Russell Wins As The Paddock Burns in Austria
- Drew Bentham
- Jul 2
- 8 min read
Round 8 of the 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship | Red Bull Ring, Austria The F1 Show with Drew & Zac
George Russell took his second win of the 2026 Formula 1 season at a scorching Red Bull Ring, but ask Drew and Zac whether it was the statement performance of the year and you'll get two very different answers. In this episode of The F1 Show, the lads take on a weekend that delivered a controversial pole lap, a genuine old-school Hamilton versus Verstappen scrap, a Ferrari afternoon to forget, and the driver-market rumour that simply will not go away. Oh, and Cadillac literally caught fire.
Was Russell's Win the Real Deal?
George Russell crossed the line first in Austria to claim his first victory since the Melbourne season-opener, a win that, on paper, looked comfortable. Strategy was spot on, pace was solid, and the controversial moment during qualifying that handed him pole was ultimately cleared by the stewards. But scratch the surface and the picture gets more complicated, and that is exactly where Drew and Zac start the conversation.
One half of the show argues it was a slam dunk. Russell drove exactly the race he needed to, managed his tyres when it mattered, and did not put a foot wrong. The other is not quite so convinced. Verstappen was closing hard on the hards and might have been the one spraying champagne. There was a stretch in the second stint where Russell was genuinely struggling for pace, and the gap at the flag of just 1.6 seconds to a charging Verstappen tells its own story.
What it does do is chip into Kimi Antonelli's championship lead. The young Italian still sits 40 points clear at the top of the 2026 F1 Drivers' Championship standings after finishing third, but Russell's win is a reminder that when the Mercedes package clicks, nobody on the grid is unbeatable. The question heading into the British Grand Prix at Silverstone is whether George can back it up on home soil and the lads are not convinced that is a given. Hamilton's home-race record alone makes that a tricky ask, and both hosts flag the conditions at Silverstone as potentially working in Ferrari's favour rather than Mercedes'.
T
he P
ole That Raised More Questions Than It Answered
Before the race, we need to talk qualifying. Max Verstappen's heavy crash at Turn 9 in Q3 brought out the yellow flags. George Russell's quickest lap posted moments later was immediately scrutinised. A double yellow flag would have ended his pole bid. The data said single yellow. Russell lifted briefly, fractionally, enough to satisfy the stewards, and the pole stood.
The real victim was Kimi Antonelli, who aborted his own flying lap entirely in the belief that double yellows were showing, missing out on a shot at the front of the grid for nothing. Leclerc, who had been firmly in the mix for pole, ended up second in Q3, with his weekend only deteriorating from there.
It is entirely legal. Russell did not do anything wrong. The data backs him up. But watching the replay, even the hosts admit it feels uncomfortable and there is a reason it became one of the most searched moments from the Austrian GP weekend. A half-second here, a held breath there, and the entire complexion of the weekend changes.
The Upgrade Arms Race: Red Bull's Biggest Step of the Season
If the Verstappen driver-market saga is the headline story of the Austrian GP, and it very much is, then the technical picture running underneath it is just as significant. Red Bull brought what is comfortably their biggest upgrade package of 2026 to the Red Bull Ring: new sidepods and cooling inlets, a revised floor, changes to the rear suspension, rear corner and rear wing, plus exhaust and engine cover updates, all on top of a meaningful weight reduction programme. Seven significant areas of the car, addressed in one hit.
The results were immediate. Verstappen pushed Russell all the way to the flag. The sister team Racing Bulls benefited too. Isack Hadjar finished sixth and Arvid Lindblad, quietly becoming a fan favourite, scored points. Not bad for a team that was scrapping around the lower midfield not so long ago.
Ferrari's picture was very different. The team brought what was billed as a power unit upgrade to Austria, but with track temperatures nudging 60 degrees Celsius and the circuit sitting at altitude, both of which reduce combustion efficiency, it was always going to be hard to evaluate properly. Drew and Zac's read on it is that the gain was modest. Three to four brake horsepower at most. The bigger ADUO-mandated power step the regulations allow for is likely still coming, perhaps after the summer break. Mercedes, meanwhile, bolted on a revised front suspension package. Expect that to pay dividends at Silverstone.
Ferrari: A Weekend That Raised Deeper Questions
If you wanted one moment to sum up Ferrari's Austrian Grand Prix, it is Charles Leclerc's radio call late in the race: "Have we got anything to lose by stopping again?" The answer was no. The damage was already done.
Leclerc had been involved in a fierce early battle with his own teammate Hamilton and afterwards admitted to struggling with the car setup, referencing a baseline similar to what he used in Austria last year. Which raises its own question, given that 2025 was not exactly a vintage year for the Scuderia at this track.
Hamilton, by contrast, was clearly the faster of the two Ferrari drivers all weekend. Drew and Zac go into a genuinely interesting debate about what that actually means. The theory is that as Ferrari have progressively designed the SF-26 around Hamilton's preferences, Leclerc has found himself on the back foot with a car that no longer feels like home. Hamilton wants maximum rear-end stability everywhere.
The complex manually-operated active aero system on the Ferrari is generating its own headaches too, catching Hamilton out mid-race on lap 39. And Ferrari's tyre degradation in the heat was brutal. Hamilton had wanted a three-stop. The strategy team pushed back. By the time they listened, positions and time had already been lost. It is the familiar story of a disconnect between what the data on the pit wall says and what the driver is feeling through the wheel. An old Ferrari habit, as the hosts put it, that is dying particularly hard in 2026.
