Max Verstappen dominated 2023 Austrian Sprint Qualifying and race to extend his title lead.
Having already secured pole for the Grand Prix, Verstappen proceeded to dominate a wet-to-dry Sprint Qualifying from which he comfortably clinched victory in the Sprint Race to extend his title lead slightly.
Sprint Saturday though proved a nightmare for Mercedes with early Sprint Qualifying eliminations but they benefitted from a wet-to-dry race to snatch a positive result, despite losing ground in their fight against Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in the fight for third in the drivers’ standings.
Now, here is a full roundup of Sprint Qualifying and the Sprint Race at Red Bull Ring.
Sprint Qualifying
SQ1
Damp conditions greeted the grid following overnight rain but a dry line had emerged during the preceding F3 Sprint, meaning that everyone opted for a mixture of soft and medium slick tyres except for Williams’ Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon who opted for wet tyres.
Sargeant and Albon however pitted for slick tyres at the end of their outlap whilst Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz suffered a brake-by-wire failure as Russell set the benchmark time of 1m 10.819 on soft tyres.
Track evolution on the drying track meanwhile saw several drivers go fastest throughout SQ1 from Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen and even Lando Norris.
The elimination zone at the halfway mark meanwhile compromised of; Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Guanyu Zhou, Sargeant and Sainz.
Gasly and Sainz though were able to survive as Zhou missed out on SQ2 to Charles Leclerc by just 0.001s, as he outqualified Piastri in 16th and 17th positions respectively.
Hamilton meanwhile qualified a shock 18th position after Verstappen impeded him and led to him tangling with Lance Stroll in traffic, which prevented him from making a late improvement as Bottas and Sargeant filled the last two grid slots in 19th and 20th respectively.
Sainz heroically topped SQ1 with a last-gasp flying lap as he posted 1m 06.187 at the checkered flag.
SQ2
Verstappen was first out on track and immediately set a benchmark time of 1m 05.624 on his first attempt as everyone opted for soft tyres.
Russell however was unable to participate in SQ2 due to a hydraulic issue which meant that he would start 15th on the grid, capping a disastrous Sprint Qualifying session for Mercedes.
Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg meanwhile headed the other four drivers in the elimination zone with five minutes left, with Tsunoda, Gasly and Nyck De Vries also at risk of elimination.
As the checkered flag fell, only Hulkenberg avoided being knocked out as he scraped through at the expense of Albon by just 0.061s, with Gasly qualified in 12th position ahead of Tsunoda and De Vries.
Verstappen topped SQ2 with 1m
SQ3
Verstappen and his Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez were first out on track on soft tyres, with the two-time champion setting the initial benchmark time of 1m 04.613 to go fastest from Norris and Perez, as Sainz and Hulkenberg opted for medium tyres which put them fourth and fifth respectively.
Once everyone completed their opening flying laps, Verstappen headed Norris, Perez and Sainz, as Leclerc went fifth-fastest on the soft tyre ahead of; Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Stroll.
Verstappen ultimately proceeded to secure pole position for the Sprint with 1m 04.440 ahead of Perez and Norris on the soft tyres.
Hulkenberg and Stroll meanwhile qualified fourth and eighth on medium tyres respectively, sandwiched by Sainz, Leclerc and Alonso who qualified fifth, sixth and seventh, whilst Ocon and Magnussen rounded out the top ten on soft tyres.
Post-session, Leclerc was handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Piastri in SQ1, which dropped him to ninth on the grid as a consequence.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 04.440 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.493 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.570 |
| 4 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.644 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.696 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.805 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.818 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.907 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.926 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.472 |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1m 06.152 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.208 |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.217 |
| 14 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 0.441 |
| 15 | George Russell | Mercedes | No Time |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 1m 07.062 |
| 17 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.044 |
| 18 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.220 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.229 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.364 |
Sprint Race
Following a period of dry conditions following the Sprint Qualifying, rain began to fall 30 minutes before the race with eveyone opting for intermediate tyres except for Bottas – as the Finnish driver opted to start on the medium tyres.
At lights out, Verstappen got a sluggish start and was overtaken by Perez on the inside of Turn 1 for the lead but fought back with a desperate late-braking lunge into Turn 3, which punted the Mexican wide and forced Norris to brake heavily which dropped the Brit from third to tenth position.
Hulkenberg benefitted from the melee to sneak through into second as Verstappen snatched the lead back and cruised to victory, whilst Hulkenberg was eventually displaced by Perez and Sainz on Laps 12 and 13 respectively.
Stroll held off Alonso for fifth as the Aston Martin pair held position until they caught up to Hulkenberg on Lap 17, with Stroll clearing the German into Turn 3 before Hulkenberg pitted a lap later after Russell triggered a series of pit stops for softs on Lap 16.
Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Stroll, Alonso, Ocon, Norris, Gasly and Bottas stayed out on intermediate tyres, with the top five all finishing as they were, whilst Ocon lost sixth to Hulkenberg on the penultimate lap.
Russell likewise got past Norris to claim the final point in eighth position ahead of his compatriot as Hamilton recovered to finish 10th from 18th on the grid.
In the driver standings, Verstappen extended his title lead over Perez slightly to 70 points whilst third-placed Alonso extended his lead over fourth-placed Hamilton to 19 points.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 24 | 3..m … |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 24 | + |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 24 | + |
| 4 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 24 | + |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 24 | + |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 24 | + |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 24 | + |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | 24 | + |
| 9 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 24 | + |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 24 | + |
| 11 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 24 | + |
| 12 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 24 | + |
| 13 | Alex Albon | Williams | 24 | + |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 24 | + |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 24 | + |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 24 | + |
| 17 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | 24 | + |
| 18 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 24 | + |
| 19 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 24 | + |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 24 | + |
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