F1. Austria 2025 Review

By Gavin Huet, Chelsea Wintle, Aiden McLaughlin, and Graeme Woolf

Driver of the Weekend

Aiden: Liam Lawson may have only received 6.8% of the official F1 Driver of the Day votes (Gabriel Bortoleto won with 30%) but the young Kiwi gets my vote. Famous last words, but it felt like a breakthrough weekend for the 23-year-old, as he finally got the upper hand over his impressive teammate Isack Hadjar. He was faster throughout practice, qualified in P6 and despite dropping back early on and taking on a one-stop strategy, he held Fernando Alonso at bay for an eternity to secure his highest ever F1 finish. As confirmed by the team radio, he didn’t even have time for a drink of water, such was the intensity out on track. Lawson also made mention of the extra work that he and the Racing Bulls team have put in, so it seems that he is finally in a place to get the best out of this car, after starting the season with their big brothers down the pit lane.

Graeme: This is an incredibly biased point of view, but I’m giving New Zealand’s very own Liam Lawson his chocolates this weekend. After an extremely hard start to the season being dropped by Red Bull to their junior team RB, Lawson quickly became the forgotten man. He was then overshadowed by his teammate Isack Hadjar who finished ahead of Lawson in every race thereafter, until Austria. This weekend Lawson produced an outstanding drive to qualify in 6th position, only to drop a few spots on Lap 1 to 9th. Here we go again I thought. But he was on a one stop strategy whereas most other drivers were on a 2 stop. This meant he was able to hold position for the most part and finish in 6th place, his best ever finish in F1.

Gavin: I am not on the Lando Norris bandwagon and have been critical of him and all of the coverage surrounding him, but to be fair he was immense all weekend long and drove an assured race to take his third victory of the season, and, crucially, ahead of teammate and championship leader Oscar Piastri, who was forced into trying a “50-50” overtake that almost took both cars out – very un-Oscar like which just shows the pressure both drivers are under. A race around the Red Bull Ring came at just the right time for Lando after the self-inflicted carnage that was Canada as this is a track that he really does like. Will he keep the momentum going, or will it be Oscar’s turn to fight back at Silverstone?

Chelsea: Liam Lawson must have felt immense satisfaction in crossing the line ahead of all the other cars in the Red Bull stable, with a season-best placing of sixth. This was partly down to luck – with an inexperienced Antonelli over-gunning on the first lap and taking out Verstappen – but primarily good management. Lawson qualified well and kept his head while on a one-stop strategy, frustrating Alonso behind, who was fighting his own battle with protégé Bortoleto. Red Bull is a hot mess right now, and it’s pleasing that their impetuous driver-swapping has not proved to be the solution.

 

Talking Point

Aiden: The penny finally dropped for Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz at the weekend, when he said multiple times, “it’s not the drivers, it’s the car” regarding Red Bull’s second seat woes. I don’t know of anyone that drives quite like Max Verstappen (and I don’t just mean his speed) and it seems that despite multiple attempts, neither do Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. Perhaps Sonny Hayes will be called up? Anyway, I always thought that if Lawson could get over the mental scars of being ditched by Red Bull after two rounds, and get comfortable with the car, he could at least compete with Isack Hadjar, and this weekend proved it. Now he has to keep it going, because if he does, his team are providing him with a car and strategies that can get regular points opportunities.

Graeme: The world cheered (well my household did) on Lap 1 when Max Verstappen was eliminated from the race after some teenage enthusiasm by Kimi Antonelli. If Max was ever going to be a threat to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in Red Bulls home race, that was extinguished quickly by the young Italian. Moving forward to Laps 9 through 13 the two McLarens had a great battle, racing side by side for a bit. For a second Piastri took the lead only for Norris to take it back and from there he was never bettered. There was some good racing lower in the field too.

Gavin: Is Sauber the new Williams? All of a sudden they are picking up points and looking like a team transformed whilst Williams look lost, again. Nico Hulkenberg went from qualifying last to finishing in ninth, whilst Gabriel Bortoleto qualified and finished eighth. Somewhere this season the team have made the car work for them, and if they actually understand what it is that they have done there will be more improvement to come – remember how lost McLaren were just a few short years ago though I am not saying Sauber will be championship contenders anytime soon! Contrast with Williams who have done the classic one step forward two steps back, Team Principal James Vowles can give all the TED Talks he wants to in order to very eloquently explain why there is no crisis and things are moving in the right direction, but it is hard to see it right now.

