Red Bull driver and reigning Dutch champion Max Verstappen won the sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix, round 11 of the Formula 1 World Championship, which would see him take the first pole position in Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
The leader of the current standings completed the 23-lap sprint race, starting first, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who also remained in the same positions at the start.
The Dutchman was pleased with this “small” victory in front of the Austrian fans and on the track bearing the name of the Austrian team, saying “It was great to see that huge amount of orange smoke”, referring to the color of the Dutch flag.
“It was a good race. I tried my best from start to finish. The first laps allowed me to deal with the difference and then I kept my pace.”
Winning the second sprint of three this season (the first came in the fourth round at the Italian circuit in Imola, and the third will be at the Brazilian Interlagos circuit in the twenty-first round in the penultimate one), Verstappen scored eight points. , while Leclerc got seven and Sainz got six.
British Mercedes driver George Russell scored five points for fourth place ahead of Red Bull Mexican Sergio Pérez (4 points), France’s Albin Esteban Ocon (3), Dane Haas Kevin Magnuson (2) and seven-time world champion British Mercedes driver Lewis. Hamilton (1).
With this win, Verstappen raised his score at the top of the overall standings to 189 points ahead of his colleague Pires (151), Leclerc (145) and Saenz (133), hoping Sunday’s celebration would be bigger with a seventh win. season and take another step in the fight to retain the world title.
But the Dutchman expected that “tomorrow (Sunday in the race) things will be more difficult because it will be longer and you have to pay attention to the tyres.”
The short race, originally 24 laps, began with a breakdown in former Spanish world champion Fernando Alonso’s Alpine car, which failed to start during the warm-up lap, at the end of which an Alfa Romeo failure was witnessed. car of the Chinese Guanyu Ju, forcing the riders to complete the second warm-up lap, which was determined by the total number of laps of the race.
Joe returned and left the pit lane, and Alonso withdrew.
Verstappen kept the lead at the start, while Leclerc gave up second place to fellow Sainz but quickly regained it at turn four, but the battle allowed the Dutch leader to drift away.
The difference between Leclerc and Verstappen was more than two minutes, reaching the fourth lap, and the second rider of the Red Bull Pires managed to advance five positions and become eighth.
The battle continued between the Ferrari duo and Saenz managed to outrun his teammate by a few seconds before the son of the principality regained second place while Verstappen flew far ahead.
Pérez continued his lead and took sixth going to lap ten, then he overcame France’s Esteban Ocon (Albin) to fifth behind Russell, while the situation was the same for the top three with Verstappen left to fly ahead of Leclerc. and Sainus to the end.
– The top ten ranking in the sprint race, which determined the starting positions in the Sunday race:
Max Verstappen (Netherlands/Red Bull) (24 laps)
Charles Leclerc (Monaco/Ferrari) (24)
Carlos Sainz (Spain/Ferrari) (24)
George Russell (UK/Mercedes) (24)
Sergio Perez (Mexico/Red Bull) (24)
Esteban Ocon (France/Alpine region) (24)
Kevin Magnussen (Denmark/Haas) (24)
Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain/Mercedes) (24)
Mick Schumacher (Germany/Haas) (23)
Valtteri Bottas (Finland/Alfa Romeo) (23)
* The first eight receive points, starting with eight for the first, up to a point for the eighth.
