Live: Verstappen on the chase in Austria, Piastri up to fourth in F1 GP

Charles Leclerc started lap 37 in fourth.

Oscar Piastri dove up the inside at turn 3 and made the move.

Leclerc and Piastri appear to touch wheels.

Leclerc is missing a little bit of his front wing.

Hamilton then passes Leclerc.

And Leclerc has now pitted.

George Russell has lost a chunk of time. He may have had an issue on lap 35. He did. He ran wide on that lap.

His lead over Verstappen is now down to 2.2 seconds.

There is a nice three-way battle for fourth place.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc holds the position.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is in striking distance.

Behind Piastri, Hamilton is chasing and he is the fastest of the trio at this stage.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is hunting Mercedes leader George Russell.

The gap between them is four seconds.

Both drivers will need to stop again (we think).

If they do, Russell has 1 new set of hard tyres.

But Verstappen has 1 new set of hard AND mediums.

Red Bull have options.

Kimi Antonelli passes Charles Leclerc at turn 4 for third place.

Lewis Hamilton passes Isack Hadjar for sixth place.

OK. Stock take.

Mercedes driver George Russell leads the Austrian Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is second, about 4.5 seconds behind.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli are battling each other for third.

Oscar Piastri is fifth, being challenged by Isack Hadjar od Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton is seventh, having pitted twice.

Lando Norris is eighth.

Lewis Hamilton has pitted and Ferrari put on a used set of soft tyres.

Hamilton was not enjoying the hard compound.

Carlos Sainz is out. His car has stopped on the main straight.

Mercedes then pits Kimi Antonelli, and he comes out fifth.

Then a VSC has been called. If Antonelli and Mercedes had just waited one more lap, then the teenager would have got a cheap pit stop.

But he had a full pit stop just like everyone else. That is a missed opportunity.

There was probably no way for Mercedes to know a VSC was being called. If he had waited one more lap, he could have been, potentially, second.

That was feisty.

Just like a few laps earlier, Verstappen passed Hamilton into turn 3, then Hamilton retook the place at turn 4.

But at turn 6, Verstappen made a massive lunge up the inside and made the move stick.

Brilliant from the Dutchman.

Well. So much for staying out.

Lando Norris pits and comes out eighth.

Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris are the leading drivers.

Neither has pitted.

Norris is told he is staying out longer in clean air, after being stuck behind Oscar Piastri.

But Norris tells his team he cannot go any faster.

George Russell has pitted from the lead.

McLaren also pits Oscar Piastri.

Both drivers have hard tyres.

Russell is third and Piastri is seventh.

Red Bull has called in Max Verstappen.

It is a great stop. 2.4 seconds stationary.

Verstappen has new hard tyres on and he comes out about 2 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton.

George Russell has just told his team that he believes the one-stop is possible today, despite the high temperatures.

I think that it’s all surface overheating. The one-stop may be possible.

I wonder if it is possible, or if George has thrown out a false message for other teams.

He leads Verstappen by 5 seconds.

As Hamilton and Verstappen fought, George Russell established a 5-second lead.

Russell’s teammate, Kimi Antonelli, is now chasing Verstappen.

The championship leader is coming into this race.