Check drivers' statements after the F1 2022 Austrian GP sprint race

The sprint race in Austria, home of Red Bull, had Max Verstappen as its big winner on Saturday (9). The reigning world champion kept the lead at the start and was not disturbed to add eight more points in the championship and open a margin at the top of the 2022 Formula 1 season.

Ferrari completed the podium with Charles Leclerc in second and Carlos Sainz in third, in an unpleasant atmosphere between the two. In fourth place was Mercedes' George Russell.

In fifth was Sergio Pérez, after a great recovery from 13th place. In sixth, Alpine's Esteban Ocon was ahead of Haas' Kevin Magnussen.

In eighth place, Lewis Hamilton fought wheel-to-wheel with Mick Schumacher, who finished in second. Completing the top-10 was Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas.

GRANDE PRÊMIO follows LIVE and INREAL TIME all the activities of theAustrian GP weekend. On Sunday, the start is scheduled for 10:00 am (GMT-3).

Check out everything that was said by the drivers after the sprint race in Austria:

Max Verstappen, winner: Verstappen sees advantage in Ferrari's internal sprint contest and celebrates "decent race"

Charles Leclerc, 2nd: Leclerc presses on and calls for Ferrari collaboration in fight with Verstappen in Austria

Carlos Sainz, 3rd: Sainz refuses to avoid duel with Leclerc in the Austrian GP: "We are both in the fight"

George Russell, 4th: Russell celebrates points in Austria, but admits surprise at "0s5 slower per lap" pace

Sergio Pérez, 5th: Pérez celebrates recovery in the sprint and sees podium as "goal" in Austria

Esteban Ocon, 6th: Ocon celebrates 6th place in Austria, but admits distance to "fast" Mercedes

Kevin Magnussen, 7th: Schumacher regrets 9th place, but hails "surprising" battle with Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton, 8th: Hamilton criticizes Gasly after touch at the start: "I don't understand why I would do that

Mick Schumacher, 9th : Schumacher regrets 9th place, but hails "surprising" battle with Hamilton

Valtteri Bottas, 10th: "It was a good drive with some good battles, but we couldn't get above that - it's a shame that the points dropped to only eighth! We struggled a bit at the start with a small engine problem but in the end we were better than Haas, although we were still a bit slow on the straights. Tomorrow should be a completely different day, it will be a longer race, but I'm confident we can make up ground. The pace is there and I think we can get to the points."

Lando Norris, 11th: "It was a positive day overall, we advanced some positions, but it wasn't easy. I had to use the tires a lot in the first part of the race and they went down in performance from the middle of the race on. Other than that, I'm happy with the result. We did exactly what we wanted to do.

Daniel Ricciardo, 12th: "There are certainly some positives to celebrate. We moved forward and had a bit more pace than some of the cars in front as well. Even though it's a pretty complicated weekend, I would say it was one of our best sessions. Obviously, we will try to get into the points tomorrow. I think if we had a few more laps today, we would have a chance to be in the top 10. Then, with a longer race, we may have more chances to score. Our opponents will try to improve overnight, so we still have to find something new in the car, but it was more encouraging and we are looking forward to tomorrow."

Lance Stroll, 13th: "We had a good sprint race today. With a soft compound, we gained some early positions, but then we got stuck in a DRS train. It's hard to make progress given how close we are to the grid and the way the soft fell at the end. We will gain a grid position for tomorrow's GP due to [Valtteri] Bottas' penalty, so we are closer to the points. We are assimilating this new package better as well, especially after a strong practice session earlier today."

Guanyu Zhou, 14th: "At the end of the presentation lap, just before the last corner, my engine went out of nowhere, it was very strange and the first time it happened to me. With that, I had to do the whole shutdown procedure, and that took a little longer, but fortunately, we were able to start. Also, the race was very nice for me, it was a good recovery after the accident last week, I was able to attack with confidence and move up the grid. We showed a very strong pace overall and I'm very happy with the performance of the car today. I like my starting position for tomorrow, it's what we wanted after qualifying. We need to understand what happened today on the opening lap, but I'm confident for tomorrow, I think we have good chances to fight for points."

Pierre Gasly, 15th: "I'm extremely disappointed, we started the sprint race in the top-10 and before the first corner it was over. I really don't know what happened, I need to review it later, but I was next to Lewis and suddenly I was facing the wrong way on the race track. The left side of the car broke after that, so it was horrible to drive for the rest of the race. Tomorrow will be a long race, so we need to go out tonight and see what we can do going forward."

Alexander Albon, 16th: "We made a good start, but we had to avoid an accident, so we lost some positions, which was frustrating. The wind changed a lot, which didn't help us. We were better when we had a clean track, but we know what we can do to improve our performance in the race. I feel that the punishment I took was harsh, after all, I'm braking in a sensible place and I wasn't trying to push anyone, I'm moving as far away as I can. But I feel that when you put yourself on the outside with a car with limitations, you are putting yourself at risk. It's a shame because we lost some places with that penalty. It was a tough race for us today, but we will fight tomorrow and hopefully come back stronger."

Yuki Tsunoda, 17th: "What a tough day! I had absolutely no pace on my side, it was a different level compared to the others, the car was very slow. There was a lack of grip in general and we had an unpredictable balance throughout the weekend, we analyzed the data and so far we can't find a problem, so we need to go away and investigate this further."

Nicholas Latifi, 18th: "It was not the result we wanted today. I felt that after the second lap the tire could be a problem. However, we made the decision as a team to try and test this compound. It wasn't bad in practice, but we need to understand why it didn't work so well in the Sprint. We had nothing to lose, so we will reset and see what we can do tomorrow."

Sebastian Vettel, 19th: Vettel sees Albon "a bit optimistic" on crash that cost sprint race in Austria

Fernando Alonso, 20th: Alonso laments Alpine's reliability in 2022: "We lost 50 or 60 points"