Austrian F1 Sprint results: Verstappen dominates to win Sprint and qualify in pole for Grand Prix

Nathan Evans

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Austrian F1 Sprint results: Verstappen dominates to win Sprint and qualify in pole for Grand Prix image

Max Verstappen dominated the 2022 Austrian Sprint from start to finish as he claimed eight world championship points and the pole position for tomorrow's Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. 

After being put under heavy pressure in the opening couple of corners by Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Verstappen fought off the early challenge to win the second Sprint of the season, having also taken victory at the Emilia-Romagna

Leclerc and Sainz battled hard throughout to finish P2 and P3 respectively, ahead of Mercedes' George Russell who enjoyed a largely uneventful race to finish P4. 

Red Bull's Sergio Perez recovered from starting P13 on the grid to finish P5 thanks to a phenomenal performance which included some impressive overtakes, whilst Alpine's Esteban Ocon, Haas' Kevin Magnussen and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton rounded out the points positions. 

MORE: What is F1 Sprint? Schedule, points & how new Formula 1 qualifying format works

Austrian F1 Sprint results and Austrian Grand Prix starting line up

Due to the rules in place, this will be how the drivers also line up on the grid for tomorrow's Austrian Grand Prix. 

Position Driver Team Points
1. Max Verstappen Red Bull 8
2. Charles Leclerc Ferrari 7
3. Carlos Sainz Ferrari 6
4. George Russell Mercedes 5
5. Sergio Perez Red Bull 4
6. Esteban Ocon Alpine 3
7. Kevin Magnussen Haas 2
8. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1
9. Mick Schumacher  Haas 0
10. Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 0
11. Lando Norris McLaren 0
12. Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 0
13. Lance Stroll Aston Martin 0
14. Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 0
15. Lance Stroll Aston Martin 0
16. Pierre Gasly  AlphaTauri 0
17. Alex Albon Williams 0
18. Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 0
19. Nicholas Latifi Williams 0
20. Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 0

2022 Austrian F1 Sprint as it happened: commentary and highlights

RACE FINISH: Max Verstappen wins the 2022 Austrian Sprint to take home eight extra championship points and pole position for tomorrow's race!! 

Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finish P2 and P3 ahead of Mercedes' George Russell in P4 and Sergio Perez in P5. Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton round out the point-paying position. 

Lap 21: Hamilton finally moves up to P8 which would give him a point this afternoon. Verstappen still leads the way ahead of Leclerc, Sainz, Russell and Perez with two laps remaining. 

Lap 20: The battle between Hamilton and Schumacher continues as the German driver slams the door shut at turn four. This is fantastic defending from him! Bottas is now right behind the pair of them. 

Lap 17: Schumacher and Hamilton are having a fascinating battle here. The Brit is trying his hardest to get past the young German but Schumacher is parking his car in all the right places to fight him off at every corner. The Haas cars are proving to be very fast around this track this weekend. 

Lap 15: So it's Verstappen still out front. He has a 2.4 second gap to Leclerc though the Ferrari driver is closing the gap at a rapid rate. We have eight laps to go as one was used as an extra formation lap to start this race. 

Lap 13: The yellow flags are out in sector two as Albon understeers straight into the side of Vettel who is punted off into the gravel. The former world champion was having a great race up until then.

Ocon is Perez's next victim as the Red Bull man takes P5. What an unbelievable race he's having here! 

Lap 11: And now Perez is past Magnussen to take P6. What a recovery drive this is from the Mexican driver who started this race in P13. 

Lap 9: Hamilton overtakes old teammate Bottas in turn 3 as Albon receives a five second penalty for forcing Norris off the track at the same corner a few laps prior. Perez is up to P7 as he slips down the inside of Schumacher. 

Lap 6: Verstappen has already opened up a 2.5 second lead in this race as he looks to further stamp his mark on the driver's world championship this year. Leclerc and Sainz are fighting each other very hard behind which won't help their cause in chasing down the Dutch driver. 

Lap 3: Elsewhere on the grid, Hamilton and Gasly had a bump into turn one on the opening lap which saw the Frenchman's car jump into the air and spin out. Red Bull's Perez is already up to P8 from P13. 

