#Max33Verstappen clinches #AustrianGP #F1Sprint victory by 21.8 seconds. #F1

Verstappen Austrian Sprint Victory – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen cruised to a comfortable victory in a wet-and-wild Austrian GP 100km Sprint race ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez who was second and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who rounded out the top three.

When the 24-lap Sprint began, pole-sitter Verstappen and team-mate Perez made an equally solid getaway, and the latter made his way past the former on the inside into turn one.

Perez then cut off his team-mate forcefully on the run up the hill through the turn two kink and Verstappen briefly had to put his right-side wheels on the grass.

But Verstappen made his way by Perez on the inside into turn three, whilst Perez tried to find his way back past the Dutchman but is squeezed by Verstappen and had to take to the run-off area and re-joined behind his team-mate.

The tangle between Verstappen and Perez held up McLaren’s Lando Norris, who dropped from third into the final positions of the top 10, whilst Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg got a solid run and was able to benefit from the fight at turn four between the two Red Bull RB19 entries.

Perez was then again on the outside and lost momentum as Verstappen saw the Mexican off, and Hulkenberg pounced with such a better run out of the long downhill right-hand corner and through turn five he able to move ahead of Perez ahead on the next downhill turn, the fast left turn six.

On lap two, Verstappen was pulling away from Hulkenberg, with a number of drivers making solid starts. With Aston Martin pairing Stroll and Alonso up to fifth and sixth respectively, whilst Albon was seventh. Further back, Russell and Hamilton made their way up to 13^th and 14^th.

On the fourth tour, Perez was very unhappy on the radio, believing his team-mate Verstappen pushed him off the track saying: “What’s wrong with Max?”

On the seventh lap, Verstappen built a gap to four seconds over Hulkenberg with Perez a further second behind the Haas driver whilst Sainz is beginning to close in on the Mexican.

On the 11^th tour, the battle between Hulkenberg and Perez intensified with the latter on the VF-23’s tail.

On lap 12, Perez swept his way past Hulkenberg to reclaim second place at turn seven meanwhile, Sainz also found his way by the Haas into third.

On the 15^th lap, Verstappen was over 10.888 seconds ahead of Red Bull team-mate Perez with Sainz third, Hulkenberg fourth and both Aston Martin’s of Stroll and Alonso in fifth and sixth respectively.

Mercedes’ George Russell and Sir Lewis Hamilton also made solid progress from their Sprint Shootout qualifying to be running just outside the top ten when the former was the first driver to pit for a set of slick tyres.

The Briton’s pace on the softs encouraged nine of his rivals to switch to the slicks, although not the Red Bull drivers and Sainz, who ran untroubled to the end.

On lap 17, Stroll was on the back on Hulkenberg and made his way past the Haas into fourth place at turn three with Alonso also making his away ahead of the German into fifth.

On lap 22, Verstappen was over 18.702 seconds in-front of team-mate Perez with Sainz third, Stroll fourth and Alonso rounding out the top five.

Verstappen crossed the line to win the Austrian GP Sprint by a huge 21.048 seconds over team-mate Perez with Sainz rounding out the top three.

The Aston Martin pairing who were battling each other for fourth followed with Stroll reaching the chequered flag in-front of team-mate Alonso as Hulkenberg took sixth for Haas and was the highest runner on the slick tyres.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon came home in seventh and ahead of Mercedes’ Russell who completed the final points place in eighth.

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ Hamilton rounded out the top ten runners.

The other McLaren MCL60 entry of Oscar Piastri finished outside the top ten in 11^th place and ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who was 12^th and Williams Racing’s Alex Albon who ended the Sprint 13^th.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen came home in 14^th place and in-front of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who finished 15^th and the AlphaTauri pairing of Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries who were 16^th and 17^th respectively.

Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant was 18^th as the Alfa Romeo duo of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas brought up the rear.

Click here to see the full Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2023 F1 Sprint Results Classification: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1213/austria/sprint-results.html

Click here for the 2023 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings