George Russell was bemused by Charles Leclerc’s driving on the first lap of the Austrian Grand Prix as he fought with the two Ferrari drivers.
The Mercedes driver passed Leclerc’s team mate Lewis Hamilton at the first corner and fought with him over the rest of the first lap until the Safety Car was deployed. Russell appeared to benefit from Leclerc’s slipstream as they accelerated out of turn three until the Ferrari driver moved over to give his team mate a tow.Leclerc then took the inside line for turn four which delayed Hamilton and allowed Russell to attack again on the outside. Hamilton was able to attack him back and regain his position on the outside of turn six, at which point the race was neutralised.
“I was so confused with Leclerc there, if he was trying to help me or Lewis,” Russell told his race engineer Marcus Dudley as they backed off.
The Ferrari driver, who had already lost a position to Oscar Piastri at the first corner, appeared to be distracted by a message from his race engineer, Bryan Bozzi, during his scrap with Russell and Hamilton. Bozzi quickly told Leclerc “K2 off” as he approached turn four on the first lap.
“Come on, the K2 off, guys, leave me managing it while I’m fighting,” Leclerc told him during the Safety Car period. “Then you can speak as much as you want when I’m not fighting, but not when I am fighting.”
Russell was unable to pass Hamilton when the race restarted and accused his former team mate of changing his line as they approached turn four. “Lewis closed the door on the braking,” said Russell, but the stewards took no interest.
But failing to pass either of the Ferraris at the start likely made no difference to Russell’s race. He dropped back quickly and finished fifth, over 40 seconds behind Leclerc.
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2025 Austrian Grand Prix
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- “Confused” Russell couldn’t tell if Leclerc was “trying to help me or Lewis” at start
MichaelN
1st July 2025, 14:04
Confused or not, it was nice to see Hamilton and Russell go side-by-side throughout much of the first lap. Just goes to show how much more fun racing can be without the silly ‘get to the apex first and push the other off’ guidelines.
Good on both drivers for channeling that old school racing spirit!
Frank
1st July 2025, 14:48
100% agreed.
Palindnilap (@palindnilap)
1st July 2025, 19:14
+1
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
3rd July 2025, 9:29
Silverstone is made for that kind of racing too. Let’s see some more of it on Sunday.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd July 2025, 11:11
Yes. And it also goes to show what a track that is conductive to racing looks like.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st July 2025, 14:37
I like Lewis’ pass on the outside at T6, which was brave considering the fuel load impact, although the more or less copy-paste move further into the race was also good.
Ironically, his opening-lap pass was only possible thanks to the unnecessary wait with SC deployment, which has especially been a long-time thing for opening-lap incidents, even if the necessity for neutralization is clear-cut immediately.
RomTrain
1st July 2025, 15:21
I think they wait with SC in a meaningful way. No more cars approaching the crash-scene, the leader was still not close to the pit entry – so just wait and allow racing to sort out things, especially in lap 1. Of course it was clear as day, that they cant continue without SC – but no need to call it earlier in this case.
Same goes with red flag in qualy. As long as the causing driver is obviously OK just double yellow for the following cars, and let those further down the track complete their lap.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
1st July 2025, 15:36
I don’t agree that an imminent neutralization after a lap one incident is necessary. The cars are still bunched up and passed the incident. So there’s no danger for marshalls or drivers. And the best racing we’ll often see is on lap one. IMHO it’s absolutely fine when they neutralize it halfway round the lap.
PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
2nd July 2025, 2:13
I think the protocol for any red flag looking incident is to call it straight away, race control cant sit there and say “Hmmm, shall we call it now, or in half a lap”.
Marshalls, recovery, SC and even medical will be moving into action, you cant have a system where everyone is second guessing and waiting when to move into action, your relying on a set procedure that will keep everyone safe regardless of the race..
PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
2nd July 2025, 2:29
Lol, don’t know why I put red flag looking incident when I meant Safety Car…Doh
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
3rd July 2025, 11:26
Your point is still valid and I was taking the fan perspective. They probably don’t think “oh it’s lap one, Russell and Hamilton are side by side, let’s wait until the battle is over.” Nor shouldn’t they.
But what is possible is that they take their time to evaluate the situation a bit longer knowing, they have a little bit of time and that the medical is on track anyway. What I wanted to say is that I’m fine with that approach (if that’s the case). If they’re just slow to react then it’s of course not ideal, but I try to remember the last red flag incidents on lap one and I think they reacted quicker.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
1st July 2025, 21:48
You could almost feel Leclerc thinking “hmm, what should I do here? Cover Russell or Lewis?”
PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
2nd July 2025, 1:52
The K2 remark to Leclerc and Hamilton never getting a straight answer tells me that Ferrari need to get there Pit Wall in order before the Car…
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link..