Verstappen breezes to Austria F1 sprint win ahead of battling Ferraris
The reigning world champion pulled clear of the squabbling Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to ease to his third sprint race win from the five experimental events and score the maximum eight points on offer.
It means Verstappen has now increased his lead over Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to 38 points, while he is 44 points clear of Leclerc.
After maintaining his lead with a good start, Verstappen was never threatened as he checked out into a commanding lead, aided by Leclerc and Sainz battling hard for second place in the early phases of the 23-lap sprint.
Leclerc robustly defended to thwart Sainz’s early attack, with F1’s newest race winner the faster of the two Ferrari drivers in the opening laps.
George Russell finished where he started in a distant fourth in his Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who impressively charged through to finish fifth, rising from 13th on the grid following his post-qualifying penalty.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was sixth ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, while Lewis Hamilton battled back to eighth after being caught up in a collision with Pierre Gasly at the start.
Hamilton found himself sandwiched between Alex Albon and Gasly on the run to Turn 1 and ended up tagging Gasly, whose AlphaTauri was launched into the air.
The contact dropped Hamilton to 11th, but he fought his way back up the order. The seven-time world champion’s progress was halted when he got caught in a DRS train behind the Haas pair, but he eventually found a way past Mick Schumacher.
Hamilton ran out of laps to launch an attack on Magnussen and will therefore line up eighth on the grid for Sunday’s grand prix after beating Schumacher and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas to the final point on offer.
It was a disappointing race for multiple world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, who will form the back row of the grid on Sunday after failing to finish the sprint.
Alonso never even turned a wheel in anger after his Alpine was not able to start following an issue the team is investigating. The Spaniard had been consigned to a pit lane start after Alpine left the tyre blankets on his car, before he retired.
Meanwhile, Vettel’s race came to an end after he was knocked into the gravel while battling Albon’s Williams for position.
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