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Verstappen wins Sprint race, as Hamilton battles past Schumacher
Max Verstappen wins the sprint at Austria, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finishing in second and third respectively. It was a parctcularly perfect sprint from Verstappen as we've become acustomed to as the reigning world champion was fast enough to keep the Ferraris behind him.
Abandoned Start can't phase Verstappen.
Before we could even get underway we saw a couple incidents that prevented the start from getting underway as soon as possible. Fernando Alonso's Alpine had technical issues which meant he was left on the grid with tyre warmers and jacks on, as the team ran out of time, before retiring the car to the garage. As well as the Alfa Romeo of Zhou losing power causing the start to be aborted and a second formation lap to take place. Although the Chinese driver managed to restart the car and started from the pitlane.
Meanwhile, as we got underway Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton made contact in an incident which draws similarities to Zhou's incident last week at Silverstone, although the Frenchman's car didn't flip but was sent spinning.
The abandoned start didn't phase the defending world champion as Verstappen defended from both Ferraris at turn one and turn three respectively. Before powering away as the Ferraris continued to battle for the first 10 laps or so, which saw Sainz trying to get past his teammate, especially at turn three on lap six, and turn four on lap seven, the latter of which saw Leclerc shutting the door on Sainz and almost forcing him into the gravel.
Lewis and Schumacher battle
Perhaps the most interesting part of the race was the battle between the HAAS of Mick Schumacher and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton continued to try and find a way past the slowed HAAS who managed to defend brilliantly to the end when eventually the seven-time champion got past the German. It was a use of DRS from his teammate Kevin Magnussen which allowed Schumacher to hold off the Mercedes for so long, something which even allowed for Valterri Bottas to join the battle at the end, although he never managed to pass the German, as his ex-teammate did.
Perez's Charge
A great recovery from Sergio Perez saw the Mexican charge from 13th on the grid, up to fifth. His drive was highlighted by a spectacular overtake on Schumacher at turn 3.
Incidents for Alex Albon
The Thai driver saw two incidents in the sprint race, as he pushed Lando Norris wide resulting in a five-second penatly for the Williams driver. Before he made contact with Sebastian Vettel causing the Aston Martin to spin, which eventually caused the German to retire.