The Austrian GP Sprint Chronicle
Max Verstappen fa 10. The Red Bull Dutchman achieved his tenth career win in a Sprint race at his team’s home ground, the Red Bull Ring. The 100 km in Austria were entertaining, especially in the opening laps, with a spectacular duel between the world champion himself and the McLarens of Lando Norris – who had managed to take the lead of the race for a moment, before being overtaken again – and Oscar Piastri.
I two drivers from the papaya team then competed for second positionwith the Australian who, after having outwitted his teammate by taking advantage of the duel with Verstappen, kept P2 until the checkered flag. Fourth place for George Russell, who preceded the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, the second silver arrow of Lewis Hamilton and the other red of Charles Leclerc. The Red Bull of Sergio Perez, eighth, completed the points zone. Alex Wurz interviewed the first three.
The words of the top-3
Max Verstappen (1°, Red Bull): “We started well but once you can use the DRS it’s very difficult to get out of the zone. It took a few laps, I had good battles but when I managed to get out of the DRS zone I did my race and things went better. McLaren has two cars that are going fast and so they were able to attack me. We had to fight to win the race. There are things we can do better for tomorrow. The race will be longer, yesIt will be interesting to see how this works will develop, also with tire management. Clipping weak point? Yes, but it is linked to DRS. Behind using DRS it is reduced. When I got away everything was fine. Battle tomorrow? I will try to manage, but we will have to look at the data of the others too”.
Oscar Piastri (2°, McLaren): “Happy? Yes and no. I had a better position than where I started, but from the second half of the race I didn’t have enough pace. I thought I had a chance to pass Max, but something was missing. There’s something to look at for qualifying and then for tomorrow, but we’re taking home a good haul of points compared to the other teams fighting with us. Overtaking Norris? I saw they were battling in front and I knew there would be an opportunity at the exit. I was hoping to stay ahead of both of them. I did my best: I wanted to pass Max the next lap, but I lacked the pace. I had to be patient.”
Lando Norris (3°, McLaren): “It was a good race between us. Especially at the beginning with Max I had fun. There are probably some things I could have done better during the battle. The pace of the car was strong towards the end of the race. It was also a good duel with Oscar, I tried to pass him but I didn’t have enough speed in the middle sector and I was losing there. Good race and good points for McLaren. Good job by the team, congratulations to Oscar for the result. More team play to beat Max? I don’t think so, the pace was good but not enough to beat Max. We fought properly, it wasn’t easy to pass. He had something more, but I’ll try again. When you get close the tyres heat up a lot and it’s difficult to take advantage of them. With Max I took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself, but then I messed up and left the door open like an amateur. These are things that can be improved on.”
