Red Bull Ring F2: Russell wins to cut Norris' points lead

Russell made an early escape and built a gap of over a second to keep McLaren reserve Norris out of DRS range.

But on lap six of 40, the safety car came out for a stopped Ralph Boschung – who kicked his car with frustration – while Nyck de Vries retired after locking up at Turn 3.

That negated Russell’s lead, he and his main rivals making their mandatory stops as Arjun Maini, Sean Gelael and Artem Markelov stayed out.

Russell therefore ran fourth but in a net lead. He passed Gelael and Maini on track, with only Markelov ahead of him, and once the Russian pitted on lap 36, Russell inherited a lead he wouldn’t lose. 

Behind him, Norris began to fall back, losing out to Roberto Merhi on lap 30, the former Formula 1 driver moving up to a net second from 12th on the grid.

Norris eventually retook second from Merhi at the outside of Turn 2 on lap 38, and pulled away to limit the championship damage, ending the day two points clear of Russell.

Charouz Racing System driver Antonio Fuoco went from 13th to overtake Merhi on the last lap in an incredible move around the outside at Turn 3/4, stealing the final podium spot.

Alexander Albon, under investigation for an unsafe release, took a provisional fifth ahead of Sergio Sette Camara, who struggled to get going after the safety car on lap six, which cost him his original third position.

While many people around him saw their race fell apart, Tadasuke Makino looked after his tyres and the Russian Time driver will start second on tomorrow’s reversed-grid race thanks to his seventh-place finish.

Alongside him, on pole, will be his teammate Markelov, incredibly overtaking four cars on the last lap to seal eighth after his late stop. Nirei Fukuzumi and Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top 10.

Jack Aitken had battled hard with Maxi Gunther and Louis Deletraz for fourth early on. Gunther finally tore past at the unlikely overtaking spot, Turn 6, on lap 19, and a lap later Aitken pulled off at the exit of Turn 1 after his fire extinguisher went off.

Gunther fell back with tyre wear and took 12th, while Deletraz slowed and pitted to retire with what looked like a technical problem.

Race results

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1	8	George Russell	ART Grand Prix	40	56'16.865
2	19	Lando Norris	Carlin	40	56'21.995	5.130
3	21	Antonio Fuoco	Charouz Racing System	40	56'26.498	9.633
4	9	Roberto Merhi	MP Motorsport	40	56'28.660	11.795
5	5	Alexander Albon	DAMS	40	56'31.507	14.642
6	18	Sergio Sette Camara	Carlin	40	56'33.765	16.900
7	2	Tadasuke Makino	RUSSIAN TIME	40	56'35.698	18.833
8	1	Artem Markelov	RUSSIAN TIME	40	56'41.554	24.689
9	12	Nirei Fukuzumi	Arden International	40	56'42.392	25.527
10	17	Santino Ferrucci	Trident	40	56'43.450	26.585
11	6	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	40	56'44.271	27.406
12	11	Maximilian Gunther	Arden International	40	56'46.017	29.152
13	14	Luca Ghiotto	Campos Racing	40	56'46.349	29.484
14	3	Sean Gelael	Prema Powerteam	40	56'54.000	37.135
15	16	Arjun Maini	Trident	40	56'56.219	39.354
	20	Louis Deletraz	Charouz Racing System	32	46'19.058	8 laps
	7	Jack Aitken	ART Grand Prix	19	27'09.295	21 laps
	4	Nyck de Vries	Prema Powerteam	7	11'57.638	33 laps
	10	Ralph Boschung	MP Motorsport	4	5'26.104	36 laps
	15	Roy Nissany	Campos Racing	3	4'11.279	37 laps