Despite not yet being in a position to fight for race victories, McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team delivered a good result at the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix by maximising opportunities available through strategy and strong tyre management. A rapid-fire Austrian Grand Prix at the Spielberg circuit saw Oscar climb from P7 on the grid to P4 at the flag, while Lando battled all afternoon to come home P7.
While the ambition remains to compete for wins, today's race underlined that the current performance level requires the team to execute at the highest level operationally to achieve the best possible result. Mercedes remains the leading competitor, while Red Bull's latest upgrades helped move them further ahead, highlighting the impact development continues to have on the competitive order.
The focus now is on continuing to extract everything from the current package while introducing further upgrades in line with the MCL40's development pathway to close the remaining performance gap.
In the heat of the Austrian hills, Lando and Oscar swapped positions in the opening exchanges and then kept out of trouble for the first few laps, which had the crowd on their feet and the team in the garage on the edge of their seat. After this, the race settled down into a strategic chess match, with high degradation and a powerful undercut making the race something of a deep cut for those who enjoy the long game. McLaren Mastercard's simulated race pace on Friday had looked slightly better than the one-lap pace, so the team went into the race optimistic of making progress. While the early race was with Antonelli, it soon became apparent that the battle was with Ferrari, who arguably had better absolute performance, but also more rapid tyre degradation on the hot asphalt.
Oscar was able to go longer on his stints than either of the red cars, using the tyre delta to first pass Leclerc on track and then pull away from Hamilton when the latter took advantage of a VSC to add an extra stop.
Lando's race was a little more complicated. Having lost position to Oscar at the start, he was vulnerable to an undercut during the pit stops and lost position to Hadjar. He chased the Red Bull driver all the way to the line, eventually finishing 2.1s behind - but was able to catch and pass Leclerc in the process, to come home in the same position he ended the first lap.
Overall, good race pace today continues the positive momentum the team has experienced in recent races, and the result moves the team closer to Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship, as we head to McLaren's home race at Silverstone.
Andrea Stella: "Today was a positive step forward. We made clear progress from Qualifying thanks to the car working well with the tyres, keeping the rears alive in tough heat, and our strategy remaining patient without capping our speed. We have to be realistic about our current situation though; we are not in a position to fight for victories and podiums on pure pace at the moment. The race today demonstrated that, but it also highlighted our strengths.
"We were able to compete with and finish ahead of Ferrari by capitalising on excellent strategy and tyre management, and Oscar drove a fantastic race, which was a real positive to see. On the other hand, Lando had a difficult weekend, but we will work with him to understand where we lost the performance, just as we did with Oscar previously, following Barcelona.
"We still have a deficit of a few tenths compared to the top team and closing that gap is all about development and getting the most from what we have. Red Bull's benchmark shows that upgrades translate into results, and we'll bring small updates for the next round while preparing for changeable weather.
"Looking ahead to Silverstone, returning as champions will be special, but our focus is on the present. A podium would be a great result, but a victory will be difficult. We have a strong undertaking to our fans to get back to the front, and we are working tirelessly to deliver the performance that will allow us to celebrate victories with them again soon."
George Russell finished first, whilst Kimi Antonelli finished third at the end of Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix. It was a tough afternoon at the front, with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen applying sustained pressure throughout, while both drivers were required to manage a demanding and closely fought race. Having started on the medium compound, both George and Kimi executed a Medium Hard Hard two-stop strategy, one of the preferred approaches for today's race. Verstappen, in the Red Bull, followed a similar two stop approach and was able to use strong late-race pace to close onto George and challenge for the lead. In the closing laps, Kimi put Verstappen under significant pressure for P2, reducing the gap and taking the fight all the way to the line, but ultimately had to settle for third. George controlled the race from the front, managing the final stint to secure the win despite the late pressure. With victory, George reduces Kimi's advantage in the Drivers' standings to 40 points whilst the team holds a 98-point advantage in the Constructors'. The team now heads back home for the second leg of this double-header nearby at Silverstone.
