Verstappen won qualifying on Friday night, in a session that saw both Mercedes crash in Q3, after which Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez dropped to P13 on the grid for this Sprint. This new Sprint format for 2022 awards points to the top eight instead of the top three. Yellow flags came out on the formation lap when Fernando Alonso’s Alpine failed to clear the grid – forcing him to retire from the race – before Zhou Guanyu’s short stop in the final corner approaching the grid prompted a second formation lap and forced the driver of Alfa Romeo start from the pits. The other 18 cars navigated through a haze of orange smoke to eventually start a 23 rather than 24 lap sprint. The top 10 started with medium tires, only four drivers have chosen softs. From pole, Verstappen enjoyed a fast start and closed the door on Leclerc, who attempted a right-hand pass – briefly handing Sainz P2 at his team-mate’s expense before the Monegasque hit back. Sainz and Leclerc went at it again on lap 6, with Verstappen extending his lead to well over two seconds, Sainz’z trying to pass in turns 2 and 3 on the next lap closed by Leclerc’s tough defending. The British GP winner dropped back and soon Leclerc created a gap from his teammate. Verstappen would continue to lead comfortably and eventually beat Leclerc by 1.6 seconds, who started to close at the end. 1 Max Verstappen VER Red Bull Racing 26:30.059 8 2 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari +1.675s 7 3 Carlos Sainz SAI Ferrari +5.644s 6 4 George Russell RUS Mercedes +13.429s 5 5 Sergio Perez 3 Racing PER 8 Red Bull. George Russell started and finished fourth for Mercedes, while Perez struggled from 13th to fifth, the Mexican gaining five places in the first six laps, the next two from the Haas drivers on lap 10 and another from Esteban Ocon of Alpine on lap 12 – although Russell proved too far to catch. With the Haas pair keeping Lewis Hamilton at bay for much of the race, Ocon finished a comfortable sixth. Hamilton, who spun at Turn 1 and hit the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly (P15) in a spin, returned to the top 10 and spent the second half of the race tracking the Haas pair, his attempts to pass to no avail. until he finally overtook Mick Schumacher at Turn 4 on the 22nd lap. The seven-time champion was unable to catch Kevin Magnussen, the Dane finishing seventh and ahead of the Silver Arrow. Valtteri Bottas passed for P9 from Hamilton early on and caught up when the Haas drivers halted Mercedes’ progress, but ended up 10th overall for Alfa Romeo behind Schumacher. Sprint highlights: Austrian Grand Prix 2022
After a difficult qualifying session, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo made it to the top 10 of the Sprint, with the Briton finishing ahead of his Australian team-mate despite running out in an earlier attempt to pass Alex Albon. The Williams driver was handed a five-second penalty for forcing Norris off the track on lap 4, finishing 13th at the flag but dropping to P16 in favor of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (P13) and Zhou (P14) in the Alfa Romeo. . Gasly finished behind Albon but was promoted to P15 at the flag, with Yuki Tsunoda finishing P17 in a difficult day for AlphaTauri. Sebastian Vettel was the second retiree to be hit by Albon at Turn 6, which left him last – the Aston Martin brought him to the pits for a late exit with car damage. With the Sprint win, Verstappen starts P1 for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix as he hopes to sweep the weekend and keep the raucous Red Bull Ring crowd on their feet.

Key quote

“It was great to see [the fans] – a lot of smoke at the end with all the orange, but it was ok. I think a decent race, we had a good pace from the start and I think after that we were very close. So it was good. It was like a Sprint had to go. Pretty level!” said Sprint winner Verstappen. “Of course [the Ferraris] we were also racing a bit, so I had a little gap, and after that, we were pretty similar in pace. So I’m looking forward to tomorrow, it will be a very interesting battle again. Of course the race tomorrow will be much longer, so it will be difficult on the tyres.”

Key moment

Sergio Perez’s stunning start was the key moment as, from 13th on the grid, he starts fifth for the Sprint and now has the chance to help team-mate Max Verstappen at the front – or perhaps even take the lead from his teammate…

The biggest mobiles

Alonso was due to start eighth for the Sprint, but his DNF – a DNS, really – puts him 20th for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Albon and Gasly lost six places each on a difficult Saturday. Ricciardo and Norris came up four places each, but Perez amassed the most places, eight, as he shot from P13 grid slot (P12 after Alonso’s retirement) to P5 at the flag.

What’s next?

The Austrian Grand Prix starts at 15:00 local time on Sunday, with Verstappen set to lead after taking P1 in the Sprint and extending his lead in the drivers’ championship. Visit our RACE HUB to see when and where you can watch Sunday’s action. Click here to subscribe to F1 TV for enhanced race coverage, exclusive broadcasts, archive videos and more