Rand Norris fought against McLaren’s teammate Oscar Piastri and claimed a significant victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Here are the biggest winners and losers of a dramatic and tense F1 race at the Red Bull Ring…
Winner – Randorris/McLaren
This was a terrible need for Norris to bounce back from his previous heartbreak in Canada and revive his desire to become the Formula One World Championship this year.
After coming out of McLaren’s junior Alex Dunn’s FP1, Norris put all his practice sessions on top, giving sensational performances to grab the dominant pole position on the track he loves.
Norris then resisted the racing challenge from Piastri and became nervous to turn Paul into his third victory of the season.
McLaren 1-2, coupled with a bad day for Mercedes, further strengthened the team’s tension at the top of the constructor’s standings, giving them a massive buffer of 207 points.
Rand Norris
Loser – Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen’s title defense took a major hit following his opening lap retirement in Austria. The four-time world champion was wiped out in turn 3 by Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes.
The Dutch fell 61 points from the World Championship lead as Norris and Piastri finished first and second.
There are clearly plenty of points in the glove as there are 13 races still remaining, but with the continued face of the RB21, Verstappen has something very dark in his quest to win the fifth consecutive driver crown, along with McLaren’s advantage.
Winner – Ferrari
Ferrari enjoyed the season’s strongest weekend in both qualifying and racing, and it seemed that the introduction of massive upgrades would result in a major promotion in performance.
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton’s third and fourth place represent Ferrari’s best and most convincing results of 2025, even if they weren’t competing for a victory.
Leclerc finished Piastri’s nearly 20 seconds of Adrift, highlighting whether Ferrari still needs to be found to win the race, but they were Austria’s second fastest team in Merritt and second in constructors from Mercedes.
Loser – Some Antonelli
Destroyed Mercedes by You Antoneri
How quickly things change in F1. In Canada, Antoneli was a hero and in Austria he was brought back to Earth with an omnipotent bang, so he went to Zero.
After a difficult qualification left him only nine times on the grid, Antonelli’s bid to retrieve a decent result lasted just a few seconds before he was trapped and lost control of Mercedes, collecting Verstappen.
To rub salt on the wounds over a painful weekend, Antonelli defeated third-place grid drop for the British Grand Prix next weekend.
Winner – Liam Lawson
2025 has been a brutal season so far for Liam Lawson, but Austria provided a welcome reprieve as the New Zealanders secured his best F1 results.
This backed up the outstanding performance of the qualifying round, tying from 6th place ahead of Verstappen.
At the Red Bull house, it was Lawson who led the staff at the Energy Drink Company of Sister Team Racebulls, who bounced back to sixth in the constructor’s ranking.
Loser – Williams
It was a weekend that was forgotten for Williams of Spielberg, as both cars didn’t get the finish.
Carlos Sainz failed to start Sunday’s race after a fiery exit in the pit lane.
To exacerbate Williams’ misery, Alex Albon retired from the Grand Prix for the second consecutive time due to overheating issues.
Winner – Gabriel Boltreto / Sauber
Sauber won his first double point finish this year
Gabriel Boltreto has enjoyed his strongest weekend of his rookie Formula 1 season so far.
The two-seat Brazilian, who first reached the third quarter on Saturday, had to try his best in the second-best late battle with his mentor and manager Fernando Alonso and use all of his experience to stay on the checkered flag.
The credits must also be sent to Nico Halkenberg. Nico Halkenberg will need to climb from 20th to 9th to 9th, finishing three consecutive points for the Germans and completing Sauber’s first double point this year.
Loser – Horned Yuki
The Tsunoda was confused as they struggled to continue in Austria with Red Bull’s 2025 F1 car.
Japanese racers were far from the pace that they admitted to being “the first time I’ve been driving in Formula 1,” a nightmare 16th day, or the last in classification.
Point never saw the Horneda card, but his race was ruined after a clumsy collision with Franco Colapinto broke his front wing and required an unplanned pit stop.
Winner – Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon has earned a back-to-back point finish and three top-10 appearances in the last four races as he recovered from 17th place and scored the final points in 10th place.
An opportunistic drive from Ocon. He profited from the chaos around him, ensuring Haas would leave Austria before Aston Martin, losing sixth to the Racing Bulls.
Loser – Franco Corpent
Franco Frankundoto
Colapinto may have been responsible for taking the leader of the Formula One World Championship, not because of Piastri’s Lightning-Fast Reactions.
Korapinto was trapped in a battle with the Hornda and seemed unaware of Piastri.
The under-pressure alpine driver hit with a five-second penalty and penalty points on his license, due to the incident that took him 15th in the final order.