Verstappen claims victory in Spielberg Sprint

F1 Grand Prix, GP Austria, Red Bull Ring

Championship runaway leader Max Verstappen took victory in the 100km Spielberg Sprint after a close fight with the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on the opening laps. F1Technical’s pitlane reporter Balazs Szabo reports on the first race of the weekend from the Red Bull Ring.

The original race start was aborted which meant that the race distance was reduced by a tour to just 23 laps.

Max Verstappen started the Saturday’s race from pole position. Although he hang on to the lead at the start, Norris looked to make a move at Turn 4 after making good use of the DRS. The reigning champion managed to fend off the Briton’s attack for the moment.

Norris attempted another move two laps later, and he managed to go past Verstappen at Turn 3. However, it did not take long as the Dutchman moved back past Norris at Turns 4 and 5. In the meantime, Oscar Piastri also got into the mix, and with Norris forced out wide, the Australian jumped into second.

On Lap 8, George Russell overtook the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, retaking P4 after the Spaniard passed the Briton at the start.

By Lap 11, Verstappen had eked out a gap of 1.7 seconds on Piastri while Norris started to lose time to his team-mate.

Meanwhile Pierre Gasly was looking to make a move on his team mate Ocon ahead of him in the battle for P11.

With only eight laps left from the Spielberg Sprint, Norris started to charge back up to Piastri, reducing the gap that was over two seconds just a few laps earlier.

On Lap 21, an aggressive move from Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 3 forced Fernando Alonso off the track as the Aston Martin man dropped to 15th. RB driver Daniel Ricciardo also found a way to overtake Alonso as a result of the clash between the Spaniard and the German.

In the meantime, Hamilton closed in on Sainz, but he could never come close enough to attempt an overtaking move.

Verstappen built a gap of over four seconds to take a comfortable victory in the Spielberg Sprint. Piastri could hold on to P2 with Norris completing the podium.

Russell finished in P2 which was the same spot from which he started the sprint. Sainz brought his Ferrari home in P5, followed by Hamilton.

Having started from tenth on the grid, Charles Leclerc gained three places at the start, and finished the 23-lap sprint in P7. Sergio Perez suffered from high degradation, and was unable to keep up with his rivals, finishing down in P8.