Max Verstappen has won tonights sprint race, and henceforth qualified his Red Bull on pole for tomorrows Austrian Grand Prix. In front of a massive Orange Army at the Red Bull Ring, the Dutch driver led from start to finish ahead of the Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz respectively.
George Russell finished fourth in his Mercedes, one place ahead of Sergio Perez who charged through the field from his grid position of 13th to finish fifth.
Lewis Hamilton recovered after lap one contact with Pierre Gasly to come home in eighth.
As winner of the race Verstappen gains an extra eight championship points, with the remainder of the top eight receiving one less point than their predecessors.
The race was shortened by a lap after an extra formation lap was required due to Guanyu Zhou’s Alfa Romeo coming to a halt before making the grid. The Chinese driver managed to get his car restarted to start from pit lane.
Fernando Alonso was not as lucky, with mechanical difficulties forcing him to retire before the sprint.
Verstappen started well, as did Sainz, who managed to overtake his teammate Leclerc at turn one. There was a spin from Gasly in the midfield after contact with Hamilton, in an incident reminiscent to the start of Silverstone last week, albeit at a much slower pace.
Hamilton lost several places as a result of this contact and Gasly rejoined at the rear of the pack.
Alex Albon received a five second penalty for forcing Lando Norris off track, and was once again in the action not too much later when a racing incident sent Sebastian Vettel spinning into the gravel. This saw him relegated to 16th position.
Valtteri Bottas will start from last on the grid in tomorrows main event having taken a new power unit on board yesterday.