Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri comfortably secured the Austrian GP, while Alpine continues to suffer from the A525's failures
After the first round of pit stops, Colapinto dropped to 13th position, fitting medium tires. His race became even more complicated on lap 31, when Yuki Tsunoda hit him in an overtaking attempt, sending him off track. The Japanese driver was penalized 10 seconds for causing the contact, while Colapinto dropped to 14th place.
After the double retirement in Canada, McLaren managed to recover and secured a 1-2 finish, with Lando Norris as leader and Oscar Piastri as his runner-up. Meanwhile, Alpine once again demonstrated a very low level, largely due to failures in its single-seater, which affected the performance of Pierre Gasly, who finished 13th, and Franco Colapinto, who finished 15th.
The race began with a 15-minute delay due to a problem with Carlos Sainz's Williams, which did not start on the formation lap. When he tried to rejoin from the pits, the brakes on the Spaniard's car caught fire, forcing the start to be aborted to allow the use of fire extinguishers.
At the final start, Norris maintained the lead, closely followed by Piastri, who managed to overtake Leclerc. However, the most dramatic moment occurred further back. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes rookie, lost control under braking and hit Max Verstappen's Red Bull, causing both to retire and bringing out the safety car.
Colapinto took advantage of the initial chaos to move up to 11th, his best position in the race. Ahead, McLaren dominated the competition with Norris in first, followed by the Ferraris of Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. George Russell, winner of the last GP, also remained in the top five.
Norris and Piastri briefly swapped positions for the lead until the first pit stops began. Norris was the first from the team to switch to hard tires, while Piastri stayed out a few more laps, trying to benefit from clean air. A small delay in the Australian's stop allowed Leclerc to temporarily take the lead, although the Monegasque also pitted immediately, returning in fourth.
As the laps went by, McLaren once again set the pace at the front, followed by Leclerc, Hamilton, and Russell. The second round of pit stops did not change the order at the front, but caused more changes in the midfield. When Piastri exited the pits after his last stop, he encountered traffic: Colapinto forced him slightly off the track, resulting in a five-second penalty for the Argentine for a dangerous maneuver.
Although Piastri closed the gap and got within 1.5 seconds of Norris, he was unable to trouble the Briton, who took the victory. Leclerc finished third, Hamilton fourth, and Russell fifth. Liam Lawson achieved a commendable sixth place, followed by Fernando Alonso, who secured seventh after an entertaining battle against Gabriel Bortoleto, who scored his first points of the season. Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon completed the top 10.
Finally, Colapinto finished 15th after the penalty, two places behind Gasly, his teammate. With the aim of improving its level, Alpine is already planning its strategy for next week at the British Grand Prix, which will be held at the legendary Silverstone circuit.
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