Lando Norris needed to hit all the right notes at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver had to bounce back big time from the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, where he took himself out of the race after crashing into teammate, and championship leader, Oscar Piastri. That separated the pair by 22 points in the standings, with both drivers dreaming of a maiden title.
But the hills were alive with the sound of music hybrid turbocharged V6 racing engines (although for some, that is music to their ears) as Norris and Piastri turned in near-perfect performances to finish 1-2.
Norris had the fastest car all weekend, topping the two practice sessions he participated in and breezing into pole position with a half-second advantage over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc — the largest margin for pole the year. Although Norris's track record for converting poles into wins hasn't been stellar historically, he's a perfect 3-for-3 this season.
Despite the collision at the Canadian GP, McLaren has continued to allow its drivers to go wheel-to-wheel on the track.
And it's a good thing, too, as Norris and Piastri provided the only action for the lead.
Norris lunged at the beginning of the race and covered off Leclerc, which also gave Piastri, who started third, enough space to swoop around the Ferrari.
Piastri chased down his teammate and pulled ahead on Lap 11, but his lead was short-lived as Norris leapfrogged back into P1.
A lock-up from Piastri on Lap 20 could have been costly as he was dangerously close to plowing into Norris, which would have surely resulted in some damage to one or both of their cars had they made contact.
McLaren made the wise move to separate them and had Norris pull into the pits. That also proved pivotal to his victory. By the time Piastri opted for his pit stop four laps later, Norris had built a five-second advantage.
Norris's second stop on Lap 53 was also key as he exited ahead of backmarkers Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto. Piastri wasn't as lucky as he came out behind the pair, and the championship leader ended up in the grass when Colapinto ran him off the track. (Colapinto was handed a five-second time penalty for the incident.)
Piastri managed to close within two seconds of Norris; however, he got caught in another traffic jam. Fernando Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto, battling for seventh and eighth place, prevented the two McLarens from going head-to-head to the finish.
Piastri remains at the top of the table, but Norris cut the deficit down to 15 points as the summer — and the title fight — continues to heat up.
Sunday marked the fourth 1-2 finish for McLaren this season as the team holds a whopping 207-point advantage over second-place Ferrari in the constructors' championship — and we haven't even crossed the midway point yet (that comes after next week's British Grand Prix at Silverstone).
McLaren was unmatched as third-place finisher Leclerc crossed the line more than 17 seconds after Piastri. Only six cars even finished on the lead lap.
Just how dominant has McLaren been in 2025? McLaren (417 points) has almost as many points as Ferrari (210) and third-place Mercedes (209) combined. Yes, at this point, it may take a Voltron-esque effort from every team to take them down.
Verstappen's early exit
The King of the (Red Bull) Ring was dethroned. Four-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen is also a four-time winner at the track owned by his team, but the Red Bull driver never even completed a single lap around the circuit Sunday.
Rookie Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli locked up on the brakes running up that hill into Turn 3 and rammed into the back of the Red Bull.
"I got hit like crazy. (Expletive) idiots," he said on the team radio.
With power lost to his car, Verstappen's impressive 31-race points streak came to an end.
Meanwhile, Verstappen's drive for a fifth world title continues to slip with a 61-point gap to Piastri.
If there's any consolation, it wasn't Verstappen's fault, and he didn't receive any penalty points as he was just one away from an automatic race ban. He'll have a bit more leeway next week in Silverstone as two points will come off the books when the month concludes on Monday.
Same as it ever was
Verstappen's DNF meant Red Bull's hopes of avoiding embarrassment on home asphalt rested with Yuki Tsunoda.
Rewind a couple of weeks ago when Tsunoda showed up to the premiere of the F1 movie wearing a baggy suit, proving that fashion does move in roughly 20-year cycles, harkening to the 2003 NBA Draft or David Byrne's oversized outfit from 1984's Stop Making Sense.
"And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile" might be the obvious lyric to reference from "Once in a Lifetime," but there's another apt comparison for the second Red Bull car: "Same as it ever was."
Tsunoda failing to advance out of Q1 in qualifying? Tsunoda finishing well out of the points in 16th, last across the line? Same as it ever was. It's the same problems that plagued Sergio Perez in the car last year. Verstappen's absence only magnified how dire things are for the car, as it takes a generational talent to hide its flaws.
Granted, Tsunoda deserves some of the blame as he hit Colapinto and received a 10-second time penalty.
The only Red Bull car that scored any points Sunday was also the least likely: Liam Lawson on B-team Racing Bulls. Lawson crossed the line in a career-best sixth place as the last car on the lead lap. The New Zealand driver finished where he started with a strong qualifying effort to put himself in an excellent opportunity and avoided getting torpedoed by Antonelli on the opening lap.
Lawson now has more points this season than Tsunoda, who replaced him on the main Red Bull team back in April.
Even Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar finished ahead of Tsunoda in 12th place.
Clearly, there's a curse or something on the second Red Bull car.
Bortoleto's milestone momentum
Driver of the day honours were bestowed upon Gabriel Bortoleto. The rookie Kick Sauber driver scored his first-ever points in F1 with his eighth-place result.
Teammate Nico Hulkenberg finished right behind him in ninth, an impressive effort in and of itself considering he started last on the grid. Hulkenberg also extended his points streak to three races and gave the team its first double-points result since the 2023 Qatar GP, when the team competed under the Alfa Romeo brand.
Bortoleto had an interesting late duel with Alonso, who also happens to be his manager, but couldn't close the deal. Nevertheless, it was a wholesome moment as Alonso was the first to congratulate him in parc ferme.
Speaking of Alonso
Alonso must have seen that graphic a few weeks ago that showed Lance Stroll owned 100 per cent of Aston Martin's points and said, "I took that personally."
The two-time world champion from Spain has scored points in three consecutive races. It's now an even 50-50 split between the two Aston Martin drivers with 14 points apiece.
Alonso was able to make the one-stop pit strategy work on Sunday and fended off his padawan Bortoleto despite having aging tires to finish seventh.
Stroll's slump continued as he came in 14th. The Canadian driver is technically ahead of Alonso in the standings due to the tiebreaker: holding the higher single finish due to his sixth-place result from the season opener in Australia. It's only a matter of time before Alonso overtakes him. Maybe as soon as next week?
Woes for Williams
Williams could look at Kick Sauber's results and say, "That should have been us."
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Carlos Sainz. Already starting on the last row of the grid in 19th after sustaining floor damage during qualifying, Sainz barely made it out of his box for the formation lap as he was stuck in first gear. Sainz managed to get things fired up, quite literally, as flames burst from his car in the pit lane, leading to an early retirement.
Teammate Alex Albon didn't fare much better as he bowed out after 15 laps due to an issue with his car for the second straight race.
Williams has a grip on fifth place in the constructors' championship, but a double DNF day has let Kick Sauber, Racing Bulls, Haas and Aston Martin all eat away at the advantage.
