Max Verstappen gained time while Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc fought for second position. The Dutchman, in any case, had the upper hand in Austria
With no real threat, Max Verstappen led the Austrian GP sprint race from end to end. With the support of the 'orange sea' in the stands, the reigning champion was calm enough to finish the race 1s6 behind Charles Leclerc. Now he has eight more points to increase his championship lead - in total, he has 189 points.
After the race, the Dutchman praised the RB18's pace, although he also pointed out difficulties getting into the right tire window.
"It was a decent race. We had a good start at the beginning and after that we were very close. It was good, it was like a sprint race, pretty steady," he said.
"In the first few laps [the Ferraris] were also fighting each other, so I had a small gap. After that, I think we had a pretty similar pace. I think tomorrow will be an interesting battle again. The race will be much longer and more complicated with the tires," he added
Max's record in sprint races is excellent: he has won three of his five Formula 1 races in 2021 and 2022. "The car is good. There are some things to adjust, but overall we were very competitive again this weekend," he closed.
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).