Leclerc ended up eighth and a lap down. There is also a question mark lingering over the final classification for his car that had not been formally resolved at the time of recording, something the team will need to address. Four points across three races. Not where anyone expected him to be.
Hamilton, Verstappen and a Flashback to Better Times
Whatever you think of the broader race, the Hamilton versus Verstappen wheel-to-wheel battle in the middle of it was unmissable. Verstappen hunted Hamilton down, pounced, and with the Red Bull clearly having the legs on the Ferrari in this phase of the race, there was only ever going to be one winner. What made it special was how close the racing was.
Verstappen called it on the radio "that is definitely a penalty"
But the stewards disagreed, and watching it back, they were right. It was hard, committed, brilliant, and a reminder of why both men belong in the same conversation as the greatest of their generation. As the show puts it: "That is just quality racing from you two. There is nothing wrong with it." It also showed just how much the Red Bull upgrade has transformed the team's position. A few races ago, Verstappen getting within touching distance of Hamilton would have felt like a reach. In Austria, it felt inevitable.
McLaren's Quiet Afternoon and the Bigger Picture
Piastri's fourth place was one of the more understated stories of the race. A clean, professional, utterly untroubled race, but not threatening anyone above him. Norris finished seventh and was equally anonymous. McLaren have acknowledged they are approximately two months behind on development this year, a direct consequence of the push to win the 2025 title. Norris has already said a championship defence is not realistic in 2026. It is honest. It is also hard to hear.
The concern, as Drew and Zac flag, is that Red Bull may already have overtaken them in this development cycle. If Austria is anything to go by, they probably have. The hope is that strong ADUO upgrades across the summer break bring McLaren back into genuine podium contention. Right now though, P4 without troubling the leaders is the ceiling.
The Verstappen Question That Will Not Go Away
The driver-market story of the 2026 F1 season got another chapter in Austria, with reports circulating of Verstappen's camp having held talks with McLaren and Zak Brown. The performance-related exit clause in his Red Bull contract, the increasingly narrow list of viable 2027 options, and the fact that Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari are already essentially locked up: it all adds up to a genuinely interesting puzzle.
Drew and Zac are not convinced McLaren is the right fit. Papaya Rules, the team's famously collaborative, equal-driver culture would come under serious pressure the moment Verstappen arrived. The idea of Norris and Verstappen as equals does not quite sit right, and Piastri's position in that scenario is another complication entirely. There is also a fun counter-theory floated on the show that the talks themselves might be more about unsettling Red Bull from the outside than a genuine intention to move.
Mercedes feels more likely to both hosts. And the prospect of Verstappen alongside Antonelli. One generational talent meeting the man who might be the next, is one of the most compelling hypotheticals in the paddock right now. As the hosts puts it: put them both in the same car, same track, same conditions. Who comes out first? That answers everything.
The Rest: Fire, Blue Flags and Three Laps Down
Cadillac's brake-related double retirement with genuine flames visible on at least one of the cars, means the American outfit remain pointless in 2026. Lance Stroll was lapped three times by the race leader. Three times. Alonso too but at least, finished. The hosts are sympathetic to the blue flag situation Stroll found himself in: when the entire field is passing you multiple times, some of those will look like infringements. It is not so much ignoring the flags as simply running out of road to yield.
A Return Home
British GP Predictions: Hamilton at Home, and a Surprise Omission
Silverstone is next up and a Sprint weekend too. Home soil for three British drivers and the circuit where Lewis Hamilton has won nine of his nineteen starts Win this one and that is exactly a 50% home win rate, in front of his own fans, in a season where he is already third in the championship. Both Drew and Zac have Hamilton for the win.
After that, they split: one goes Hamilton, Verstappen, Antonelli; the other Hamilton, Antonelli, Verstappen. What neither of them has is George Russell in their top three. After winning the previous round. That is quite a statement of where they think this is heading.
The conditions at Silverstone should be kinder to Ferrari. Lower altitude, cooler track temperatures forecast at around 45 degrees Celsius, and a circuit that historically rewards mechanical grip and rear-end stability. Baku, further down the calendar, is also flagged as a circuit where Leclerc can genuinely shine. It is not all doom and gloom on the Ferrari front. It just requires a bit of patience.
Show News: Going Live at Silverstone
One more thing before you go. For the British Grand Prix, Drew and Zac are planning to go live. A real-time reaction show kicking off around the formation lap. The plan is TikTok, with a simultaneous attempt on YouTube. Exact times will be posted on socials ahead of the weekend, and if you have comments or takes during the race, they will try to pull them into the live feed.
The full episode is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to The F1 Show and never miss a lap.
Race Result - Top 5
Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
1st | George Russell | Mercedes | — |
2nd | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +1.611s |
3rd | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +1.986s |
4th | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +21.809s |
5th | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +26.393s |
2026 Drivers' Championship - Top 7 After Round 8
Pos | Driver | Points |
1st | Kimi Antonelli | 171 |
2nd | George Russell | 131 |
3rd | Lewis Hamilton | 125 |
4th | Oscar Piastri | 80 |
5th | Lando Norris | 79 |
6th | Charles Leclerc | 79 |
7th | Max Verstappen | 73 |
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