Max Verstappen resisted pressure from the McLaren duo to win F1 Austrian GP sprint, with Oscar Piastri in second and Lando Norris third.
The start of F1 Austrian GP sprint at Red Bull Ring was aborted due to photographers at Turn 1 posing a safety risk. They went around again but Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had a clean start to lead the way from McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz passed Mercedes’ George Russell to be fourth, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in sixth ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who climbed up by three places to be seventh which dropped Red Bull’s Sergio Perez to eighth.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was just outside of points in ninth from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who passed Alpine’s Esteban Ocon on Lap 1 where both he and teammate Pierre Gasly dropped places having started inside the Top 10 positions.
The fight for the win intensified when Verstappen was being chased by Norris and Piastri. The Brit tried for couple of laps before making a move at Turn 3 by braking too late. But the Dutchman came back at him immediately to retake the F1 Austrian GP sprint lead.
That allowed Piastri to take the inside line and get ahead of his teammate Norris to be second. Just then Russell passed Sainz to retake fourth, with Hamilton chasing the Spaniard too along with Leclerc, as Perez dropped too far back.
It eventually steadied at the front as Verstappen stretched a small lead to eventually win the F1 Austrian GP sprint ahead of the fighting pair of Piastri and Norris, where the Australian resisted pressure from his teammate to end up second.
Russell was fourth from Sainz with Hamilton in sixth, Leclerc seventh and Perez eighth to round out the point scorers. The Top 10 was rounded by Magnussen and Stroll, with Ocon keeping teammate Pierre Gasly off from taking 11th from him.
Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was up to 12th from Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and Visa Cash App RB’s Daniel Ricciardo as the duo managed to pass Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. The German’s move at Turn 3 against the Spaniard will be investigated.
Williams’ Logan Sargeant was 17th from teammate Alexander Albon, who climbed up places after pitlane start as the duo of Stake F1 Team i.e Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu ended up 19th and 20th to round out 20 finishers.
UPDATE: Hulkenberg has been handed 10s time penalty for missing the apex and forcing Alonso off track. As a result, the German has dropped to 19th – allowing others to gain a place – with two penalty points against his name.
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