Sprint race: Verstappen wins ahead of belligerent Ferraris

Once again, the Oranje stand roared like a mad lion. Like the day before in qualifying where he was looking for pole position, the darling of the house Max Verstappen hit the nail on the head by winning the Sprint race and the eight points that go with it on the Red Bull Spielberg Ring. The Dutchman managed his Saturday perfectly by maintaining the two drivers Ferrari at a respectable distance, at the end of the twenty-three laps of the race.

However, it is Charles Leclerc who had the best start among the four leaders. The Monegasque in fact forced Verstappen to cross the track to prevent him from taking the inside line, which allowed Sainz to take advantage of it to pass his teammate to T1. The Spaniard then went to attack the Batavian at turn 3, but he missed braking and saw Leclerc take second place from him in T4, a few meters further.

Verstappen left alone by the Ferraris

Ferrari wanted to fight with Verstappen? They did nothing other than fight among themselves, with Charles Leclerc quite aggressive in defense, while he seemed to want to save his tires at the start of the race. Sainz in fact attacked his teammate several times at turns 3 and 4, but he systematically faced Leclerc who closed all the doors, sometimes even if it meant defending himself at the limit. The No. 55 then ended up giving up and settling for third position.

Starting in 13th position following his penalty received on Friday in qualifying, Sergio Perez moved up eight positions to take the points for 5th place, behind George Russell and ahead of a Esteban Ocon who was able to maintain his position (6th). Bad luck on the other hand for his teammate Fernando Alonso, who did not take part in the race at all. When he left, his car never wanted to start, even though the electric blankets were still on all four tires. He will start on the last line on Sunday during the Grand Prix (15 p.m.). 

Guanyu-Zhou saw his engine die during the formation lap, but had to start from the pit lane. The Chinese managed to move up to 14th place, ahead of a Pierre Gasly definitely unhappy in the sprint race. The Normand was caught in an incident at the first corner with Lewis Hamilton, but was finally able to restart to finish 15th and limit the damage. The Briton returned to the top 10 (9th) after having struggled for a long time Mick Schumacher (10e). Sebastian Vettel lost big after being pushed off the track by Alex Albon, who quite logically received a five-second penalty. 

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