Lando Norris, McLaren dominate Austrian Grand Prix as Red Bull boss Christian Horner voices fresh concern

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McLaren secured a one-two at the Austrian Grand Prix with Lando Norris winning the race. The dominance from McLaren in the 2025 F1 season is troubling Red Bull boss Christian Horner. read more
Red Bull had a nightmarish Formula One race on home soil as McLaren once again proved their might with Lando Norris winning the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday and teammate Oscar Piastri coming second. Red Bull boss Christian Horner has now expressed fear that the 2025 Formula One season is turning into a two-horse race between the McLaren drivers.
Defending champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull retired on the first lap after being driven into by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished last.
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Horner fears Verstappen can't win 2025 F1 season
As a result of Norris leading home Piastri in a McLaren one-two, Verstappen was left languishing 61 points behind championship leader Piastri.
'The buffer they have is significant. It looks very much like a two-horse race. They (McLaren) have got a cushion to the rest of the field,' said Horner.
'For us, we focus one race at a time. We don't even think about championships. We just focus on the next race at Silverstone, what can we achieve there; same with Spa, same with Budapest.
Box office from Norris and Piastri ⚔️🍿 pic.twitter.com/uwMUzW4Kf5 — Formula 1 (@F1) June 29, 2025
'You try to grab every opportunity like we did in Imola (where Verstappen won).'
Verstappen had qualified a lowly seventh, partly undone by yellow flags as a result of a spin by Pierre Gasly in the final moments of Saturday's session.
In the race, he was the unfortunate recipient as Antonelli hit him after misjudging under braking into turn three, ending Verstappen's race in the process.
Tsunoda struggled all afternoon and was later given a 10-second penalty for a clash with Alpine's Franco Colapinto, which resulted in the Japanese driver finishing last.
Ferrari bounce back at Austrian GP
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took third and fourth places to move their team into second place in the constructors' standings.
Horner said: 'Well, that was a home race to forget. We got unlucky yesterday with the yellow flag which puts us in a position where you're unfortunately in the crash zone and Kimi just lost it in spectacular fashion.
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'Max was basically through the corner and getting back on the power and he just got wiped out. So, an unfortunate mistake by Kimi. He's apologised to Max but for us it killed our afternoon.
'I don't think we should have had the pace to race the McLarens today so well done to Lando. I think we would have been in that fight with the Ferraris. But when you're out on turn three there's not much you can do about it.'
With agency inputs