Toto Wolff: It was a race where we were under constant pressure and closer to our competitors than we would have liked. Red Bull were very competitive, particularly in the final stint, and we had to manage that all the way to the line.
George handled the race well. In those situations, it's about keeping things simple and just driving, and he did exactly that without making mistakes when it mattered.
Kimi also showed good resilience after the start. He recovered well, got himself back into the fight, and was applying pressure for P2 right to the end of the race.
We scored strong points for the team today, but it also underlines how tight the competition is at the front and where we need to continue improving.
Andrew Shovlin: Today was a great result for the team and a great result for George. It was good to see him take another well-deserved win and nice to have Kimi on the podium with him. It was one of those races where we were wishing it was a lap longer as it looked like Kimi had the pace to pass Max, but a podium is a solid result.
The strategy team made good calls throughout the race. George was able to build a useful gap in the first stint, and we reacted well to cover the undercut threat from Verstappen heading into the final stint. Kimi also showed strong pace, making a good move on Leclerc early on and then using that to offset his strategy, which gave him the benefit of fresher tyres towards the end.
End of stint performance was a key factor today. It looked like only Verstappen, and our two drivers were able to manage tyre degradation effectively as the stints went beyond 20 laps, which is encouraging, particularly heading into the hotter races where that will be tested further.
It's been a solid weekend in terms of points for the team, but it's clear the field is very close. We'll need to keep finding improvements and bringing performance if we want to maintain that position over the coming races.
Laurent Mekies: "Our best result of the year. We produced a very strong performance this afternoon, without a doubt our strongest race of the season so far. The most satisfying element is the pace: I think Kimi was quickest today and Max was maybe a little bit quicker than George, but then your grid position also has an impact.
"In qualifying, it was clear how much progress we have made, even if the grid positions didn't reflect that. On what is a very difficult track, made even more demanding by the very hot conditions, we got very close to the sort of pace needed to win. That is a testament to how effective the work carried out back at the factory was. If you look back to the start of the season, we have managed to close the gap to the fastest from one second to around a couple of tenths. The fight is not over yet, with everyone continuing to bring updates and we will need more to come from our side. Max was exceptional today in all phases of the race. We did not win, but we were lacking very little, maybe just hundredths of a second and it was certainly a good fight.
"Isack also delivered another solid performance today as he continues to make progress, so overall it's a step in the right direction. It's also worth noting that all four cars using the Red Bull Ford Powertrains finished in the points today."
Scuderia Ferrari HP endured a challenging Austrian Grand Prix, struggling for race pace from the opening laps. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were forced into a largely defensive race, with Lewis bringing home the ten points for fifth place, while Charles added four more by taking the chequered flag in eighth.
Both drivers made strong starts, with Hamilton passing Leclerc on the opening lap, but it soon became apparent that, on the Medium tyres, the two SF-26s were unable to match the pace of their closest rivals, dropping behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen. In an effort to fight with the cars ahead the team switched from a two to a three stop strategy which didn't work out. Lewis was eventually overtaken by Oscar Piastri and finished fifth, while Charles dropped behind Lando Norris and Isack Hadjar to take eighth place.
The data gathered over the 71 demanding laps at Spielberg will now be analysed carefully to identify the areas that need improving in order to ensure the team is once again competitive as it heads to Silverstone for next weekend's British Grand Prix, Lewis' home race.
Fred Vasseur: It was a challenging weekend: I don't think we got it off on the right foot on Friday, as we struggled in both FP1 and FP2 and weren't able to complete proper long runs. We recovered well over a single lap in qualifying, but we probably didn't prepare the race as well as we should have. Looking back, we were perhaps too focused on Mercedes today. We pushed hard in the opening laps and then reacted too aggressively with the strategy, trying to stay with them when, realistically, that wasn't our race. We will learn from this, refocus on ourselves and immediately turn our attention to the British Grand Prix next week.
James Vowles, Team Principal: "It was a tough day in these warmer conditions, with the car not in the place we need it to be at the moment - we were simply unable to fight for points. For Carlos, unfortunately, it looks like we may have had a PU issue, which resulted in the car shutting down on the straight. We will investigate the fault, however Mercedes have always been incredible at making sure we bring performance and reliability, so I have no doubt we'll be in a strong place come next week.
