Formula 1 | Verstappen holds off McLaren to win F1 Sprint in Austria

The F1 Sprint qualification for the Austrian Grand Prix did not offer a very surprising result, with Max Verstappen taking pole ahead of Lando Norris, but the 100-kilometre race could be very close, as the gaps were still small between the two men.

Teams will also be able to rely on data from the Sprint Qualifying and the short race to modify their cars. Indeed, the Parc Fermé regime will be lifted after that, until qualifying for Sunday’s race.

Behind the two drivers on the front row, Oscar Piastri is third ahead of George Russell, then Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Pérez, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc, who had a problem in SQ3.

Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll are on the sixth row ahead of Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda, then Logan Sargeant and Daniel Ricciardo. Nico Hülkenberg and Valtteri Bottas follow in front of Guanyu Zhou, who will be alone on the back row since Alex Albon will start from the pits.

The Thai driver regretted not having made aggressive enough set-up changes after the Sprint Qualifying, but his 19th place did not mean he lost much if he wanted to change his settings. This will certainly allow him to refine his set-up for qualifying and the race.

11h57 : The entire peloton sets off on medium tyres.

12h03 : The start procedure is interrupted due to a misplaced photographer, a new formation lap takes place and the Sprint will go from 24 to 23 laps.

Departure : Verstappen takes the best flight while Piastri gets up to Norris but does not pass. Leclerc gets rid of the Alpines.

Tour 1 : The Monegasque passes Perez, while Sainz has passed Russell, and Hamilton is pressing behind his team-mate. Magnussen has made a good start and is ninth, and Ocon is tenth ahead of Stroll and Gasly, while Tsunoda has passed Alonso.

Tour 2 : Norris stays close to Verstappen as DRS is activated. Stroll passes Ocon.

Tour 3 : Norris sets the fastest lap of the race in 1’08″935 and closes to within half a second of Norris. In the top 8, no driver has more than a second ahead of his pursuer, and Piastri is also pressing his teammate.

Tour 4 : Norris is very pressing against Verstappen, but the Red Bull keeps the advantage on the straight. The Briton comes close to his rival at turn 5, in vain.

Tour 5 : Norris attacks and passes Verstappen for the lead of the race, but the Red Bull driver comes back by pushing his rival a little to the outside. Piastri takes advantage to attack his teammate and move into second!

Tour 6 : Piastri is less than half a second behind Verstappen. Leclerc is 1.3 seconds behind Hamilton, while the positions remain unchanged in the peloton.

Tour 7 : Piastri is less incisive than Norris behind Verstappen, and the Briton is a little further from the other McLaren. Sainz was dropped more than a second and a half from Norris.

Tour 8 : Russell overtook Sainz for fourth place, with the Spaniard losing pace.

Tour 9 : Piastri is half a second behind Verstappen while Norris is 1.5 seconds behind his team-mate. Russell is 2.2 seconds behind third, and it looks like the field is stretching a bit. Russell is unable to distance Sainz. Leclerc is back on the Mercedes and his team-mate, while Perez is 2 seconds behind this group.

Tour 10 : The gap between Verstappen and Piastri goes above second for the first time in the race.

Tour 11 : The peloton is out of the top 8, which scores points, as Magnussen is 5 seconds behind Perez. In front, Verstappen has a 1.5″ margin over Piastri, and the gap between the latter and Norris is similar.

Tour 12 : The gaps are stable in the top 8 and the positions are no longer changing, the medium tires are starting to tire. Ocon is threatened by Gasly but the two drivers remain in the same order.

Tour 14 : The gap is now 2 seconds between Verstappen and Piastri, while Norris is back to 7 tenths behind the other McLaren.

Tour 16 : Norris is putting more and more pressure on Piastri. Russell is 3.2 seconds behind the McLarens, and Sainz and Hamilton are still in his wake. Leclerc is a little behind, and Perez even more, since he is no longer taking time from Magnussen’s Haas.

Tour 18 : This end of the Sprint is calm, the positions seeming frozen at all levels of the hierarchy.

Tour 20 : Verstappen continues to ensure while widening the gap, which is 3″6. Hamilton is pressing behind Sainz but does not seem to find the fault, especially since the tired tires do not help to have confidence for heavy braking , nor to have very good motor skills.

Tour 21 : Lando Norris received two warnings for exceeding track limits at Turn 1, and Alonso received one. Hülkenberg overtakes Alonso, who is 16th.

Arrival : Verstappen wins the Austrian GP Sprint after being worried at the start of the race by the McLarens. But after their battle, the Dutchman was no longer threatened, Piastri not having managed to put the same pressure on him as Norris. Piastri and Norris finished second and third ahead of Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc and Pérez, for points-scoring drivers.

Magnussen recorded a fine ninth place ahead of Stroll, Ocon, Gasly, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Alonso and Sargeant. Albon managed to get rid of the Stakes and therefore finished 18th, ahead of Bottas and Zhou.

NB : Nico Hulkenberg received a 10-second penalty for forcing Fernando Alonso off the track. Hulkenberg finished 14th but fell to 19th place. The Haas driver also received two penalty points.