Posted: 14:32, July 9, 2022 | Updated: 21:17, July 9, 2022
Max Verstappen won Saturday’s sprint race to claim pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix. The Dutchman, who started at the front, cruised to victory after holding off a threat from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on the opening lap. Charles Leclerc finished second on 23 laps, although not before surviving some thrilling close encounters with Sainz, who finished third, in the other red car during laps six and seven. Max Verstappen took a comfortable victory in Saturday’s sprint race in Austria He was waving to traveling Dutch fans after completing his victory routine at the Red Bull Ring The two Ferraris battled for second place, with Leclerc coming out on top Sergio Perez, who was demoted to start 13th after going over the track limits in qualifying, drove well to secure fifth and drop 38 points behind his Red Bull team-mate Verstappen. Leclerc is 44 points behind. George Russell started and finished fourth, while his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton finished 8th, one place above where he started. But Hamilton’s race was more crowded than Russell’s: Lewis caught Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri and dropped to 11th. He soon clawed his way past Williams’ Alex Albon and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. He then dueled with Haas’ Mick Schumacher lap after lap until finally forcing his way past just before the end. Sergio Perez bounced back from a 13th place start as he moved up to fifth Lewis Hamilton was stuck behind Mick Schumacher for most of the race and finished eighth With points awarded to the top eight, the seven-time world champion scored a point. Hamilton got off to a low start after crashing his car into the tire barrier during qualifying on Friday. He had to use the spare chassis because the front right part of his car was destroyed on impact. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was sent to the gravel when Albon touched him mid-race. The German was reversing and running last when he was told to retire with car damage. Lando Norris finished 11th for McLaren, having started 15th. Follow Sportsmail’s live blog as the Formula 1 campaign continues with Saturday’s Sprint race ahead of Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
