Max Verstappen dominates F1 Austrian GP sprint race after early blip with Sergio Perez was second from Carlos Sainz.
The conditions in the F1 Austrian GP sprint race was wet for the drivers as they opted for intermediate to start the race apart from Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who was on slicks. But the Finn pitted straight after the formation lap to switch the tyres.
It was a clean start for both the Red Bull cars but Sergio Perez got a better traction into Turn 1 to lead Max Verstappen until Turn 3. The Mexican did throw the Dutchman off a bit on the grass in the lead-up to Turn 3 but he came back in the corner.
Verstappen went deep and retook the lead which allowed Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg to fight Perez and take second. This battle dropped McLaren’s Lando Norris to 10th after starting from third. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was up to fourth from the Aston Martin pair.
Lance Stroll got ahead of Fernando Alonso on Lap 1, with Williams’ Alexander Albon making the most to be seventh from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in the points. Chasing the Frenchman were Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Norris in the Top 10.
The Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were in the fight against Haas’ Kevin Magnussen where they initially lost to the Dane but came back on him to be 11th and 12th. At the front, Verstappen continued to stretch his lead.
Hulkenberg started to come under pressure and eventually was passed by both Perez and Sainz for second and third. The German then had Stroll and Alonso on his tail, while Albon in seventh held off Ocon, Leclerc and Norris for the final two places in points.
Leclerc tried hard to pass Ocon on couple of times but couldn’t make it stick and a wide moment from the Monegasque helped Norris to pass him for ninth. There was a gamble then from Mercedes with Russell pitting from 11th to switch to the slick tyres.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri pitted and others started to pit as well with Hulkenberg electing to pit from points along with Albon and Leclerc. While the drivers pitted, Verstappen dominated the proceedings to win the F1 Austrian GP sprint race.
He took the win by 21.048s over Perez from Sainz with Stroll in fourth ahead of Alonso who was right on his tail. The Top 5 were on the intermediate with Hulkenberg recovering to sixth on the slick tyres from Ocon who held off Russell in a photo finish.
The Brit was only 0.009s behind Ocon but managed to score a point after starting outside it. Norris missed out on points in ninth from Hamilton as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri managed to pass both Leclerc and Albon, where the Thai lost out in 13th.
#F1 – Provisional Classification of the Sprint in Austria🇦🇹#AustrianGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/l6POkgXNbf
— FIA (@fia) July 1, 2023
Here’s how F1 Austrian GP qualifying panned out