Charles Leclerc P2, Carlos Sainz P4 at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg

Yesterday’s Sprint delivered one of the races of the Formula 1 season so far as there were battles galore throughout the field. Max Verstappen may have won by 21 seconds, but he was also involved in a “tasty” first-lap battle with team-mate Sergio Perez. The Dutchman started on pole again today, but the MExican had to begin the Austrian Grand Prix down in P15 after a Q2 exit in Friday’s qualifying session, and instead the championship leader had the two Ferrari SF-23 cars of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz lining up behind him.

Max Verstappen led every lap of the last three Grands Prix and no other driver had led a lap since he passed Sergio Perez for the lead on lap 48 of the Miami GP on May 7. So could another driver end that streak today? The Dutchman got a poor start yesterday and another one could open the door for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to get a jump off the line.

Scuderia Ferrari’s last win came this time last year the Austrian Grand Prix, where Charles Leclerc overtook Max Verstappen three times on his way to victory. It was a day that saw Red Bull struggle with their tyres, which was a one-off, but the Maranello team was hoping to repeat their triumph from 12 months ago. Canada was very positive in terms of the pace they had in the race and Helmut Marko said Red Bull were “lucky” Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz started in the midfield. If the Ferrari drivers could stick, or even be ahead of Max Verstappen, after the opening laps, it would be game on.

The pit lane was open and the cars were heading out to make their reconnaissance laps to the grid.

It was a big task to ask for Scuderia Ferrari to keep up with the world championship leader, but if one of the red cars could get past Verstappen at the start, their ability to split strategy could make for an interesting afternoon at the Red Bull Ring.

A one minute silence took place after the death of Dilano van ‘t Hoff at Spa-Francorchamps yesterday.

Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!

No split strategies for Ferrari in the first part of the Austrian Grand Prix: both drivers started the race on new mediums. In fact, the majority of the field were starting on mediums, with Fernando Alonso the only member of the top 10 to opt for hards. Valtteri Bottas in P14 and Kevin Magnussen, who began from the pit lane, also started on hards.

It was interesting to see how that played out, with one and two-stop strategies both considered possible.

Max Verstappen unfortunately got a much better start than yesterday and saw off the Ferrari threat into Turn One. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc almost touched into Turn Three but the Dutchman kept the lead. Lewis Hamilton was up to fourth ahead of Lando Norris, the Mercedes man overtaking his compatriot at Turn One. Yuki Tsunoda took a trip through the gravel at Turn Four but it was a largely clean start in the midfield. We had a safety car even though Tsunoda got out of the gravel. Marshals were out clearing debris at Turn One so the Safety Car was taking the cars through the pit lane.

The debris was cleared so the safety car came in at the end of lap 3: Max Verstappen led the field away and opened up a gap to Charles. Lando Norris was chasing Lewis Hamilton for fourth place after the Mercedes driver got ahead at the start, while the Dutchman set the fastest lap of the race to get out of DRS range from the Ferrari of Charles.

Interestingly, Carlos Sainz looks faster than Charles Leclerc. He closed in on the brakes into Turn Three and the three DRS zones meant the Spaniard could stay within one second of his team-mate: “I think you can see it, I don’t need to let you know,” Carlos Sainz replied when asked about his pace. The Spanish driver was just 0.3s behind team-mate Charles Leclerc while Max Verstappen was 2.5s up the road from the lead Ferrari.

Sergio Perez did a huge divebomb on George Russell at Turn Three to get up to P11. The Mercedes came back though on the way down to Turn Four and the two cars went wheel to wheel, but the Red Bull was last on the brakes to make the move stick. Soon after, Nico Hulkenberg was the first driver to retire from this race: the German had an engine issue and parked his car up on the side of the track. Virtual Safety Car was called to help clear the car.

The VSC was still out and both Ferrari cars came in for fresh tyres, but neither Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz have a particularly quick stop and Hamilton and Norris got ahead of the Spaniard through those pit stops! “Guys come on, why we don’t stay out?” Carlos said over the team radio after losing out those two positions. Sainz used some of that anger though to make a move on Norris again to get back up to P5 ahead of the McLaren.

There was also a confirmation of a five second time penalty Hamilton for exceeding track limits too many times. He was fourth, ahead of a charging Carlos Sainz.

Carlos Sainz was making up for lost time as he made the move on Lewis Hamilton to take P4. The Ferrari got the move done into Turn One, Hamilton fought back down the straight and the two cars nearly touch as the Mercedes got slightly ahead again but Carlos outbraked Hamilton to seal the position. And then on the next lap he swallowed up Sergio Perez to get back into P3 where he was before his pit stop.

Max Verstappen pitted from the lead and it was a 2.3s stop for Red Bull. The Dutchman accelerated up the hill but came out behind the two Ferraris. Having pushed Carlos Sainz throughout the previous lap, Verstappen got the move done on the exit of Turn Three on lap 26 as the Red Bull got much better traction out of the corner. Charles Leclerc’s lead over Max Verstappen was 5.7s. Meanwhile Sergio Perez pitted and came back out in 10th.

Carlos Sainz was unfortunately the next driver to get a five-second penalty for track limits, just as Sergio Perez got past George Russell for the second time this afternoon. On lap 35/71, Max Verstappen retook the lead of the Austrian Grand Prix: the Monegasque defended well on the previous laps, but he got the move done on the entry to Turn Three. The Dutchman even initially backed out of the move to ensure he got DRS to then pull away from the Ferrari on the exit.

Lando Norris came into the pits from P4 to bolt on the hard tyres and reemerged in P8. George Russell also came in and back out in P10, while Lewis Hamilton was then the next driver to come in to get medium tyres and serve his time penalty.

Straight out of the pit lane, Carlos Sainz got onto the back of Norris and made a brilliant move around the outside of the McLaren driver at Turn Four. Charles Leclerc pitted from P2 and it was a 2.5s stop by Ferrari and he re-emerged in P3 with the two Red Bulls ahead of him but both needing to pit again. The Monegasque was on the hard tyres for the remainder of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez pitted a lap later than his team-mate from P2. He re-emerged in P5 and had about 11 seconds to make up if he was to finish in P2 from P15 on the grid. Lando Norris was four seconds up the road in fourth with Carlos Sainz just over a further half second up the road in the final podium position at this stage. The Spaniard asked his engineer to tell him if Norris dropped out of DRS range. It was not happened and the pair were about to be joined by a flying Perez, who set the fastest lap of the race. All drivers were on hard tyres, but Sergio Perez’s rubber is much fresher.

Sensational racing between Sainz and Perez: the Mexican thought he had P3 at Turn Three with a late move but Carlos got the DRS and got back past the Mexican on the run down to Turn Four. The pair went wheel to wheel through the next few corners and the Ferrari just remained ahead. That Red Bull was just unmatchable and Perez got DRS on the run down to Turn Four and got by in the braking zone. He ran a little wide but just held on before Turn Five. That was a superb battle in the last five laps for third place.

Max Verstappen was on the radio wanting to box for new tyres to have a fastest lap bid. And he was coming in! Red Bull did not make a mistake: soft tyres bolted on in 2.3 seconds and he re-emerged 3.6 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc

Max Verstappen therefore wins the Austrian GP. He did indeed pick up the fastest lap on the final lap as he came home to win in Austria once again. Charles Leclerc came home second for only Ferrari’s second podium of the season, while Sergio Perez completed the podium with a fine drive from P15 to P3. Carlos Sainz finished fourth place on a positive afternoon for the Maranello team, which proved to be the best of the rest.