Max Verstappen made it two sprint victories out of two for the campaign at the Austrian Grand Prix to extend his World Championship lead to 38 points.
After brief early tussles with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, the Drivers’ title-holder had things all his own way to claim pole position for the grand prix as the Scuderia duo spent the middle laps battling each other.
As had been the case for the first sprint of the season at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Verstappen and Leclerc lined up first and second on the grid.
Fernando Alonso was meant to be lining up eighth but strangely, his car still had tyre blankets fitted as the field set off for the formation lap and the Alpine was moved into the pit lane – desperate news for the Spaniard, who had been optimistic of a bold show, as he was unable to get going at all.
Then came an aborted start as Zhou Guanyu’s engine temporaily cut out before he could reach the grid and while he was able to fire it up again, it meant another formation lap and the Alfa Romeo headed into the pit lane – although unlike Alonso, he was able to still take part.
At Imola, Verstappen had trailed his Ferrari rival for much of the sprint after losing out at the start but this time the Dutchman got away in front ahead of Sainz, who leapfrogged his team-mate into second, but those positions were swiftly reversed again as Leclerc took advantage of the Spaniard running a touch wide.
The perfect start from Verstappen, Sainz pulls a move on Leclerc, but Leclerc re-passes at Turn 4!#AustriaGP 🇦🇹 #F1Sprint
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) July 9, 2022
Pierre Gasly went off at the first corner after contact with Lewis Hamilton, the AlphaTauri hopping into the air before spinning, but although he fell to the back with only Zhou behind him, the Frenchman was able to continue.
Hamilton had fallen behind Alex Albon’s soft-tyred Williams but regained the place on lap four, back up to 10th where he had started after his Q3 crash. The seven-time former World Champion had switched to the spare Mercedes chassis due to the damage sustained.
Leclerc and Sainz were battling hard for second, getting dangerously close to contact as Verstappen cleared away at the front, happy for them to trip over each other. Another duo in close proximity were Albon and Lando Norris, with the Williams man incurring a five-second penalty for forcing the McLaren off the track.
Sergio Perez, who had been dropped nine places to 13th on the grid with a…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at News – PlanetF1…