The Hills Are Alive, With the Sound of a Three-Way Title Fight
JT · 27 June 2026
We arrive in picturesque Spielberg, Austria, for what could be an incredibly exciting 71 laps of action on Sunday. On the circuit with the shortest lap time and the fewest number of corners (10) of the season, the race has been given an added tinge of excitement by Lewis Hamilton’s first win with Ferrari in Barcelona.
The win, which owed to a fortuitous safety car, cut Kimi Antonelli’s lead at the top to 41 points. Although Hamilton might have won the race anyway on race pace, the victory has inevitably ignited talk of a three-way title battle with Hamilton taking the fight to the two Mercedes drivers in recent races.
While there was Scuderia delight at the top end, the main drama occurred further down the grid, and hours after the race had finished. For those in search of Big Points, there were mixed emotions.
More Penalty Pain
In the aftermath of the past two races in Monaco and Barcelona, we have witnessed F1’s own version of stoppage time, overtime, VAR, whatever you want to call it. Race review is probably a politer term for it, but the race is seemingly not over when it is actually over.
Five days after the chequered flag was thrown on the main straight in Monte Carlo, it was revealed that Pierre Gasly had been reinstated onto the third step of the podium after Alpine’s lawyers did a sterling job of pointing out some FIA flaws with their geometry kit. The saga might not be over yet if McLaren and Red Bull get their way.
Then in Barcelona, there was more post-race drama, although the FIA were quicker to determine that Franco Colapinto had “not slowed down sufficiently” under yellow flag conditions. Instead of five days, it was closer to five hours before a ten-second penalty was added onto the Argentine’s race time.
Colapinto Catapults Joel into Championship Contention
It was unfortunate for Alpine, who were on for a strong 7th and 8th finish after Gasly crossed the line in 7th. But while the Enstone team will be disappointed by the two points lost in what is turning into a close battle for 5th in the constructor’s standings with Racing Bulls, there were Predictors in the OG League that were left livid at Colapinto’s demotion.
But while the promotion of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad to 8th and 9th respectively was nightmare news for eight Predictors, Joel revelled in Colapinto’s demotion to 10th to collect Big Points and put himself firmly into title race contention. On his race weekend victory, the Aussie had the following to say in the Big Points media pit after the final classification was eventually confirmed:
"Full credit to the team for pulling the weekend together. Especially Franco! Feels right that being in South America that a South American delivers us the win."
Although Joel would have picked up Lawson points for the original 9th place finish, his rivals Andy and Sam both lost out on huge Racing Bulls hauls to bring the top three within 9 points of each other.
The podium was closed out by Gus and Ross who were also beneficiaries of the post-race reshuffle. The duo joined Joel as lone callers for their respective Lawson and Lindblad shouts, while at the other end of the grid, Offer and Sam correctly backed Lewis to finally smash his Ferrari duck completely by storming to the largest race win margin so far this season.
Trophy Triumphs
There were plenty of Predictors on the trophy trail as Dom, Lawrence, Mark, Nassim, Offer, and Tyler were six of 11 constructors to correctly pick Lance Stroll leaving the race first. Offer doubled up on his bonus points by also collecting fastest lap points for Hamilton’s effort on lap 44, also the number on the front of his car.
Also leaving a crowded trophy room were Joel, Gus, and Ross for going Against the Grain, while Ross atoned for misery in Monaco to find his feathers and rise like The Phoenix to jump four places in the standings to 13th.
The last two events have been a rollercoaster ride for those in search of Big Points and constructors will be hoping for a quieter race in the Styrian Hills. Perhaps not if the FIA have anything to do with it.
Awesome Austria
It is not fair to solely blame the FIA. The race in Spielberg itself is set up for chaos. There has been plenty of incident at multiple points of the track in recent years, most notably on the run up the hill to turn 3. And with the new toys that drivers have at their disposal this season, there is a strong possibility for each one of the 10 corners to present an overtaking opportunity.
The altitude and soaring temperatures are set to push engines and power units to the limit, but if you throw in the subplots leading into qualifying and the race itself, there is plenty of reason to expect excitement come Sunday.
Red Bull have brought a significant upgrade package for their home Grand Prix and will hope to take their first win of 2026, while Lando Norris runs well in Spielberg, claiming his first career podium in 2020 before adding another in 2021 and the race win last season on the way to claiming his first world championship.
And then there is the title race that is slowly developing into a three-way fight. Part of that tussle is George Russell. He and former teammate Hamilton managed to put a dent in Antonelli’s lead and will hope to make further inroads this weekend.
The young Italian looked imperious during Friday’s running but as we all saw in Barcelona, and in Montreal for Russell, Mercedes cannot fully trust their electrical system. The championship leaders will hope an Energy Recovery System upgrade can fix those issues. The question is if lightning can strike a third time? Or will Ferrari's own engine upgrade give Hamilton and Leclerc the power to blast past the Mercs?
But the Big Points for 8th, 9th and 10th is where the biggest prizes are awarded, and once again, the midfield battle will be a tantalising one. Alpine and Racing Bulls go into the race as the form teams, but after a secret upgrade in Barcelona, Audi will look to kickstart their campaign with Gabriel Bortoleto’s 2 points in Melbourne all the Swiss-based outfit has to show for their efforts.
HAAS and Williams will want to find some consistency, while the backmarkers will try to limit the number of times they get lapped on Sunday. Austria usually produces awesome races, and we are back to the track on the quest for Big Points in Spielberg!