the weekend of July 4-6.

Fans can catch all the action live on Sky Sports F1. The race itself gets underway on Sunday at 3pm UK time.

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