The 2024 Austrian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Austrian Grand Prix 2024) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 30 June 2024, at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. It was the eleventh round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the third Grand Prix weekend of the season to utilise the sprint format.
Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen won the sprint from pole position, and also took pole position for the main race. Verstappen led the majority of the race, but with eight laps to go Verstappen and McLaren's Lando Norris collided as they fought for the lead. This dropped both drivers down the order, with Verstappen recovering to fifth and Norris retiring because of damage sustained from the collision. George Russell took his second career race win in Formula One, as well as Mercedes's first race victory since the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix. Russell was joined on the podium by Norris's teammate Oscar Piastri, and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr.
The event was held at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg for the 20th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 28–30 June.[3] The Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the 37th running of the Austrian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.[4] It was also the third Grand Prix of six in the season to utilise the sprint format and the third time overall to feature it.[5]
Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 219 points, 69 points ahead of Lando Norris in second, and 71 ahead of Charles Leclerc in third. Red Bull Racing, with 330 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who are second and third with 270 and 237 points, respectively.[6]
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.[7]
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the three softest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at this event.[8]
After the previous iteration of the race saw 1,200 potential track limit violations, the Red Bull Ring took steps to prevent a repeat of the issues. Gravel traps were installed and some track limits were moved closer to existing gravel traps to deter drivers from running wide. Additionally, a contrasting blue line on the outside of the white track limits line was painted to increase visibility and contrast for stewards reviewing possible violations.[9][10]
The only free practice session was held on 28 June 2024, at 12:30 local time (UTC+2), and was topped by Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing ahead of Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.[11]
Sprint qualifying was held on 28 June 2024, at 16:30 local time (UTC+2), and determined the starting grid order for the sprint.[11]
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The sprint was held on 29 June 2024, at 12:00 local time (UTC+2), and was scheduled to be run for 24 laps before being shortened by one lap due to an aborted start procedure.[11]
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Qualifying was held on 29 June 2024, at 16:00 local time (UTC+2), and determined the starting order for the main race.[11]
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The race was held on 30 June 2024, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2), and was run for 71 laps.[11]
At the start, Verstappen got a clear getaway from Norris while the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and the Williams of Logan Sargeant both sustained front wing damage in separate incidents and had to pit for repairs. Throughout the race, the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were involved in a battle with Gasly winning out. Verstappen kept his lead through the first round of pit stops from Norris; during his second stop on lap 52, his crew swapped him into a pair of older medium tyres. However, the pitstop was a slow six seconds because of issues with the left rear tyre; this was further compounded as Verstappen was held to give way to Norris who was in the pit lane for his own pit stop. Norris closed the gap and would make several overtake attempts at turn 3 over the following laps. Verstappen successfully defended against Norris, who would be penalised for breaching track limits. With eight laps remaining, Norris attempted an overtake on the outside line, but made contact with Verstappen as the latter tried to block him off. Both of them sustained punctures, with third-placed driver George Russell taking the lead as Verstappen and Norris had to pit. Verstappen continued at low speed while Norris' tyre punctured at high speed, causing race-ending damage to his McLaren. Verstappen fitted new tyres and would eventually recover to fifth; the race stewards gave Verstappen a ten-second time penalty for causing the collision. Russell won the race from Oscar Piastri, who passed Carlos Sainz Jr. for second with seven laps remaining, as Sainz followed in third and Russell's teammate Lewis Hamilton finished fourth from Verstappen.[18]
When asked about his friendship with Verstappen off-track and how the clash would affect them, Norris stated his belief that "He (Verstappen) was in the wrong, so he's the one that should say something, not me." Verstappen on the other hand stated he would like to "let things cool off" and was "more annoyed with just how the performance of the race was, the mistakes that we made that normally we don’t make.”[19] Verstappen later said that the crash did not affect his friendship with Norris.[20] McLaren team principal Andrea Stella claimed that "the entire population in the world [knows] who is responsible, except for a group of people," comparing the incident to moments in Verstappen's past rivalry with Hamilton during the 2021 season.[21] Russell stated he was happy to "pick up the pieces" of Norris and Verstappen's incident to win.[22]
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