Verstappen resists early Perez challenge to win Austria sprint

Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix sprint after a fraught dice with teammate Sergio Perez on the first lap. Perez got the better start from second on the grid and used his position on the inside of the first turn to snatch the lead. But the …

Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix sprint after a fraught dice with teammate Sergio Perez on the first lap.

Perez got the better start from second on the grid and used his position on the inside of the first turn to snatch the lead. But the Mexican ran slightly deep and onto the wet exit curb, which cost him momentum. Verstappen cut underneath him on the run to the Turn 3, to which Perez responded by crowding him to the edge of the track, forcing him to dip his right wheels onto the grass.

Verstappen retaliated by braking very late down Perez’s inside into the uphill Turn 3. He only just made the corner, which had the useful side-effect of guiding Perez into the run-off zone, switching their positions.

Perez attempted to fight back by taking the racing line into Turn 4, but Verstappen again got his elbows out, holding him high in the corner to disrupt his momentum.

It was super-effective, allowing Nico Hulkenberg, who had started fourth, to slip through into second place and form a useful buffer between the warring teammates.

In the wet conditions the Haas’s presence was enough to give Verstappen a chance to make a break. By the time Perez found his way past on lap 12 Verstappen was already almost 10 seconds up the road. His victory was secure, and he crossed the line a thumping 21 seconds ahead of the pack.

But the incident with Perez hadn’t left his mind once he took the flag, and he radioed his displeasure on the cool-down lap.

“The exit of Turn 1 — that was not really nice,” he said. “That could’ve been a really big shunt, so we need to have a chat about that. That was not OK.”

He sought out his teammate in parc ferme, and the two were spotted debating their battle before the podium interviews.

“I think Max was angry that I went [to the edge of the track] into Turn 2, but I didn’t see him there. I just had a very bad Turn 1, so I tried to protect. Once I realized he was there, I opened up the door. It’s all fine. We just spoke about it.”

Perez eventually got past Hulkenberg courtesy of a better exit from Turn 4 that carried him around the outside of the German at Turn 5 and through into second at Turn 6.

Hulkenberg couldn’t cling to the podium places despite his fast start, with the Haas car’s chronic tire consumption problems hobbling his rear intermediates.

Sainz made easy work of him on lap 13 through Turn 4 and 5 to deprive him of third place, though the Ferrari driver couldn’t move any further up the order from there.

“I wish I could stay close to Checo, but the Red Bulls were just a bit too quick for us today,” he said.

Aston Martin teammates Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso dueled in the final laps of the sprint for fourth, with the Canadian scoring a rare victory over the Spaniard in the damp.

Hulkenberg secured sixth after a gutsy switch to medium tires on lap 17 of 24, following the lead of George Russell, who had stopped for slicks two laps earlier. It dropped him to 12th, but the dry tires were significantly faster than the wets once up to temperature, and he scythed his way back up into the points to make good on the strategy gamble.

Esteban Ocon remained on inters and was overwhelmed late by Hulkenberg and came close to being dropped to eighth by Russell, but a drag out of the last corner secured seventh by just 0.009s ahead of the Briton.

Lando Norris was unlucky to end up ninth, down from third on the grid, after getting balked by the battling Red Bull Racing drivers at Turn 3, dropping him to 10th.

Lewis Hamilton finished a racy 10th, up from 18th on the grid, after a sizzling first lap and well-timed stop for slicks, beating Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc.

Alex Albon had been running comfortably in the points but stopped late for slicks, on lap 18, which was too late to make the most of the fresh rubber. He finished a distant 13th ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly and AlphaTauri teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries.

Logan Sargeant finished 18th, and Alfa Romeo teammates Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas propped up the table in 19th and 20th.