Chelsea: When I was a kid and thought of F1, I thought of wheel-to-wheel, nail-biting racing. The reality is more complex, strategic and laboured – so when race leaders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri began wrestling, it was beautiful to watch. The McLaren mantra has long been “let them race” rather than choosing a primary driver, and they have the luxury of enjoying that while the papayas are so dominant. I hope it continues as long as possible.

 

Gossip Time

Aiden: Is Valtteri Bottas off to new team Cadillac in 2026? The prolific social media contributor hinted last week that he might be keen…and wouldn’t it be great if someone like Irishman Alex Dunne joined him? The 19-year-old from Co. Offaly impressed in Lando Norris’s McLaren in FP1, finishing with the fourth fastest time, but more importantly helping the team and Norris with the direction of the car over the rest of the weekend. With no vacancy at McLaren in the foreseeable future, he will need to go elsewhere to get a permanent seat, so why not?

Graeme: This time last year we were all lamenting the fact that F1 is so boring now because Max Verstappen was winning everything and the races weren’t competitive. So where are we at now? McLaren are winning everything and are competitive with each other. Not much difference really. Referring to my point previously, is it because Max and Red Bull have been painted as villains almost, so we enjoy them not winning anymore and McLaren with their model smiles, winning personalities (except the dry Australian, Piastri) and bright papaya livery are seen as the good guys?

Gavin: What has Oscar Piastri ever done to Alpine that they would try to wreck his weekend so thoroughly? First there was Q3 where Pierre Gasly did a double spin which brought out yellow flags and put paid to Oscar’s qualifying, and secondly Franco Colapinto pushed Oscar off the track when he did not realise the McLaren was right there overtaking him. It really does look like Colapinto is staying in that Alpine seat and that Jack Doohan has been cast adrift which is very unlucky as he did not really do much wrong. And what about the tussle between Gabriel Bortoleto and, checks notes “his manager”, Fernando Alonso? Wonder if Fernando would be paid more for beating his client or for his client getting more points, surely there is no conflict of interest at all, right?

Chelsea: Having seen the F1 movie in the weekend, and seeing Carlos Sainz fail to start on the formation lap, well… no spoilers, but I did immediately think of Sonny Hayes and his dubious antics. Sainz took it to the next level, though, with both rear brakes igniting and leaving him a non-starter. Dramatic! It was a poor weekend for Williams all round, with Albon also retiring, and the usually candid James Vowles keeping mum about what’s going on behind the scenes.

 

Looking Ahead

Aiden: Ah, the British Grand Prix…a highlight of the F1 calendar and a home race for so many drivers and teams. With Lando Norris reducing the gap at the top of the drivers championship, the big question is, can he put back to back performances together? Even in Austria Oscar Piastri showed that he can exert plenty of race pressure on Norris, so that bodes well for a to and fro race to the drivers championship with just over half the season remaining. Pre-race, we can only hope that the national anthem is as entertaining as Damian Lewis two years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iKw0GMBtQ0

Graeme: Silverstone. This feels like the home race for most teams, seeing that 7 of the 10 teams are located within a couple of hours drive from the circuit, so everyone is desperate to perform in front of their home fans. On top of that there are 4 drivers from the UK as well. It’s one of those marquee events on the calendar that everyone will have a circle around. While Lewis Hamilton had an emotional victory there last year, there’s a good chance that a Brit can win it again with both Lando Norris and George Russell performing pretty consistently this year.

Gavin: Next up is Silverstone, and as the summer has been a scorcher and even Glastonbury was filled with sun kissed music festival fans, I predict it will be a wet race because, well, it is Britain. And who doesn’t like the chaos that that could entail? This is the start of a couple of really high speed tracks at the height of summer so I predict the usual McLaren dominance, whilst Mercedes will continue to struggle and George Russell will be asked to analyse Max Verstappen’s contract negotiations with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff just for the laughs.

Chelsea:

Silverstone next weekend, and it will be interesting to see whose face is represented most prominently in the crowd. Will there be an extra smattering of red for last year’s winner, Sir Lewis? What about gentleman gardener George Russell, or fresh-faced Ollie Bearman? I suspect most will be hoping for a second Norris win on the trot, giving his confidence a continued boost toward the second half of the season. Two faces I’ll be looking for belong to some fantastic new fans and friends of mine who’ll be attending their first ever race weekend – Guy, remember to apply sunscreen to the chrome dome!

Bonus Picture

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