All practice and qualifying sessions in Austria are now over. Early in the afternoon the sprint shootout was held, qualifying for the sprint race. Max Verstappen set the fastest time. Teammate Pérez joins second before the two positive surprises this weekend: Norris and Hülkenberg. Leclerc finished sixth, but was moved back three places for dangerously getting in the way of Magnussen.
This sprint race is completely separate from tomorrow’s main race. The result therefore does not determine the starting position of the full race, which was already qualified for yesterday. Are you still following? Even then Verstappen was the fastest and disappointed Pérez. He went off track on all his fast laps to gain an advantage and was penalized for it. He will start fifteenth tomorrow. But that’s all for tomorrow. Now let’s focus on the sprint race.
After a dry qualifying, the weather has turned completely around in Spielberg. All drivers therefore start on the intermediates, except Valtteri Bottas. He starts the warm-up lap on the medium tyre. In that warm-up lap, the search is for grip. Pérez, for example, is already shooting through in the third corner. Bottas therefore decides to go in for wet weather tires. Gambled and lost.
Start of the sprint race in Austria
Pérez has a better start than Verstappen and catches his teammate in the first corner. Towards the third corner, Verstappen has more speed, but Pérez pushes his teammate towards the grass. Nevertheless, Verstappen takes the lead back in turn three. The Dutch driver lets his car run all the way out, forcing Pérez to swerve across the run-off lane.
LIGHTS OUT!
Perez gets a flying start and is ahead of Max Verstappen into Turn 1!#AustrianGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/sAaqmDPkY8
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 1, 2023
The Red Bull drivers are not happy with each other, but the fight continues. Towards turn four, Pérez has more speed again. He tries the outside at Verstappen, but the reigning world champion will not let that happen. Again Verstappen pushes his teammate towards the end of the asphalt. As a result, Pérez has lost all speed and Hülkenberg can overtake him for second place.
Verstappen does Verstappen things
After this, Verstappen does what he has done in the past. He pulls a gap of more than three seconds to Hülkenberg behind him. Pérez cannot really catch up in the initial phase and follows De Haas at two seconds. Norris has dropped back in midfield and is battling Leclerc for ninth place. Right behind that is Hamilton. He moved up from eighteenth to thirteenth place in the first lap.
LAP 12/24
CHECO IS FITS HULKENBERG!
The @redbullracing driver is back into P2 #AustrianGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/Yw60u9GcIp
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 1, 2023
In the tenth lap of 24, the gap between Verstappen and Hülkenberg has grown to six seconds. The Haas driver has his hands full with Pérez who is now within a second behind the German driver. It takes two laps before Pérez takes back his second place. Carlos Sainz has now joined. He also passes Hülkenberg a lap later.
Switch from wet to dry
In lap sixteen, George Russell is the first to dare to go from the inters switch to dry weather tyres. Two laps later, the switch turns out to be the right one and Russell drives faster and faster. This is the time to switch, but then you have to close the gap you create with the stop. On lap nineteen of 24, Russell sets the fastest time and is 1.3 seconds faster than Verstappen inters.
The top seven remain out on the wet weather tyres. That way drivers like Russell and Hülkenberg quickly catch up with the cars in front of them. With three laps to go, Hülkenberg is three seconds faster than the cars in front of him, but there is not enough time to steam into the top five. At the front, Verstappen drives him home and finishes first ahead of teammate Pérez.
MAX VERSTAPEN WINS THE SPRINT! 🏆
Mega stuff by the mighty @redbullracing driver #AustrianGP #F1Sprint @Max33Verstappen pic.twitter.com/z6HOcNjcAi
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 1, 2023
Fight to the finish line
Behind them it remains chaotic. Even the two Astons fight each other. Who would have thought after all the sweet messages back and forth between Alonso and Stroll. The boss’ son wins the duel on the line. Behind them, Ocon and Russell cross the finish line almost evenly. Ocon’s nose crosses the finish line 0.008 seconds ahead of Russell’s. What a beautiful race we saw. Let’s hope we get the same conditions tomorrow.
Result of qualifying for the sprint race in Austria
- Verstappen
- Perez
- Sainz
- Stroll
- Alonso
- Hulkenberg
- Ocon
- Russell
- Norris
- Hamilton
- Piastri
- Leclerc
- Albon
- Magnussen
- Gasly
- Tsunoda
- DeVries
- Sergeant
- zhou
- Bottas
What time does F1 start on the Red Bull Ring?
Sunday
Race: 3:00 PM
#Verstappen #wins #wet #dry #sprint #race #Austria