F1 Sprint Austria 2022 race: Verstappen dominates, Sainz 3rd and Alonso does not start

Indisputable victory for Max Verstappen in the F1 Sprint race of the Austrian Grand Prix, which will allow him to start tomorrow from the first place on the grid in the main race and, in addition, he has added eight points for the championship. The Dutchman has beaten the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Max made a perfect start, shutting down Leclerc in the opening meters and keeping first place. Sainz, from third place, managed to overtake his teammate and managed to move up to second position to go for Verstappen, but it only lasted a few corners, as Leclerc managed to overtake him again.

Carlos kept the pressure on Leclerc for a few laps, and even tried to overtake the Monegasque, but was unsuccessful. The man from Madrid raised his foot and preferred to maintain third place without risking it. Behind him was George Russell with the Mercedes, who also failed to get close at any time.

While in the upper part of the grid the race was calm, with Verstappen first, Leclerc second and Sainz third until the end, the emotion was put by Sergio Pérez, who had started from thirteenth place due to his penalty after having exceeded the limits yesterday of the qualifying track. The Mexican completed a great race, climbing eight positions to fifth place.

Lewis Hamilton, who had started ninth, was also trying to come back and we saw him overtake his former teammate Valtteri Bottas and Mick Schumacher, whom it took him several laps to overtake. Ultimately, Lewis finished eighth and scored a point.

We did not have Fernando Alonso in the race, due to a mechanical problem in his Alpine A522. The French team left the blankets on the Spaniard’s tires before the formation lap and, when it started, they put him in the pit lane. They tried to get the car moving again, but it was not possible and it was withdrawn.

After 23 laps, Verstappen crossed the finish line in first position, followed 1.6 seconds behind by Leclerc and with Sainz third just over five seconds behind. George Russell, Sergio Pérez, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton also scored.

Tomorrow the starting grid for the Austrian GP will be formed based on today’s results, so Verstappen will start from first place, Carlos Sainz third and Fernando Alonso nineteenth due to retirement. He will only have Valtteri Bottas behind him, who has changed his engine.

While Verstappen dominated today and Red Bull has the better car here, tomorrow everything may change as there will be pit stops and other tire compounds at play, as well as different strategies.

The Austrian GP will start on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.