What I was pleased to see is our pit stops were on point today. Well done to the team, who have been working diligently over the last 6 months - the dividends from that are paying off.
Looking ahead, Silverstone is one of the races where we're bringing small upgrades and hope to take a step forward relative to the field. It's at difficult times like this that we pull together, reset, and come back swinging."
Alan Permane: "It was a pretty perfect weekend for us here in Austria. The last couple of weekends we've had a quick car in Qualifying, which we haven't been able to convert into race pace, but the whole team both here at track and the factories in Faenza and Milton Keynes have worked very hard to turn that around. We brought an update here and had indications on Friday that our pace was decent on long runs, but you never really know until you get into the race. It was pretty clear today though that we were quick, so a huge well done to Liam and Arvid for bringing it home in 9th and 10th quite comfortably. We really look forward to getting to Silverstone next week!"
Mike Krack: "A hot afternoon in Austria where we completed the race with Fernando in P18. We focussed on extracting the maximum from the car knowing that it would be difficult to compete with the cars ahead of us. Lance and Fernando were racing closely for most of the afternoon - running line astern until we had to retire Lance's car with a suspected ERS issue on lap 46."
TGR Haas F1 Team finished with Ollie Bearman 14th and Esteban Ocon 16th at the Austrian Grand Prix, held Sunday at the Red Bull Ring.
Bearman took the start from P13 on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires, but lost a couple of positions on the opening lap, until he climbed back up into P14. Bearman extended his first stint before coming into the pit lane on lap 24, taking advantage of a virtual safety car period to minimize time loss, re-emerging on the White hard tires. Bearman made his second stop on lap 46 for mediums, and greeted the checkered flag in 14th position.
Ocon started the race from P15, also on medium tires, and moved up a few places in the early laps, before losing out through the first stint. Ocon came into the pits on lap 18, changing to another set of medium tires, and made a second stop for hards on lap 34. Ocon re-emerged in P15 but lost out to Alpine's Franco Colapinto, and was classified in 16th place.
TGR Haas F1 Team holds seventh position in the Constructors' Championship on 21 points.
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "Today, once again, operationally it was good. It was unfortunate that Ollie had a really poor start, so we need to look into that, and with both drivers, we tried a few different things to get us closer to the points, but where we ended up is roughly where the car was this weekend. One pit stop was slow, which is a shame because the two previous were really good. In terms of trackside operation, with support from Banbury and Maranello, it was good, and that's the positive, and I think we got the most out of the car both yesterday and today. We need to raise the baseline, which means a faster car, and we're working on it, so hopefully we can get that performance on the car as quickly as possible."
Audi Revolut F1 Team delivered a good race in the Spielberg sunshine, as Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg just missed out on the top ten at the Austrian Grand Prix. Both drivers executed their races in a consistent manner, maximising their results and extracting as much pace as possible in the hot and demanding conditions; while the team also delivered a good performance, ensuring nothing was left on the table.
On a track predicted to be challenging for the team, the results credibly established Audi Revolut F1 Team as the sixth-fastest team this weekend and, while there are no points as a reward for this performance, it remains a confidence boost ahead of the remainder of the summer racing season.
Earlier in the day, Audi Development Programme driver, Freddie Slater, claimed another podium in his F3 season, finishing third in the feature race and battling for the win until the closing stages. He remains firmly in contention for the championship.
Both the team and Freddie will be back in action next week, as Formula One heads to the birthplace of the sport - Silverstone Circuit.
Allan McNish, Racing Director: "Overall, this weekend represents another important step forward for us as a team. I think we maximised the performance of the car across both qualifying and the race, and Nico and Gabi extracted everything that was available from our package.
"Around this circuit we simply didn't quite have the qualifying performance to get ahead of the VCARBs yesterday, with the track characteristics not playing particularly well to our strengths at the moment, and today we couldn't close that gap any further. That said, from an operational perspective it was an excellent weekend. The drivers, engineers and mechanics all executed well, the pit stops were strong, and everything worked exactly as we wanted it to.
