Max Verstappen wins Sprint Race in Austria in changeable conditions

Max Verstappen only had troubles with his start, but once he got the lead back, no one could challenge the defending champion, as Perez got stuck behind Nico Hulkenberg, even though he was leading coming off of Turn 1. It took the Mexican 12 laps to reclaim second place, but the gap was already enormous to Verstappen because of the German’s fierce defending. Carlos Sainz could overtake the Haas a lap later.

With nothing to lose George Russell was the first one to put on soft tyres in Lap 16 with the DRS being enabled, and he was followed by half of the grid who were not fighting for more than two points. The two Mercedes gained the most with this action, but only Russell could arrive in points paying positions, while Leclerc lost out more with the change.

At the front, the top 5 finished the race on intermediates, behind the podium sitters, the two Aston Martins, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso finished in P4 for and P5 respectively. Nico Hulkenberg could climb back to P6 after his stop on mediums. Esteban Ocon and George Russell were the last two drivers to get points in the Sprint, Leclerc finished in P12.

The Start

On a wet asphalt, every driver opted to start on the intermediate tyres, except for Valtteri Bottas starting from P19. The Finn chose a set of mediums, while Sergio Perez already went off in Turn 3 on the formation lap. Eventually Bottas decided to pull into the pits following the formation lap to change for a set of inters as well.

Perez took to lead thanks to his better start, but Verstappen quickly reclaimed the lead in an opportunistic way in Turn 3, forcing his teammate off the track, giving back the favour for Perez doing the same in the straight. This also forced Lando Norris to lose many positions and settling for P10. In the following straight, Nico Hulkenberg could also overtake Red Bull’s Mexican driver.