A dominant performance by Red Bull on home soil. Verstappen dominated the sprint after a flawless drive

The Austrian Red Bull Ring was the venue for the second sprint race of this year’s F1 season on 9.7. After Friday’s qualifying, championship leader Max Verstappen took pole position ahead of his rival Charles Leclerc.

This qualifying format was introduced last season. Classic qualifying was moved to Friday, and this decided the order for the start of the sprint, a shorter race with the possibility of gaining up to 8 points for victory. The starting grid for Sunday’s grand prix is then formed just from the result of the sprint.

The first drama came before the race even started. Fernando Alonso’s car was not ready to go when his team’s mechanics were called off the track for the start procedure. The Spaniard was subsequently forced to retire from the race.

At the end of the warm-up lap, Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guangyu had engine problems. He was not able to get his car to his place on the grid in time and had to start the race from pit lane.

By the first corner, Verstappen held the top spot ahead of a charging Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque then had to fight for second place with his teammate Carlos Sainz. Leclerc emerged victorious, but Verstappen was less than three seconds behind him.

After contact with Lewis Hamilton at the first corner, Pierre Gasly dropped to last place. For Gasly, it was his third accident in the last four sprints, all of which also occurred on the first lap.

Alex Albon will want to forget today quickly. He took a five-second penalty from his duel with Lando Norris, which relegated him to a 16th place finish.

It wasn’t the only contact with another competitor for Albon. On lap eleven, he collided with Vettel in Rauch corner. The German driver was spun off the track and later retired from the race due to damage to his car.

Sergio Pérez, on the other hand, put in a great performance. After a controversial qualifying, he started the sprint from thirteenth place. However, he fought his way up to fifth place in the race and will definitely have his sights set on the podium on Sunday.

For almost ten laps, the spectators watched a thrilling duel between Lewis Hamilton and Mick Schumacher. The Haas German resisted the seven-time world champion’s attacks for a long time, but capitulated on lap 21 before turn four.

Max Verstappen drove to a convincing victory in front of thousands of his fans. He enters Sunday’s race as the favourite and will start from pole position. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz round out the top three ahead of George Russell.

Pérez finished fifth and Esteban Ocon sixth. The two Haas on the grid were shared by Hamilton. He will start eighth behind Kevin Magnussen and ahead of Mick Schumacher. Valtteri Bottas will take tenth place.

Source