Max Verstappen wins Austrian GP Sprint.
Max Verstappen won the sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix after fending off an early attack by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's McLarens.
Norris pushed Verstappen hard in the early laps before losing second position to Piastri as the Briton battled Red Bull for the lead on lap five. Norris returned to Piastri in the second half of the race, but was unable to get close enough to launch an attack.
The Australian led Norris in a McLaren two-three laps ahead of George Russell's Mercedes. Russell passed Carlos Sainz's Ferrari into Turn Four on lap eight, but teammate Lewis Hamilton was unable to follow him through and finished sixth.
After a mechanical failure in qualifying, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished seventh from tenth on the grid, with Red Bull's Sergio Perez finishing eighth. Verstappen led Norris, Piastri, Sainz, Russell, Hamilton, and Leclerc in the first half of the race, with the last three positions gained on the first lap.
The McLarens appear to be a threat behind Verstappen, with their pace in the first sector's slow corners and lengthy straights mitigated by the Red Bulls' sweeping faster corners in the second and third.
