Austria - Sprint

The third sprint race of the season gave us a taste of what we can expect in tomorrow's Grand Prix. Hopefully, it will deliver what we've seen today: a fight for the top step of the podium. 

For those not familiar with the additional event, let me remind you what a sprint race is. It is a shorter version of Sunday's Grand Prix, the one in Austria being only 24 laps long. There are points to be gained, albeit much less than one can acquire during a regular race. The points are given to the top 8 drivers, with the one who finishes first getting eight, the one who finishes second getting seven, and so on. This year, it takes place on Saturday morning, before the qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix. 

This time, all cars decided to start on mediums so there was little strategic variance on track. The grid didn't differ much from the order we saw at the end of yesterday's qualifying. The one change was Albon who qualified 19th but started the race from the pit lane after making changes to his car. 

For the first time this season, after the cars lined up on the track after the formation lap, the start was aborted. This meant that another formation lap needed to take place and therefore the amount of laps driven in the sprint itself would decrease from 24 to 23. 

As soon as the lights went out, it became clear that the top three cars were all very hungry for the win. Verstappen stayed in the lead, having had a great launch off the line. Piastri also saw a very good start which, for a second, put him side by side with Norris. The Brit managed to fight off his teammate's attack and keep him behind. The Ferraris both made up some positions, with Sainz getting ahead of Russel and Leclerc jumping from 10th to 7th. 

Norris immediately attacked Verstappen. He set the fastest lap of the race and moved closer and closer to the Red Bull in front. On lap 5, with a move that required him to be very late on breaks, he got past Verstappen. Not for long. The home favourite of the Red Bull Ring replied quickly and overtook the McLaren. Their fight slowed both the cars down, a fact of which Piastri was more than happy to take advantage. He went around the outside and moved past his teammate and into P2. 

As the sprint went on, the fight for the lead cooled off. A gap began building between Verstappen and Piastri, growing slightly larger with every lap. That doesn't mean that nothing happened on track. Russell took his place back from Sainz and the two McLarens drove pretty close together, making the viewers wonder if Norris would decide to fight his teammate and get an additional point. A point that could make all the difference, given that only 2 separated Norris and Lecelrc in the driver's championship at the beginning of the sprint.

In the end, Piastri stayed in second with Norris right behind him in third. Verstappen added yet another victory to his ever-growing list, brightening the days of all his Austrian fans. Russel, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc, and Perez made up the rest of the list of drivers who scored points during the sprint. 

Order of the grid:

1. Max Verstappen

2. Oscar Piastri

3. Lando Norris

4. George Russel

5. Carlos Sainz

6. Lewis Hamilton

7. Charles Leclerc

8. Sergio Perez

9. Kevin Magnussen

10. Lance Stroll

11. Esteban Ocon

12. Pierre Gasly

13. Yuki Tsunoda

14. Nico Hulkenberg

15. Daniel Ricciardo

16. Fernando Alonso

17. Logan Sargeant

18. Alex Albon

19. Valtteri Bottas

20. Zhou Guanyu