Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will start the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix from pole position, following victory in the Sprint.
Despite finishing third in the second Practice session behind Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, Verstappen enjoyed a dominant Sprint to clinch his third consecutive victory in a race held around the Red Bull Ring and extend his title lead, as well as ensuring he starts the main Grand Prix from pole position.
Leclerc and Sainz rounded out the top three whilst drama further behind ensured a competitive midfield grid for the main race, as some drivers progressed forward whilst others struggled.
Now here is a full roundup of second Practice and the Sprint plus full classifications.
Practice
Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas were first out on track but it was McLaren’s Lando Norris on soft tyres who set the initial pace of 1m 11.410, only to find 0.740 seconds on his second flier to go quicker.
Norris however was displaced by Charles Leclerc then Carlos Sainz on medium tyres, with Leclerc then finding time on his second flier to post 1m 09.620 only to be bettered by Verstappen who went top by 0.450s on soft tyres.
Verstappen proceeded to find time on his next two fliers as he eventually lowered his benchmark and led at the halfway mark of the session, with 1m 08.966 which he had set in the 13th minute.
Mercedes meanwhile were slow out of the blocks due to ongoing repair work after crashes in Qualifying for George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, with the former managing to get out 10 minutes into the session for an installation lap.
Up front, Verstappen posted 1m 08.799 in the 32nd minute on medium tyres to stay top but his time was eventually bettered as Sainz topped FP2 from Charles Leclerc by 0.050s, with Verstappen third on mediums ahead of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.
Due to the nature of FP2 this weekend effectively being a session for race preparation work, fastest laps were set on a mixture of medium and soft tyres, with the following nine drivers setting their best times on medium tyres: Verstappen, Alonso, Ocon, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, Alex Albon, Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda and Nicholas Latifi.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1m 08.610 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.050 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.168 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.222 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.238 |
| 6 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.569 |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.630 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.641 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.740 |
| 10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.909 |
| 11 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.915 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.969 |
| 13 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 0.992 |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.055 |
| 15 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 1.090 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.130 |
| 17 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.242 |
| 18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.350 |
| 19 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.305 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 1.651 |
Sprint
A dramatic start before the Sprint even got officially underway saw Fernando Alonso fail to start the formation lap, after his mechanics failed to fix an electrical issue and tyre blankets were left on his Alpine.
Guanyu Zhou then suddenly grinded to a halt out of Turn 10 at the conclusion of the formation lap, which led to an aborted start as he managed to get going again unaided but had to start from the pit lane as a consequence.
At lights out, Verstappen from pole covered off Leclerc to seize the lead from which he never looked back as he literally sprinted away to victory unchallenged, as Leclerc lost second to Sainz who swept round the outside of the opening corner.
Leclerc however fought back with an inside move at Turn 4 to secure second ahead of Sainz and George Russell.
Hamilton meanwhile lost two positions at the start after he clipped AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly into a spin at Turn 1, which left the Brit 11th and Gasly in 18th position as Perez meanwhile leapt up from 13th on the grid to eighth.
Perez however found himself frustrated by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher until he launched an late inside move on the latter at Turn 3 on Lap 9, before overtaking Magnussen a lap later followed by Ocon on Lap 12 to finish fifth.
Hamilton meanwhile mounted a recovery drive as he overtook Bottas on Lap 8 only to then find himself frustrated by Schumacher, until he managed to pass the German into Turn 3 on Lap 21 to secure the final point in eighth place.
Further down the order, Sebastian Vettel was spun by Alex Albon at Turn 6 on Lap 10 but continued before he eventually retired on Lap 22 with damage.
A power unit penalty for Bottas however means that he will start the Grand Prix from the back of the grid with everyone who finished from 11th downwards promoted a position on the grid.
In the driver standings, Verstappen extended his title lead over Perez up to 38 points with the Dutchman also confirmed as starting the Austrian GP from pole tomorrow (10 July).
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 23 | 26m 30.059 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 23 | + 1.675 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 23 | + 5.644 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 23 | + 13.429 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 23 | + 18.302 |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 23 | + 31.032 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 23 | + 34.539 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 23 | + 35.447 |
| 9 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 23 | + 37.163 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 23 | + 37.557 |
| 11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 23 | + 38.580 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 23 | + 39.738 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 23 | + 48.241 |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 23 | + 50.753 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 23 | + 52.125 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | 23 | + 52.412 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 23 | + 54.556 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 23 | + 68.694 |
| RET | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 21 | Damage |
| RET | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 0 | Electric |
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