#F1 #AustrianGP Sprint: @Max33Verstappen clinches victory after early @LandoNorris battle.

Verstappen Austrian Sprint Victory – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen survived an early battle with McLaren’s Lando Norris to take his tenth F1 Sprint victory at the Austrian GP as Piastri took second.

When the 23-lap 100km Sprint began, after an extra formation lap due to an aborted start, pole-sitter Verstappen got a solid getaway into turn one as Piastri jumps to the inside of team-mate Norris to grab second place into turn one.

On the run-down to turn three Norris then made a move to the inside of Piastri to grab second place back.

At the beginning of lap two, Verstappen held a 0.440 second lead over Norris with Piastri third, Sainz fourth, Russell fifth, Hamilton sixth as Leclerc made his way up into seventh.

On lap three race leader Verstappen had Norris right on his tail and with DRS got close to the back to Red Bull at the uphill turn three right-hander as Piastri almost made contact with his team-mate Norris in-front of him.

A tour later, Norris once again with DRS assistance moved to the outside of the Dutchman going wheel-to-wheel into turn four, but Verstappen kept him behind.

And with DRS assistance Norris made a lunge up the inside of Verstappen into turn three to take the lead, then Verstappen responded making a late lunge on the McLaren driver into turn four to snatch the lead back as Piastri also made his way past his team-mate who ran wide at turn four.

On lap seven, Verstappen held 0.533 second lead over Piastri, with Norris third, Sainz fourth and Russell rounding out the top five runners.

A tour later in the battle for fourth, Russell made a move on Sainz into turn three, but the Ferrari covered the Briton.

Then with better traction and DRS assistance, Russell made a move to the outside of Sainz into turn four and overtook the Spaniard to move up into fourth place.

On lap 10, Hamilton got ever closer to Sainz with DRS assistance, but in-turn Sainz also had his rear wing activated behind Russell to keep the Briton at bay.

Lap 12 saw Verstappen’s lead over Piastri increased to 1.368 seconds with Piastri second, Norris third, Russell fourth, Sainz fifth as Hamilton completed the top six runners.

After surviving a late lunge from Norris, Verstappen’s lead was up to two seconds on Piastri.

Meanwhile in the battles of the Alpine, Pierre Gasly was looking to make a move on his team-mate Esteban Ocon in the fight for 11^th.

A tour later, Norris was starting to charge back on second-placed team-mate Piastri as their battle for second place started to intensify.

On lap 16, once again Norris with DRS got even closer to Piastri and the latter with better driver and using his ERS managed to keep the Briton behind.

Norris was right on the rear of his team-mate once again with DRS assistance as Verstappen’s lead out-front increased to 2.5 seconds.

On lap 19, Norris was keeping very close to Piastri as Verstappen’s gap at the front was up to 3.500 seconds as behind them Hamilton was keeping at the rear of Sainz’s SF-24 entry in the battle for fifth place.

A tour later, both Norris and Hamilton continued to keep in DRS assistance behind both Piastri and Sainz respectively.

Verstappen crossed the line to clinch the Austrian GP F1 Sprint victory by 4.616 seconds over Piastri who kept his team-mate Norris at bay to hold second.

The Mercedes pairing Russell and Hamilton were fourth and sixth respectively as Sainz split the duo in fifth.

The other Ferrari of Leclerc recovered to seventh and ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who rounded out the final points place.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was ninth and in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who took tenth and Alpine pairing Ocon and Gasly who were 11^th and 12^th respectively.

RB duo Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo finished the 100km Sprint in 13^th and 15^th as Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg sandwiched in-between taking 14^th.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso followed in 16^th and ahead of Williams drivers Logan Sargeant and Alexander Albon who came 17^th and 18^th in the order as Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu brought up the rear.

The move made by Hulkenberg on lap 21 at turn three on Alonso, which saw the latter run off-track is currently under investigation by the stewards.

Click here to see the full Formula 1 Qatar Airways Austrian Grand Prix 2024 F1 Sprint Results Classification: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1239/austria/sprint-results.html

2024 Austrian GP F1 Sprint – The Top Three

2024 Austrian GP Sprint Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20 – (8 Points)

“It was a good first lap but once the DRS opens it is very hard to get out of it. It took a few laps and a few exciting battles as well. I think once we cleared the DRS, I could do my own race and it looked better.”

2^nd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – (7 Points)

“I just didn’t quite have the pace in the second half the race. I thought Max and Lando were going to pave the way for me at one point but not quite. We’ll take the points, a really good haul compared to the teams around us.”

3^rd Place – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – (6 Points)

“I made a good race between us, especially with Max at the beginning, it was good fun. Probably some things I should’ve done a bit better in my battle, but I understand that. The pace of the car was very strong, and I had good pace at the end, but I just didn’t have enough to get past Oscar.”

Click here for the 2024 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings

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