Austrian GP: Max Verstappen holds off the McLaren team-mates in ‘spicy’ Sprint thriller
Max Verstappen waves at the fans
Max Verstappen was challenged by not one but two McLarens at the Sprint in Austria but held his nerve to fight back and set himself up for the victory.
Crossing the line four seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri, who had Lando Norris on his rear wing, the victory maintained the triple World Champion’s 100 per cent Sprint victory record for this season.
Max Verstappen wins the Austrian GP Sprint
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris had set up another front row battle in Friday’s Sprint Qualy, the Red Bull driver lined up on the grid with his RB20 pointed towards the McLaren only for the start to be aborted. That was reportedly because of photographers at Turn 1 standing in a dangerous position.
After a second formation lap, the 23-lap Sprint got underway with a flying start from Verstappen who led into Turn 1 ahead of Norris who was under attack from his team-mate Oscar Piastri. Wheel-to-wheel up the hill, Norris managed to pull clear of the Aussie before chasing onto the back of Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz was fourth in the early running ahead of the Mercedes team-mates of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton while Charles Leclerc shot up from 10th on the grid to seventh, overtaking the Red Bull of Sergio Perez in the process.
The McLaren team-mates, with the new front wing on their MCL38s, closed up on Verstappen with Norris using DRS to make a play for the lead but Verstappen covered him off. Norris made it third time lucky on the run up to the hill only for Verstappen to fight back to regain P1.
Piastri took advantage of their squabble to pass Norris for second with Sainz also closing in and bringing the Mercedes pairing and Leclerc along with him. Russell attacked the Spanish for fourth place, their tussle allowing Norris a bit of breathing room.
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Further back Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly raced for ninth place, the Haas driver the first driver outside the points. A collective breath came from Alpine was Gasly lined up on Ocon for a move but backed off.
Back at the front, Verstappen built up a three second led with five laps to go while Piastri was holding his nerve against the charging Norris.
Although Norris closed up on his team-mate, he wasn’t able to find that little bit extra to launch an attack. Lap after lap he was left staring at the other McLaren’s rear wing.
Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso had a moment as the Haas driver went to overtake the Aston Martin, Alonso off the track with the stewards investigating the incident.
Verstappen won the Sprint by 4.6s ahead of Piastri with Norris 0.7s behind his team-mate. “Spicy” was the triple World Champion’s assessment of the opening few laps against the McLarens.
Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc and Perez completed the points.
Result
1 Max VERSTAPPEN
2 Oscar PIASTRI +4.616
3 Lando NORRIS +5.348
4 George RUSSELL +8.354
5 Carlos SAINZ +9.989
6 Lewis HAMILTON +11.207
7 Charles LECLERC +13.424
8 Sergio PEREZ +17.409
9 Kevin MAGNUSSEN +24.067
10 Lance STROLL +30.175
11 Esteban OCON +30.839
12 Pierre GASLY +31.308
13 Yuki TSUNODA +35.452
14 Nico HULKENBERG +38.423
15 Daniel RICCIARDO +39.397
16 Fernando ALONSO +43.155
17 Logan SARGEANT +44.076
18 Alexander ALBON +44.673
19 Valtteri BOTTAS +46.511
20 Guanyu ZHOU +53.143