F1 information: 6 Austrian Grand Prix storylines

After per week off, Formulation 1 returns to motion with the Austrian Grand Prix.

Nevertheless, a number of groups seemingly welcomed the week away from the monitor.

A dramatic collision between McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris knocked Norris out of the race, and dropped him 17 factors behind Piastri within the Drivers’ Championship standings, and opened the door to additional hypothesis over how McLaren will deal with a championship-caliber automobile, and two extremely quick drivers.

That query, and extra, are on the docket because the grid heads to Austria.

How does McLaren reply after the Canadian Grand Prix?

Picture by Clive Rose/Getty Photographs

Because the 2025 F1 season started, everybody knew this second was coming.

That perception didn’t make it any much less surprising when the second lastly arrived.

With McLaren starting the yr because the dominant pressure on the grid, with the MCL39 the premier package deal, they appeared destined to repeat as Constructors’ Champions, whereas Norris and Piastri appeared as frontrunners for the Drivers’ Championship.

However an eventual battle between the 2 — months faraway from final yr’s “Papaya Guidelines” storyline — loomed.

That got here to a head in Montreal, because the teammates locked horns within the closing laps of the Canadian Grand Prix. As they battled for fourth within the remaining act of the race, they got here collectively on the run into Flip 1, as Norris tried to squeeze by his teammate on the within:

Norris took quick accountability for the incident (and for “being silly” in his phrases) within the moments after the race, even apologizing to Piastri within the media pen. Workforce Principal Andrea Stella famous that apology in his personal feedback, as he outlined {that a} collision between two McLarens is “not acceptable.”

“Properly, we by no means wish to see a McLaren automobile concerned in an accident and undoubtedly we don’t wish to see the 2 McLarens having contact, so this case is a scenario that we all know shouldn’t be acceptable,” started Stella after the Canadian Grand Prix.

“On the identical time, we admire that Lando instantly owned it and apologized to the staff, which for us type of reset the scenario. I’m certain he has an vital studying level coming from this race, he paid a worth within the championship.

“Like I mentioned, we admire his behaviour straight after the accident and we are going to go racing once more.”

They certainly go racing once more this week in Austria. However as they continue to be one-two within the Drivers’ Championship standings, will there be one other scrap just like the one in Montreal between these quick teammates this season?

Marvelous Max Verstappen at Pink Bull Ring

Two figures will loom over the festivities this week, one literal, one other figurative.

The primary is the large statue that hangs over the circuit in Austria, that can forged a shadow over the ocean of orange that assembles to cheer their hero:

Picture by Mark Thompson/Getty Photographs

The opposite is how properly Max Verstappen has executed on this dwelling race for Pink Bull.

Whereas how Norris and McLaren rebound from Montreal is probably going the primary story heading into the Austrian Grand Prix, one can’t overlook Verstappen’s success at Pink Bull’s dwelling race. Verstappen has been nothing in need of dominant at Pink Bull Ring, notching 4 victories and 5 pole positions over his profession on the Austrian Grand Prix.

A type of pole positions got here a yr in the past, as Verstappen edged out Norris and George Russell to safe P1. Whereas he didn’t win the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix — extra on that in a minute — he did safe a win within the F1 Dash race at Pink Bull Ring final yr.

This yr is a typical Grand Prix weekend, with no F1 Dash race, however Verstappen’s success at Pink Bull Ring completely makes him a risk to win this week.

Nonetheless, he must hold issues clear in Austria, as he stays one penalty level shy of a one-race suspension. The following two penalty factors on his FIA Tremendous License are set to run out after this weekend, factors that he earned on this race a yr in the past.

Austria 2024, revisited

Whereas the incident between Piastri and Norris on the Canadian Grand Prix was maybe the primary really dramatic second of the 2025 F1 season, it was this race a yr in the past that supplied the primary gorgeous incident of the 2024 marketing campaign, and the battle between Norris and Verstappen.

After a sluggish pit cease on Lap 52 of final yr’s Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen was left to cling to a lead over Norris. The 2 battled over a number of laps, usually at Flip 3, after which on Lap 64 the 2 clashed once more, coming collectively once more at Flip 3:

Each Verstappen and Norris suffered punctures, and the injury to Norris’ MCL38 was terminal. Verstappen was capable of proceed, however he was given a ten-second penalty for inflicting the collision. That penalty didn’t consider his qualification, as he completed fifth, greater than 14 seconds behind fourth-place Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen was additionally given two penalty factors on his Tremendous License for inflicting the collision, factors which expire following this yr’s Austrian Grand Prix.

The incident really kicked off the title battle between the 2 pals, and hypothesis in regards to the relationship between the 2 adopted them world wide over the remainder of the season. Whereas the 2 drivers brushed these apart in lots of a press convention, Austria was not the final time they clashed on the monitor final season.

