2025 Austrian Grand Prix: Winners and Losers — Who Shone and Who Struggled at the Red Bull Ring

A Grand Prix to Forget for Ferrari, to Frame for Mercedes

The sweltering heat that has gripped Europe over recent weeks made no exception for the Formula 1 paddock. The Red Bull Ring, nestled among the rolling hills of Styria and very much Milton Keynes' spiritual home away from home, hosted a scorching Austrian Grand Prix — and not just because of the thermometer. The race proved to be a true war of attrition, reshuffling the pecking order we had come to expect after Barcelona and leaving many teams with far more questions than answers. For Ferrari, the Austrian weekend was a cold shower: Hamilton and Leclerc bewildered, race pace nowhere to be found, and a championship table that makes grim reading for the Prancing Horse. Let us go through it all, one by one — the winners and the losers of this blazing Sunday afternoon.

Winner: George Russell — A Champion Who Knows How to Bounce Back

If there was one driver who needed this victory more than anyone else, it was George Russell. The British Mercedes driver arrived in Austria carrying the weight of a World Championship campaign that had been slipping away from him: his dramatic exit from the Canadian Grand Prix had left him empty-handed at precisely the moment the race had seemed to be swinging in his favour. To make matters worse, his young team-mate Kimi Antonelli had been showing he could beat him at crucial moments, raising uncomfortable questions about Russell's ability to get to grips with the narrower 2026-specification tyres.

The pole position he secured in Barcelona had already sent a signal. In Austria, Russell turned that spark into a proper blaze: lights-to-flag victory from pole, immaculate tyre management in extreme temperatures, and a dominant display that felt very much like a reply to those who had begun to doubt him. Is he truly "back"? The honest answer is: perhaps, though with caveats. Antonelli continued to look the quicker driver in both qualifying and the race. Even so, the ability to win when the pressure is at its greatest is the hallmark of a champion, and Russell demonstrated that with real authority.

The Big Surprise: Kimi Antonelli, a Talent That Keeps on Giving

To talk about Russell without talking about Antonelli would be doing the story a disservice. The young Bolognese driver, in his first full season of Formula 1, continues to display a maturity that belies his age. Even in Austria, where the extreme conditions could have unsettled a rookie, Antonelli rose to the occasion. He reads the 2026 tyres with a naturalness that even the more experienced Russell struggles to replicate consistently. It is too early for bold proclamations, but the future of Mercedes appears to have a very clear name attached to it.

Losers: Ferrari — Hamilton and Leclerc Searching for Answers

And now to the most painful chapter for Mondo Ferrari F1 readers. The Austrian Grand Prix exposed a serious problem for the Maranello outfit: by the drivers' own admission, their race pace was utterly baffling. Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc openly conceded they could not explain the collapse in performance compared to what they had shown in the sessions leading up to the race.

That is a worrying sign, because when drivers cannot understand what is happening beneath them, it suggests the problem may run deeper than a stray setup choice or tyres pushed outside their thermal window. Did the extreme Styrian heat expose a structural fragility in the SF-25 when temperatures climb beyond the usual range? Or were strategic decisions to blame? For now, the answers are not forthcoming — and that, perhaps, is the most alarming detail of all.

• Hamilton — after a promising start to the season, the seven-time world champion finds himself confronted with a Ferrari he cannot tame when conditions turn hostile. The frustration is plain to see.
• Leclerc — the Monégasque, on a circuit where he has previously shown flashes of genuine brilliance, looked powerless in the face of a race pace that simply was not competitive.

The hope is that the Maranello team can gather the data from this weekend and find concrete answers before the next round. The Constructors' Championship waits for no one, and every point dropped today weighs twice as heavily tomorrow.

Max Verstappen and Red Bull: The Verstappen Factor, as Explained by Wolff

The Red Bull chapter also makes for interesting reading. The Milton Keynes squad showed surprisingly strong pace at their home circuit — a track that, it must be said, has not always delivered standout results for the reigning champions in recent seasons. Toto Wolff pointed to the Verstappen factor as the key ingredient: the Dutchman extracts something extraordinary from the RB21, and that continues to make Red Bull a dangerous proposition even on weekends when the car does not look the strongest on paper.

Could Verstappen have won in Austria? According to several post-race analyses, the answer is not as straightforward as it might seem. He certainly had the tools to fight for victory, but the flow of the race and strategic decisions ultimately handed the trophy to Russell. It remains, nonetheless, a trend worth monitoring closely as the season continues.

The Bigger Picture: A Championship More Open Than Ever

Austria leaves us with a Formula 1 that is more unpredictable than it has been in years. Mercedes rediscovers its smile through Russell, Red Bull reminds everyone they are not to be taken lightly, and Ferrari must lick their wounds and do their homework. The extreme heat amplified the differences between the cars, exposing which teams have built a machine robust enough for any condition and which struggle to adapt when temperatures venture outside the comfort zone.

For the Scuderia, the coming races are critical. The team has the resources, the intelligence, and the drivers to respond — last season, Leclerc proved he could win at the most unlikely of moments. But what is needed now is a swift, tangible technical answer. The Tifosi, as ever, believe. And here at Mondo Ferrari F1, we will continue to follow every development with the passion and attention that this legendary team deserves.

Final Verdict

The 2025 Austrian Grand Prix will be remembered as the race of Russell's redemption, of Antonelli's continued coming-of-age, and of what one hopes is Ferrari's darkest hour of the season. The Red Bull Ring delivered its verdict loud and clear: in Formula 1, the heat has no mercy for weaknesses. And right now, Ferrari must find their answers before the championship drifts into territory that is very difficult to come back from.

Source: Motorsport.com