Max Verstappen won the Sprint, with the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz in 2nd and 3rd position. Fernando Alonso did not get to take the exit
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) took advantage of his pole position and from the start to the finish he did not leave that first position. The Dutchman has won both Sprint races so far this season – the previous one was at the Imola circuit. Among the Ferraris, there was a scuffle: Sainz overtook his teammate, but then Leclerc returned to his second position, and the Spaniard did not want to risk anymore, and qualified third. After the Ferraris, George Russell (Mercedes) was followed by Checo Pérez (Red Bull), who staged a great comeback: he started 13th and crossed the finish line 5th. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) was unlucky, as he did not get to start the Sprint and from the grid, he was taken to his garage to retire.
Yesterday Max Verstappen got his third consecutive pole on this Red Bull Ring track and he did it ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. For his part, Checo Pérez, who qualified fourth, took the start 13th after being penalized for exceeding the track limits in Q2. Fernando Alonso started 8th and also in the top 10 were: Russell (4th), Ocon (5th), the two Haas drivers Magnussen (6th) and Schumacher (7th), Hamilton 9th, and Gasly 10th.
The Red Bull Ring is a track where the dirty part penalizes, and thus the poleman Verstappen started from the clean the same as Sainz (3rd), while Leclerc did it from the dirty (2nd) and Alonso (8th). When it comes to the type of tire compound that the drivers mounted, the vast majority opted for the medium, while only 4 chose the soft: Albon (11th), Stroll (17th), Latifi (19th), and Vettel (20th). ).
On the grid, when the drivers came out for the reconnaissance lap, Fernando Alonso had the blankets placed over his tires and climbed on. Once the rest were removed, the mechanics took Alonso to the pits where he was able to start the engine and finally stayed in the garage. On the other hand, Zhou (Alfa Romeo) saw his car stop in the middle of the track. Once the cars arrived on the grid, they did a new reconnaissance lap.
At the start, Verstappen followed first while Sainz overtook Leclerc and moved into second, although the Monegasque soon regained his second place. Pérez, from 13th position, climbed back to 8th. In the same start, Hamilton and Gasly touched, and that caused Hamilton to lose positions, he dropped to 10th and Gasly to 18th.
In the following laps, Sainz began to put pressure on his teammate Leclerc, they were fighting for the second position, since the Spaniard had a little more pace, and they were about to touch on the seventh lap, which made Sainz lose time with his co-worker. Behind Pérez overtook Schumacher and was 7th, while Hamilton did the same with Bottas and moved up to 9th.
Pérez was tireless and continued to overtake: first Magnussen and then Ocon, and he was already fifth.
Lewis Hamilton did not want to settle for the ninth position and put pressure on Schumacher lap after lap, but the young man from Haas would not give up until on lap 22, the Mercedes driver overtook him. Little more interesting happened on the track, with Verstappen’s victory in the Sprint, followed by the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz, Russell, Pérez, Ocon, Magnussen, Hamilton, Schumacher and Bottas, who scored points.
