F1 results: Max Verstappen wins Austrian GP sprint
The Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Sergio Perez swapped the lead on the opening lap with some robust driving between the team-mates, each blaming the other.
But Verstappen got clear as Perez got trapped behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas for a dozen laps, and motored away to another dominant victory, with all the action happening behind as the track dried and some switched to slicks.
2023 F1 Austrian sprint results
How the 2023 F1 Austrian sprint unfolded
On a damp track, Perez took the lead at Turn 1 and then edged Verstappen onto the grass on the exit of the first corner. The Red Bulls then almost banged wheels at Turn 3 and Turn 5, allowing Hulkenberg up to second – behind Verstappen but in front of Perez.
Perez took until lap 12 to pass Hulkenberg for second but was already 10s behind Verstappen. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz passed Hulkenberg a lap later for third.
DRS was enabled on lap 17, which allowed the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso to pass Hulkenberg too – which led to Hulkenberg pitting for slicks, along with Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who’d both started from near the tail of the field.
Verstappen beat Perez by 21s, ahead of Sainz, the battling Stroll and Alonso, a fast-closing Hulkenberg (first home on slicks), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Russell (who crossed the line side by side), Lando Norris (McLaren) and Hamilton.
2023 F1 Austrian sprint fastest laps
What happened in sprint shootout qualifying?
This was the second weekend run to the latest sprint race weekend format, featuring the sprint shootout qualifying sessions.
Austrian Grand Prix sprint shootout results: Verstappen on pole from Perez
What happened in Austrian Grand Prix SQ1?
On a damp but drying track, times tumbled towards the end. Ferrari endured a wild session, with Sainz suffering a braking issue that cost him valuable track time but shooting to the top of the times with his first flying lap of 1m06.187s.
Meanwhile, Leclerc only just scraped through by 0.001s. But Mercedes suffered even worse, with Hamilton not making it through, after having a laptime deleted and then getting mixed-up with Verstappen, and Russell reporting a hydraulic failure.
Falling at the first hurdle were Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas (Alfa) and Logan Sargeant (Williams).
Austrian Grand Prix SQ1 results: Sainz fastest from Verstappen
What happened in Austrian Grand Prix SQ2?
Verstappen set the quickest time on his final lap of the session, a 1m05.371s that was 0.063s ahead of Sainz.
Knocked out at this point were Alex Albon (Williams), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri) and Russell (who was stranded in the pits).
Austrian Grand Prix SQ2 results: Verstappen fastest from Sainz
What happened in Austrian Grand Prix SQ3?
Verstappen had the luxury of two new sets of soft tyres and he rocketed to pole, first with a 1m04.613s and then a 1m04.440s. Team-mate Perez was almost half a second slower.
Norris was best of the rest, only 0.077s shy of Perez, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), Sainz (who ran out of new softs), Leclerc, the Aston Martins of Alonso and Stroll (who split their tyre strategy and got almost the same outcome), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas).
