The Dutchman Max Verstappen, from Red Bull, won this Saturday, without surprises, the second sprint race of the Formula 1 season, winning the race held in Spielberg, on the eve of the Austrian Grand Prix.
Red Bull, who competed ‘at home’, in his ‘ring’, even got the double, since the second best on the circuit was the Mexican Sergio Pérez.
The podium was completed by the Spaniard from Ferrari, Carlos Sainz, while Aston Martin secured fourth and fifth place, through the Canadian Lance Stroll and the Spanish Fernando Alonso.
The big fight of the day was between the two Red Bulls and right on the first lap: Pérez started overtaking Verstappen in the first corner, with the Dutchman lying on the grass. In the next corner, the positions changed again, with ‘Mad Max’ braking in the last one and thus managing to block the Mexican.
In the radio communications with the team, the ‘discomfort’ of both pilots for what happened became clear, with mutual recriminations.
Verstappen then packed up, pushing the lead to more than 20 seconds in this 24-lap race on a 4.318km circuit.
Pérez, winner of the first sprint race of the season, in Azerbaijan, and also of the only two Grands Prix that Verstappen did not win, seemed to be the only one capable of standing up to the Dutchman, but that ended up not being confirmed at all.
For the second time this year, after Baku, spectators had the right to see a sprint race, which also scores for the World Cup: the top eight add eight points to one here, in descending order.
This year, there will still be four more such events.
After the ‘top 5’, Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and George Russell (Mercedes) also entered the points. Outside of that table were already Lando Norris (McLaren) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), ninth and tenth, respectively.
The F1 World Cup continues on Sunday, with the Austrian Grand Prix, in which Verstappen, outstanding leader of the championship, starts at the front, after the ‘pole position’ won on Friday. It is the 26th of his career, sixth of the year and fourth in a row.
The Red Bull Ring is one of the iconic tracks of Max Verstappen, who won three Austrian Grands Prix and a Styrian Grand Prix there.
Source: TSF
