The event was held over the weekend of 25–27 June, and is officially named the Formula 1 BWT Großer Preis der Steiermark 2021.

[5] It was the eighth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship, and the second Styrian Grand Prix following the first edition held the previous year.

[4] Changes had been made to the verge and barrier at the second and third corners and to the kerb at the sixth turn since the previous year.

[16][17] This race was held with a limited number of spectators in attendance, while the following week's Austrian Grand Prix had a much larger crowd.

[18] At the time outdoor events in Austria could have no more than three-thousand attendees, however the large size of the venue meant spectators could be split into five separate groups, allowing a crowd of fifteen-thousand.

[22] Robert Kubica drove for Alfa Romeo Racing in the first free practice session in place of Kimi Räikkönen.

[23] Verstappen, who had won Grands Prix at the circuit twice before, felt that the race would be close between Red Bull and Mercedes and that understanding the weather conditions would be important.

[24] Hamilton described Spielberg as "a power-hungry circuit",[24] believing that Red Bull had a straight-line speed advantage and that it would be necessary for Mercedes to "maximise absolutely everything" to compete with them.

[24] The first practice session passed without major incident and ended with Red Bull's Verstappen fastest ahead of Scuderia AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly and Mercedes driver Hamilton.

[27] Verstappen set the fastest official time in the second free practice session with Daniel Ricciardo second for McLaren and the Alpine team’s Esteban Ocon third, after Hamilton had a faster lap time disallowed for a track limits violation.

[28] Valtteri Bottas spun in the pit lane after leaving in second gear; he was penalised for this, being required to start from three positions further back in the race and having two penalty points added to his FIA Super Licence.

[40] Ricciardo qualified thirteenth with a time half-a-second slower than teammate Norris in the second segment, which McLaren believed was a result of the circuit's heavy braking zones.

[44] Sebastian Vettel experienced issues with understeer and had his best lap in the second segment deleted after he went off the track, meaning he qualified fourteenth.

[57] Stroll overtook Alonso on the first lap, while Latifi also made a pit stop because his car's rear-right tyre was punctured.

[7] Ricciardo was overtaken by four other drivers on the seventh lap after a technical issue caused his McLaren to lose power.

[7] Although cloud cover appeared over the track during the race, the weather remained warm enough for teams to have concerns about cooling their cars.

[7][57] Verstappen's lead increased on the twenty-fifth lap when Hamilton almost lost control of his car following a tyre vibration.

[53] At the end of the twenty-fifth lap Russell, who had been in eighth position,[7] had a pit stop which lasted eighteen seconds while the team recharged his car's pneumatic system.

[7][56] The outcome was disappointing for the Williams team, who had not scored a point since the 2019 German Grand Prix and were running in a points-scoring position before the issues emerged.

[7] Leclerc made a second pit stop on the thirty-seventh lap; he exited the pitlane in fourteenth place.

[7] Verstappen reported some brake problems during the latter part of the race, which may have been related to the kerbing at the ninth and tenth corners.

[69] Leclerc climbed through the order to finish seventh after making a pit stop to repair damage sustained in the collision with Gasly.

[78] Mercedes suspected that their car setup may have overemphasised speed over a single lap at the expense of being fast for an entire race distance.

[39] This was the forty-third time Hamilton had finished a Grand Prix in second place, equalling the record held by Michael Schumacher.

[58] Verstappen performed celebratory burnouts after the finish, and was warned by officials to not repeat such an act at future events.

[81] Red Bull team principal Christian Horner praised Verstappen, calling it "the most dominant win we had all year against Mercedes.