Their conflict at Pink Bull Ring a yr in the past additionally opened the door for Russell, who was more than pleased to choose up the items and declare a win at Pink Bull Ring.

Mercedes on the rise

As for Russell, he and Mercedes are coming off a dream weekend on the Canadian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver captured pole place for the second consecutive season in Montreal, and he was capable of maintain off Verstappen over the closing laps to safe his first win of the season.

As for his new teammate, rookie Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old turned the third youngest driver to safe a podium in F1 historical past together with his third-place end on the Canadian Grand Prix. Solely Verstappen and Lance Stroll had been youthful once they picked up their maiden F1 podium finishes.

Russell’s victory in Montreal pulled him to inside 23 factors of Verstappen for third place within the F1 Drivers’ Championship standings, and the double-podium end result for Mercedes noticed the Silver Arrows edge forward of Ferrari within the battle for second within the Constructors’ standings.

Can they hold it rolling in Austria? It’d come all the way down to the climate. Mercedes has been strongest in cooler circumstances the previous season-plus, which could have Toto Wolff and firm watching the climate greater than the rest this week.

Frustration at Ferrari

Picture by Bradley Collyer/PA Photographs through Getty Photographs

The buildup to the Canadian Grand Prix noticed some stress boil to the floor at Ferrari.

Workforce Principal Frederic Vasseur was pressured to reply to stories from Italian media that he was below rising strain to maintain his place. Each La Gazzetta della Sport and Corriere della Sera launched stories within the days forward of the Canadian Grand Prix that Vasseur, in addition to different key administration figures, had been below risk of dropping their jobs ought to the staff hold underperforming.

Vasseur fired again in Montreal, with each Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc coming to his protection.

“I don’t know the goal. I don’t perceive the goal. Maybe it’s to offer shit to the staff, however on this case I don’t see the purpose. Maybe, for them, it’s the one method to exist but it surely’s actually hurting the staff,” mentioned Vasseur in Montreal.

“At one stage, it’s the shortage of focus and when you’re preventing for the championship, each single element makes the distinction. And from the start of the weekend we’re simply talking about this.

“If it’s their goal to place the staff on this scenario, they attain their purpose. However I feel it’s actually… It’s not like this that we will win a championship. And a minimum of not with this sort of journalist round us.”

“Issues aren’t excellent,” mentioned Hamilton. “However for me, I’m right here to work with the staff, but in addition with Fred. I would like Fred right here. I do imagine Fred is the individual to take us to the highest.”

“Now we have a imaginative and prescient that we share, us three – Fred, Lewis and myself, with a purpose to attempt to get again to successful. And we’ve been working to place that each one collectively. That is our plan. And we should always follow it,” added Leclerc.

Each Leclerc and Hamilton completed within the factors in Montreal, however the double-podium end result from Mercedes noticed the Silver Arrows slip forward of Ferrari within the standings, dropping the Scuderia to 3rd.

Can they take that spot again in Austria?

Sauber on the upward monitor

Change was within the air at Sauber because the 2025 F1 season started.

Final yr’s driver pairing of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas was out, with the 2 taking up reserve roles at Ferrari and Mercedes, respectively. In had been veteran Nico Hülkenberg and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, final season’s F2 Drivers’ Champion. Jonathan Wheatley joined the staff within the spring as the brand new Workforce Principal, coming over from years of service because the Sporting Director at Pink Bull.

And these adjustments come as extra are on the horizon, because the staff turns into the Audi works operation subsequent yr.

However regardless of the adjustments, and the tenth-place end a season in the past, Sauber has stunned this yr. Whereas they sit ninth within the standings they’re coming off a pair of factors outcomes, as Hülkenberg completed eighth within the Canadian Grand Prix, and a powerful fifth within the Spanish Grand Prix, as he handed Lewis Hamilton on the ultimate lap to safe a powerful end result.

Now Hülkenberg heads to a different monitor the place he delivered a powerful end result, as he completed sixth on this race a yr in the past.

Hülkenberg sat down with F1.com’s Lawrence Barretto forward of the Spanish Grand Prix, and spoke about what lies forward for him, and Sauber, because the transition to Audi continues.

“It’s such a reset and a white piece of paper that everybody begins from. It’s inconceivable to foretell something.

“The large 4 groups have a bonus when it comes to infrastructure and all these sorts of issues. But it surely’s a very good alternative, as a result of it’s a reset, it’s a recent begin for everybody with these new laws,” mentioned Hülkenberg.

“It’s extraordinarily thrilling and a very good alternative for everybody, together with ourselves. We have to work onerous, we have to work targeted on it and hopefully we’ll come out on the correct facet of it.”

However whereas that transition comes subsequent season, can Hülkenberg and Sauber make it three consecutive finishes within the factors this week?