Round 11/24: Review of the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint Race

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Image Credits: www.motorsport.com

It was Max Verstappen who clinched victory in the sprint race at Austria, albeit with a good fight against the McLarens. Oscar Piastri beat Lando Norris to take P2 and McLaren probably let Verstappen get away as Piastri was a bit slower than Norris and couldn’t really attack Verstappen for the rest of the race. George Russell and Carlos Sainz rounded up the top five while Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez were the last point scorers.

All the drivers started on Mediums as the race was supposed to be for 24 laps but due to unsafe positioning of photographers at the end of turn 1, an extra formation lap was driven effectively reducing the race distance to 23 laps. Alex Albon had a change to his setup and started from the pit lane. The race in itself had three DRS zones which made overtaking slightly easier with tire degradation being very high.

At the start, Verstappen once again had a very good get away with Piastri right on the tail of Norris. Norris managed to shake him off and could attack for the lead by the end of lap 4. Leclerc on the other hand starting from P10 after an anti stall issue yesterday, had a very good start into turn 1 moving into P7 and into the points. Even in lap 5, all the drivers in the top 5 were still within the DRS range of each other and taking advantage of this Norris put in a late braking move to overtake Verstappen, only to make an error in the next corner allowing Verstappen to go past him through the inside line. Piastri took advantage of the scuffle ahead, overtaking Norris for P2.

Russell overtook Sainz in lap 8 with a good move over the outside in turn 4 while Hamilton, Leclerc were stuck within the DRS zones for most of the race without being able to proceed further. Norris though stuck at Piastri for the last few laps trying to overtake the Australian driver but Piastri could just bring it back home without losing position. All in all, it was a good race and promises to auger well for a good fight for the main race tomorrow.

POS DRIVER CAR TIME PTS
1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 26:41.389 8
2 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 4.616s 7
3 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 5.348s 6
4 George Russell MERCEDES 8.354s 5
5 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 9.989s 4
6 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 11.207s 3
7 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 13.424s 2
8 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 17.409s 1
9 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 24.067s -
10 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 30.175s -
11 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 30.839s -
12 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 31.308s -
13 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 35.452s -
14 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 38.423s -
15 Daniel Ricciardo RB HONDA RBPT 39.397s -
16 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 43.155s -
17 Logan Sargeant WILLIAMS MERCEDES 44.076s -
18 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 44.673s -
19 Valtteri Bottas KICK SAUBER FERRARI 46.511s -
20 Zhou Guyanu KICK SAUBER FERRARI +53.143s -

References

  1. Image Credits: www.motorsport.com
  2. Thumbnail Image Credits: www.motorsport.com
  3. Timing Sheet Credits: www.formula1.com