Verstappen holds off McLarens to secure Austrian GP Sprint win
29th June 2024Max Verstappen has claimed his 10th career sprint race win withstanding the charge from the two McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Feature image credit: Red Bull Content Pool
The Dutchman’s 10th win extends his current record for sprint race wins of which only five drivers have won since its inception. Valtteri Bottas is second with two sprint wins followed by George Russell, Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri with one win a piece.
As the grid prepared to go racing, the entire field opted to use the medium compound tyres for the Sprint Race. However, the grid had to complete a second formation lap due to alleged safety concerns with photographers at turn 1.
Verstappen withstands McLarens charge
Following the double formation lap, Verstappen got a good start and led the pack into turn one with minimal challenge from the two McLarens behind. At the same time, Norris and Piastri cleanly filtered through the opening corner without contact.
For the first four laps, the top three order ran; Verstappen, Norris and Piastri in first, second and third respectively.
This order was shaken up on lap five as Norris made an ambitious lunge, on Verstappen, into the third corner. The move was successfully pulled off and Norris pulled away in the lead with DRS having passed the detection line behind the Dutchman.
However, Verstappen retaliated immediately down into Turn 4 as he darted down the inside to regain the race lead. As Verstappen forced Norris to the edge of the circuit, it allowed Piastri to go wheel-to-wheel with his teammate into turn six.
This inter-team battle was quickly won by the Australian driver who moved up to second whereas Norris had to yield to third.
From there on in, the top three order ran; Verstappen, Piastri and Norris from first to third until the chequered flag.
Read more Formula 1 here:
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- Pierre Gasly signs multi-year deal with Alpine
- F1 Austrian GP: The Weather Report
- F1 Rumour: Sargeant poised to jump over to IndyCar
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
