Max Verstappen wins Sprint at the Austrian GP 2022
Red Bull Racing driver, Max Verstappen won Saturday’s sprint race to secure pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix and extend his championship lead.
Verstappen held off Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in the opening corners before racing completely unopposed to the chequered flag to the delight of his travelling orange-clad army in the stands.
Sprinting to victory!
? @Max33Verstappen #AustrianGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/i85jEVSYNY
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 9, 2022
Charles Leclerc took second after a number of nail-biting exchanges with team-mate Sainz. The Spaniard, who won at Silverstone six days ago, finished third.
George Russell started fourth and finished in the same position while Lewis Hamilton had a more eventful sprint. The seven-time world champion was involved in a collision with Pierre Gasly at the start and dropped from ninth to 11th.
After recovering a couple of positions, he found himself in an intense battle with Mick Schumacher, who held him off for several laps with some excellent defensive driving. Ultimately, Hamilton did secure the overtake and crossed the line in eighth place to take a single point.
#F1SPRINT CLASSIFICATION (LAP 23/23)#AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/HgGJdiVo0O
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 9, 2022
Verstappen said: “There was quite a lot of orange smoke [from the fans] at the end which was nice to see. We were closely matched so it was good and like a sprint should be – quite flat out.
“I expect tomorrow is going to be an interesting battle again. The car is good and there are just a few things to fine tune. But overall we have been really competitive this weekend.”
Leclerc said: “It was tricky. I had a small fight with Carlos. I started to push and I was gaining on Max. Hopefully tomorrow we can put a bit more pressure on him.”