"We leave Austria encouraged by the progress we have made and with another solid step in our development. Now the focus shifts to Silverstone, where we will look to continue building on that momentum."
Steve Nielsen: "The honest assessment is we lacked the pace to really compete this weekend, and we weren't in a position to fight for points at the chequered flag. We tried our best to put ourselves in with a chance and be within shooting distance of the Racing Bulls, even switching Pierre to a three-stop under the VSC. However, it didn't do too much to change the final outcome, showing that we didn't have the speed this weekend. We need to ensure this is a blip and not a trend, and we need to understand why and quickly put things right. Both drivers made slow getaways with a lack of boost, which we need to look into as starts have been one of our strong points this year. We're not happy with the result, but we know these things ebb and flow across the year and the main thing is we react and keep bringing performance to the car. It's worth noting as well that our pit crew did an excellent job today and played their part in five very good pit-stops in hot conditions which is not an easy task. We look forward to bouncing back and showing performances more like what we saw earlier in the season. It's the home race for Enstone next weekend and the fans are always amazing at Silverstone, so we'll work hard to achieve a positive result and put on a good show."
The Cadillac Formula 1® Team experienced a double retirement from today's Austrian Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas and Checo Perez both retired with overheating brakes in the early part of the race.
The team will now thoroughly debrief this challenging weekend and look to come back stronger in Silverstone for the British Grand Prix next week.
Graeme Lowdon, Team Principal: "This has been a challenging weekend, but it's in these moments that a team shows its resilience and strength. The whole team is working incredibly hard and we will continue to do so — there are no short-cuts in Formula 1. We need to investigate what has happened and move forward. We have made progress in terms of pace and the gap from the rear of the field is growing, but we need to ensure we have the reliability to demonstrate it. The next few days will be very busy, but I have every confidence in the team to come back stronger in Silverstone."
George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix thanks to a two-stop strategy. The Mercedes driver crossed the line ahead of Max Verstappen, with the Dutch Red Bull driver managing to keep Kimi Antonelli behind him in third. The Italian nevertheless retains the lead in the drivers' championship.
The race at Spielberg took place today in conditions of extreme heat. Temperatures at the Red Bull Ring reached 36°C, while the track surface was at 55°C at the start of the Grand Prix.
On the eve of the race, the fastest strategy was predicted to be a two-stop, and that proved to be the case. Only Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly opted for a three-stop approach, while all the other drivers stopped twice.
Almost the entire grid started on Medium tyres. The only exceptions were Carlos Sainz and Gabriel Bortoleto, who started on Softs. The first four drivers across the line all adopted the same strategy, running two stints on Hard tyres after the opening stint on Mediums.
Russell secured victory with a margin of 1.611 seconds over Verstappen, while Antonelli finished just over three tenths behind the four-time world champion. Thanks to his win in Austria, Russell moves up to second in the championship, 40 points behind his team-mate. Kimi Antonelli leads the standings with 171 points.
Dario Marrafuschi: "All three compounds available came into play today in the two- and three-stop strategies adopted by the teams at Spielberg. As expected, a one-stop strategy was not viable due to the high level of thermal degradation.
The two-stop strategies, on Hard and Medium tyres, were largely determined by the sets of tyres available to each team, carried over from Friday. The most effective approach proved to be the one that used Hard tyres for the final two stints, as adopted by the podium finishers.
Ferrari once again tried something different, stopping three times and also using the Soft, which, aided by a lower fuel load, delivered a solid performance.
While the first stop for the Ferrari drivers and Gasly was brought forward to exploit the undercut, the rest of the grid followed the pit windows we had anticipated. Conversely, the overcut attempted by some did not produce the desired results.
Even the VSC caused by Sainz did not change the picture, except perhaps for Antonelli, who pitted slightly early, losing the time advantage of stopping under neutralised conditions.
With such high track temperatures, the tyres experienced neither graining nor blistering, a sign that the development work carried out by Pirelli is clearly paying off on track."
