The second sprint weekend of the season at the Red Bull Ring saw different winners on Saturday and Sunday with Charles Leclerc passing sprint race winner Max Verstappen three times on his way to claiming his first grand prix victory since Australia back in April.
With three major competitive sessions across all three days, drivers could not afford to be anything other than on the top of their game throughout the weekend.
The sprint race allowed opportunities for some who made mistakes in Friday’s qualifying session to have a second chance at a better grid slot for Sunday’s grand prix, but it also saw others nearly have their weekends ruined by misfortune in the sprint race.
Here are the RaceFans driver ratings for the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix:
Lewis Hamilton – 6
Qualified: 9th (-5 places behind team mate)
+7.720s slower than team mate in Q3 (crashed)
Sprint race: 8th (-4 places behind team mate)
Finished: 3rd (-1 place ahead of team mate)
- Crashed out of Q3 after losing control of his car entering turn seven, meaning he would start sprint race in ninth
- Dropped two places at start of sprint race after contact with Gasly at the start
- Overtook Albon, Bottas and Schumacher to secure eighth on the grid
- Gained one place at the start of grand prix by virtue of Perez being sent spinning at turn four
- Lost a place to Schumacher after mistake at turn one on lap four, but gained it back ten laps later
- Overtook Magnussen into turn four for fourth place, then passed by Verstappen who had recently pitted
- Brought into the pits on lap 28 for hard tyres, resuming in fifth place and immediately passing Ocon
- Received a black-and-white warning flag from stewards for exceeding track limits three times
- Ran in fourth during middle stint, too fast for Ocon behind but unable to gain on leaders ahead
- Pitted a second time on lap 51 for a second set of hards, retaining fourth place
- Inherited third place when Sainz retired
- Ran a lonely final stint, taking the final spot on the podium over 40 seconds behind winner Leclerc
George Russell – 6
Qualified: 4th (+5 places ahead of team mate)
-7.720s faster than team mate in Q3 (crashed)
Sprint race: 4th (+4 places ahead of team mate)
Finished: 4th (+1 place behind team mate)
- Fortunate to hold onto fourth place in qualifying after crashing out of Q3 at the final corner
- Held fourth off the line in the sprint race but fell back gradually from leaders to take fourth on grand prix grid
- Got alongside Sainz…
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