Russell reveals “abnormal” tyre strategy that powered Austrian GP victory

The British driver secured his second win of the season after holding off a late charge from Max Verstappen, who steadily closed the gap during the final stint. However, speaking after the race, Russell revealed he had to adopt an unusual approach to cope with the demanding hot conditions at the Red Bull Ring.

When asked about the significance of the win, particularly after a difficult run of recent races, Russell praised Mercedes for helping him identify the root causes behind his dip in performance compared to teammate Kimi Antonelli.

“The team have done a really incredible job to sort of put some real answers down why the performances were not good. It wasn’t like I came away from Monaco and Montreal, two really tough races for me, and I didn’t leave either of them looking at the data thinking, ‘Where is the issue?’ It was clear what the problem was, and it was clear how we could maybe solve that. And when we perhaps looked through some historical data, there were some trends there, and it’s all just been exacerbated with this new car,” Russell explained to the media, including GPblog in Austria.

The Mercedes driver added that he entered the Austrian weekend with a revised approach, noting that his usual methods would likely have left him struggling at Spielberg.

Russell claimed victory ahead of Verstappen, with teammate Antonelli claiming the final podium position. The win also saw him cut the gap at the top of the championship to 40 points.

Earlier, Russell had admitted to feeling “quite uncomfortable” ahead of Red Bull’s Verstappen at the Austrian GP, with the newly upgraded RB22 chasing the Mercedes driver down during the latter stages of Sunday’s race in Spielberg.

In the end, in Russell’s words, it was a “calm and controlled” race to take his second victory of the 2026 season, but the Briton made sure to pinpoint Verstappen as a real threat, with the Dutchman only 1.6s behind him at the chequered flag. Red Bull arrived in the Styrian hills with seven upgrades, while Verstappen also had a fresh tyre advantage in the closing stages.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff praised Russell’s performance as “cold-blooded,” but the race did not quite feel that way for the 28-year-old, as he explained to the media at the post-race press conference.