'Silver arrows shine on Red Bull's home turf as Verstappen and Hamilton revive old rivalry'

George Russell was expected to deliver after capitalising on his teammate's DNF in the closing stages of the Barcelona GP, and he answered the call with an almost perfect weekend, taking pole and victory despite late pressure from Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli. The Briton not only secured a crucial victory, his first since the season opener in Australia, but also closed the gap in the drivers' standings, putting himself firmly back in the title fight with two-thirds of the season still to be contested.

Another major talking point from the Austrian Grand Prix was the brilliant battle between the two 2021 title rivals, with Hamilton and Verstappen rekindling their old rivalry at its best in a hard but fair duel that lasted several laps before the Dutchman eventually came out on top.

The four-time world champion finally completed his first weekend of the season in which he was genuinely in contention for victory, finishing almost within striking distance and still taking a second place that will provide a major morale boost for the rest of the season, with the updates introduced on the RB22 clearly paying off.

After its outstanding weekend in Barcelona, Ferrari was unable to carry that momentum into the Red Bull Ring, with the SF-26 looking well short of the pace needed to challenge Mercedes and Red Bull for the podium, despite Leclerc and Hamilton both fighting for pole position in the closing stages of qualifying.

Ferrari also introduced its first updated power unit specification since the dyno figures became known in Austria, yet top speed emerged as one of the SF-26's biggest weaknesses, severely compromising the race pace of both drivers.

Charles Leclerc also remains something of a mystery, having seemingly lost some of his edge compared to his teammate since the Monaco weekend and struggling to rediscover the feeling he had at the start of the season. The Monegasque has brought home only a handful of points compared to the car's potential, and he also struggled in Austria, finishing almost 20 seconds behind his teammate.