RACE START: Verstappen comes under huge pressure from Leclerc at the start but just about keeps the lead. That compromised Leclerc's line into the first corner and Sainz jumps around his outside. The Spanish driver then tries to make a dive for the lead but like Leclerc before, compromises his line which lets his teammate back through to P2. 

Start aborted: And now the start has been aborted as Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo stops in the middle of the road due to an engine problem. What a chaotic start this is! The Chinese driver will now have to start from the pitlane alongside Alpine's Alonso. We'll have another formation lap. 

2 mins to lights out: The cars are all out on track to begin their formation lap ahead of the 2022 Austrian Sprint. Fernando Alonso is stuck with his car on its jack and the tyre blankets still on though, staggering stuff.. 

15 minutes to lights out: Another interesting aspect of this Sprint will be how the drivers manage their tyre wear around the Red Bull Ring. It looks like some of them with be going with the soft tyres from the start here which will of course give those runners the early advantage, though, those tyres could fall off a cliff towards the end of the action. 

Interestingly, Perelli - the official tyre provider for Formula One - have said that this afternoon's Sprint is right on the edge of what the soft tyres can achieve. Time will tell.. 

30 minutes to lights out: With just over 30 minutes left until we get this Sprint underway, let's recap a few of the key rules in place for this format of F1 racing.

The top eight drivers will receive points this afternoon with the winner taking eight valuable points, P2 seven points, P3 six and so on, whilst the drivers do not have to make a mandatory pitstop. The finishing positions of each driver in this Sprint will also determine how they'll line up on the grid for tomorrow's race. 

In essence, it's all about speed this afternoon so expect plenty of drama as the cars will be carrying less fuel onboard from the off due to the shorter amount of laps. 

45 minutes to lights out: Despite both crashing in the third qualifying session yesterday, Mercedes pair George Russell and Lewis Hamilton made it out of the garage earlier today for the second practice session. Both cars seemed to be working fine and with their improved pace over the past few races, both could really upset the top order during this Sprint, especially Russell who starts P4. 

max-verstappen-austria-red-bull
Red Bull Content Pool

1 hour to lights out: Welcome to The Sporting News' live coverage of the second Sprint session of the 2022 Formula 1 season, this time at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. 

Red Bull's Max Verstappen will start from pole position in the 2022 Austrian Sprint as he narrowly pipped Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to top spot in qualifying on Friday afternoon.

The Dutch driver finished just 0.029 seconds ahead of his championship rival to claim pole position for what should be another entertaining Sprint, the second of the season after Verstappen took the crown back in Italy earlier this season.

After his victory at the British Grand Prix last time out, Carlos Sainz will start P3 this afternoon, though Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez will start all the way down in P13 after having some of his qualifying laps deleted after the session due to his extension of the track limits. 

Elsewhere it proved a tough day for Mercedes, who arrive in Austria having closed the gap pace wise to Ferrari and Red Bull in recent weeks, as both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton ended the third qualifying session on Friday by crashing into the barriers. McLaren's Lando Norris was also forced to retire from the session due to a fault with his brakes.  

MORE: What is F1 Sprint? Schedule, points & how new Formula 1 qualifying format works

Austrian Sprint qualifying results

Grid Position

 Driver Team
1. Max Verstappen Red Bull
2. Charles Leclerc Ferrari
3. Carlos Sainz Ferrari
4. George Russell Mercedes
5. Esteban Ocon Alpine
6. Kevin Magnussen Haas
7. Mick Schumacher Haas
8. Fernando Alonso  Alpine
9. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
10. Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri
11. Alex Albon Williams
12. Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo
13. Sergio Perez Red Bull
14. Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri
15. Lando Norris McLaren
16 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren
17. Lance Stroll Aston Martin
18. Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo
19. Nicholas Latifi Williams
20 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin

How to watch the 2022 Austrian F1 Sprint 

  UK USA Canada Australia
Date July 9 July 9  July 9 July 9
Time 3.30 p.m. 10.30 a.m. ET 10.30 a.m. ET 9.30 p.m. AEST
TV channel Sky Sports F1 ESPN TSN FOX SPORTS

Nathan Evans

Nathan Evans Photo

A Sports Journalism Masters graduate, Nathan Evans joined The Sporting News in 2022 after working at Opta/Stats Perform for six years. He's an avid fan of Bradford City, FC Köln and the Pittsburgh Penguins.