Four tests, four times first in Austria, at home Red Bull. It was in free practice and qualifying on Friday, and this Saturday in qualifying for the Sprint and in the short race: Max Verstappen continues to sweep the F1 World Championship, where he is not worried about a bad start, nor the rain, nor the puddles… The Dutchman bagged the 8 points of the second Sprint of the year at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. He was seconded on the podium by his neighbor Checo Pérez and the Spanish Carlos Sainz, third.
Wearing intermediate tires, with rain in the Austrian sky and the track soaked, Checo Pérez passed Verstappen at the exit on the inside of the curve, he fought wheel to wheel, but the privilege did not last long, since in the second corner the Mexican he went off the track through the loophole due to the difficulty keeping the car straight on the wet asphalt.
Verstappen took over the command he already had from pole position. Hülkenberg took second (he started fourth), Sainz fourth -gained one position- and Alonso remained in sixth at the start, behind Stroll.
The one who lost the most was Lando Norris, who went from third to 10th in a terrible start. The Englishman was behind Leclerc, who had been penalized with the loss of three places for impeding Piastri in the Sprint qualifying. That punishment favored Alonso moving up one box on the grid.
Carefully and without risk, trying to keep the cars on the line in rainy conditions, the movements were minimal. The greatest battle was between the aforementioned Norris and Leclerc for ninth place (in the Sprint they score up to 8th). They were also heating up in the battle for 12th place between Hamilton and Magnussen.
Verstappen, without a shadow to worry him, accumulated 9 seconds over Hülkenberg in the middle of the race, on lap 12/24. The Dutchman rode with pleasure setting the best laps in the race, while his teammate Pérez took the initiative to overtake the Haas, but it was not easy for him. He had to do it risking on the outside. He had his team leader 9.7 seconds away if he wanted to dispute the victory.
The next to take a step forward was Sainz, who worked for the podium, also overtaking Hülkenberg with some ease. He had Pérez at 2.3 seconds with 10 laps to go.
With the first three positions well defined, Verstappen-Pérez-Sainz, the excitement centered on the tire changes that began to rush with 6 laps to go, when realizing that the track was drying up. So the first 8, up to Gasly, kept on with intermediates, and the rest, the next 12, wore smooth tires (medium or soft). Hülkenberg was the first to give a surprise, beating Gasly in 9th place. He was the most advanced pilot with smooths. He was 8 seconds behind the lead with intermediates, Norris, with three laps to go. Would he get it?
But it is that Russell, Albon, Hamilton and Leclerc arrived like wolves, all with smooth ones. The young Englishman from Mercedes was the fastest driver on the track. But it would be difficult for the entire troop of smooth ones to reach those above. Victory was not in danger for Vestappen, who had 21 seconds ahead of Pérez with one lap to go. A superb beating in a race of only 23 laps.
Sainz remained in third place and Alonso, despite pressing Stroll, did not overtake him on the last lap and finished fifth, with which he grabbed four points.
