Max Verstappen started the sprint from first place ahead of both Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Russell, Ocon and both Haas drivers started behind them. Pérez had his times deleted from the third part of qualifying due to track limits and started 13th. Hamilton had 9th place at the start after the accident.
The first drama happened before the start. Fernando Alonso did not start from the eighth place in the warm-up lap and in the end not even from the pits. Chou had power unit problems at the end of the warm-up lap. He had to start from the pits and the entire starting field was waiting for one extra warm-up lap. The sprint was thus shortened by one lap.
Max Verstappen retained first place, although it was close. Behind his back, after a week, a dangerous sandwich was again formed in the composition of Albon, Hamilton, Gasly. The AlphaTauri driver spun, Hamilton lost positions and dropped out of the top ten.
Verstappen controlled the situation at the front. It was closer at the beginning between the Ferrari drivers, who even had a rather sharp fight in the seventh lap. However, Leclerc kept the second place and in the further course of the sprint it was no longer so close between the red cars.
Sergio Pérez and Lewis Hamilton advanced. In the end, Pérez only got to the fifth place, he couldn’t catch the fourth Russell in the end. Hamilton stuck behind Mick Schumacher for a long time. He had a teammate in front of him, thanks to which he could use DRS. However, Magnussen overtook him later and Hamilton got ahead of him with two laps to go in eighth place – last in the points.
Sebastian Vettel is having another unsuccessful weekend. After the last place in qualifying, he moved up in the sickle, but ended up in the gravel after contact with Albon. Albon received a five-second penalty for another fight in which he pushed Lando Norris off the track.
Verstappen went on to win the sprint. At the start of the race, he will again have both Ferrari drivers behind him. The starting grid will change slightly according to the sprint results. After deploying the new components of the power unit, Bottas will start from the back of the field.
The results
| P. | Rider | The team | Time / loss | Kola | Body |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 26′:0.059 | 23 | 8 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1.675 | 23 | 7 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 5.644 | 23 | 6 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 13.429 | 23 | 5 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 18.302 | 23 | 4 |
| 6 | Stephen Ocon | Alpine | 31.032 | 23 | 3 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 34.539 | 23 | 2 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 35.447 | 23 | 1 |
| 9 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 37.163 | 23 | |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 37.557 | 23 | |
| 11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 38.580 | 23 | |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 39.738 | 23 | |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 48.241 | 23 | |
| 14 | Kuan-yu Chou | Alfa Romeo | 50.753 | 23 | |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 52.125 | 23 | |
| 16 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 52.412 | 23 | |
| 17 | Júki Cunoda | AlphaTauri | 54.556 | 23 | |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1:08.694 | 23 | |
| 19 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | – | 21 | |
| – | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | – | 0 |
Progress
23/23: The end… Verstappen wins the sprint ahead of both Ferraris.
21/23: Hamilton got ahead of Schumacher…
21/23: Schumacher has now lost DRS. Magnussen was a bit ahead of him.
18/23: In the lead still around 2.6s between Verstappen and Leclerc.
17/23:
- Ver
- Lec
- Sai
- Rus
- Per
- Oco
- Mag
- Msc
- Ham
- Bot
- Nor
- Ric
- Alb
- Str
- Gas
- Chow
- Cun
- Lat
- Vet
13/23: Pérez overtook Ocon.
11/23: And Albon again… had contact with Vettel who ended up in the gravel.
11/23: Albon was given a five second penalty for pushing out Norris in turn three.
11/23: Pérez already sixth ahead of the Haas drivers.
9/23: Hamilton overtook Bottas.
7/23: Ferrari driver duel.
5/23: Hamilton tenth. Verstappen is driving in the lead, he already has a lead of 2.3 s.
5/53: There was another sandwich at the start… Albon, Gasly, Hamilton. The Brit dropped a few positions, Gasly spun.
3/23:
- Ver
- Lec
- Sai
- Rus
- Oco
- Mag
- Msc
- Per
- Bot
- Alb
- Ham
- Nor
- Ric
- Vet
- Str
- Lat
- Cun
- Gas
- Chow
1/23: In the end, Alonso did not start in the sprint. Gasly spun, he is last.
1/23: Start… Verstappen keeps the lead, Ferrari drivers fight for second place, Leclerc eventually returns to second position. Pérez already eighth, Hamilton dropped to 11th position.
16:34: Chou’s car has started again… he is waiting to start from the pit lane.
16:33: The start is postponed, another warm-up lap awaits us.
16:32: And an engine problem for Chou, Alonso will start from the pits.
16:31: Trouble for Alonso… The Spaniard remains on the gridiron with blankets and jacks.
16:30: The riders go for the warm-up lap.
16:27: tyres: Albon, Stroll, Latifi, Vettel on soft. The others will run a sprint in the intermediates.
16:26: Starting grid for the sprint
| P. | Rider | The team |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes |
| 5 | Stephen Ocon | Alpine |
| 6 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas |
| 7 | Mick Schumacher | Haas |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri |
| 11 | Alexander Albon | Williams |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull |
| 14 | Júki Cunoda | AlphaTauri |
| 15 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin |
| 18 | Kuan-yu Chou | Alfa Romeo |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams |
| 20 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin |
16:17: The air temperature is 21 °C, the track is 34 °C. The chance of rain during the sprint is 0%.
16:16: Lando Norris’ plan: “I have a rope, I attach it to Pérez, who is in front of me, and I will follow him all the way. It’s so simple!”
16:15: He doesn’t build in the sprint, so tire choice will be important. Riders have free choice.
16:12: Max Verstappen will start from the first place. He will have both Ferrari drivers behind him. Although Pérez finished fourth in qualifying, the stewards deleted his times from Q3 due to track limits, and he will start the sprint from 13th place. Undoubtedly, Hamilton will also want to move up, starting from 9th place after an accident in qualifying.
16:10: the second sprint of the year awaits us. We remind you that the sprint will determine the final order for the start of tomorrow’s race, but points will also be awarded for it. The winner gets 8 points. For each lower position there is one less point.
16:05: Welcome to the online broadcast from the sprint in Austria.
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