Verstappen wins 2022 Austrian GP sprint race ahead of squabbling Ferraris

Max Verstappen led from start to finish to win the Austrian Grand Prix sprint race, the top grid spot for Sunday’s race and another eight points in the world championship.

The Red Bull driver quickly built a gap as the two Ferraris behind squabbled for second place. Charles Leclerc came out on top of that battle but never got close enough to threaten the leader.

Lewis Hamilton’s attempt to make amends for his qualifying crash took a literal hit when he made contact with Pierre Gasly at the start and dropped to 11th as the AlphaTauri spun off.

Hamilton spent most of the shortened 23-lap race stuck behind the two Haas cars running in seventh and eighth.

Sergio Perez had much more luck from his 13th place grid slot, where he was demoted after his best Q2 lap was deleted after yesterday’s qualifying session. He hauled himself up to fifth, where he will start the Grand Prix.

Going in the opposite direction was Fernando Alonso, who never started the race due to a fault, and Sebastian Vettel who slid into the gravel after making contact with Alex Albon as he tried to overtake the Williams.

After a miserable Friday, both McLarens made progress, ending the race 11th and 12th.

All but Williams and Aston Martin, which fitted their cars with soft tyres, chose to start the sprint race on mediums, there was a delay before the action began.

First, Alonso remained on the grid with tyre blankets still on, unable to start the car. Then they processed round a second time when Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo cut out just as he approached his grid slot.

It was terminal for Alonso, and a blow after Alpine arrived in Austria confident; Alonso qualifying eight, behind fifth-placed team-mate Ocon.

Zhou lined up from the pitlane but that wasn’t quite the end of the story: a number of drivers were summoned after the race for receiving messages during the formation laps when drivers must not be aided.

However, with the race distance reduced to 23 laps from 24, the lights finally went out.

Verstappen led from Leclerc on lap 1, blocking the Ferrari from the inside of Turn 1, which gave Carlos Sainz a run around the outside and into second place.

The emboldened Spaniard then took aim at Verstappen, lining up around the outside of Turn 3, but this only made himself vulnerable to Leclerc who cautiously pointed his nose up the inside.

Sainz successfully defended, but Leclerc got his slipstream on the run to Turn 4 and dived up the inside with more conviction.

Further back, ninth-starting Hamilton had been caught between Gasly on the right and Albon on the left at the start. Once more, Mercedes and AlphaTauri rubbed on the grid. At the British Grand Prix, that resulted in George Russell sliding into Zhou with dramatic effect. This time Gasly spun off and Hamilton dropped to 11th.

He soon got past Albon, who had started quickly on soft tyres from 11th, but was falling back. On lap 4, he was caught by Lando Norris who tried to get past on the outside of Turn 3 but was sent bouncing along the kerb on the outside, a defence deemed too firm by stewards who later imposed a 5sec penalty.

Lelerc set the fastest lap of the race so far on lap 5 after allowing the gap to Verstappen to grow to 2.5sec. Behind him, Perez was already up to eighth. Ricciardo had climbed from 16th to 13th and Vettel was up from the back of the grid to 14th, helped by his soft tyres.