Sprint Qualifying-
Max Verstappen will be lining up in pole position for the Sprint in Austria, after he stormed to the top of the timesheets ahead of McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
With every driver in SQ3 posting just one flying lap in the final minutes, the pressure was on to deliver a decent time.
And that’s what Verstappen did, pumping in a time of 1.04.686s.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Norris, P3: Piastri, P4: Russelll, P5: Sainz, P6: Hamilton, P7: Perez, P8: Ocon, P9: Gasly and P10: Leclerc.
A lovely result for Max Verstappen, it would be just what he wanted and he will want to turn this into victory.
A very good result for McLaren P2 and P3, both drivers will be wanting to try and win the sprint as well as get on the podium and get a good points haul before the race.
Ferrari had a semi decent result with Carlos Sainz in P5, however not the best result with Charles Leclerc. He failed to set a time after he stopped in the pitlane before being unable to cross the line before the chequered flag, leaving him in 10th.
He has a lot of work to do in the race, especially as he is in the middle of the pack and will want to stay out of trouble.
A decent result from Mercedes, P4 and P6, not the worst for the Silver Arrows but also not the best from the team. They still have a bit of work to do if they want to consistently be battling with the McLaren’s etc…
Not the best result from Perez, but at least he qualified in the top 10, I really cant work out how he has these bad qualifying’s and then go on to the race and not really make a massive difference…
Sprint Race-
Red Bull driver, Max Verstappen converted pole position into victory in the Sprint Race at the Austrian Grand Prix, overcoming the McLaren’s of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
While Verstappen held his lead at the start, Norris soon closed in and briefly moved in P1 with a bold overtake, only for the reigning world champion to reclaim the position moments later in a squabble that enabled Piastri to pass his team mate.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Piastri, P3: Norris, P4: Russell, P5: Sainz, P6: Hamilton, P7: Leclerc, P8: Perez, P9: Magnussen and P10: Stroll.
A wonderful result from Max, turning sprint pole into sprint victory! That makes it 3 sprint victories out of 3 so far this year. His team mate, Sergio Perez, finished in the final points paying position in 8th which isn’t the best result the Mexican driver has had.
A lovely little result from McLaren, both cars finishing the podium in P2 for Piastri and P3 from Norris, just what the team expects from their drivers. They also had quite a good battle with Max at the beginning and it was good to see how close the top 3 was at times.
Russell finished P4 which isn’t bad and Hamilton P6 so where they both started. To be honest most drivers don’t really risk it too much in the sprint as they have qualifying later on and don’t want to risk damaging their cars.
Leclerc moved up a few spots which is good, the Ferrari’s clearly have a bit of pace under their cars this weekend, so they will be wanting a better qualifying session for the race.
Magnussen finished P9! Just outside the points unfortunately but all he needs to do is repeat the same again tomorrow for the race.
Gasly and Ocon didn’t have the best race, they started in the top 10 and finished 11th and 12th…
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