Verstappen overcomes tussle with Checo Perez to ease to victory in wet Austrian sprint
The 2023 Austrian Grand Prix has been perfect so far for Max Verstappen, who was first in qualifying on Friday, first in the sprint shootout on Saturday morning and then he won the sprint race at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday afternoon.
The Dutchman had a slower start than teammate Sergio Perez, who initially took the lead as the two Red Bulls almost came together, but Verstappen moved back ahead by Turn Four and drove off to victory in the wet conditions.
Sergio Perez will drive his RB7 through the streets of Madrid
"It was a little bit of a hairy moment out of Turn 1, but from there onwards we just did our race," Verstappen stated afterwards, while Perez claimed he was suffering from poor visibility when almost clipping his teammate.
Haas' Nico Hulkenberg temporarily moved into second ahead of Perez, capitalising on the duel between the two Red Bulls, but his car didn't have the pace and he eventually dropped down the field.
Still, Hulkenberg did pick up three world championship points by finishing sixth.
Ahead of him were Carlos Sainz and then the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, while the other two points positions were taken by Esteban Ocon and George Russell, who had a photo finish as there was just 0.009 seconds difference.
Focus turns to the main Austrian Grand Prix race
Now, the focus will be on Sunday's main Austrian Grand Prix race, where the starting grid will be determined by Friday's qualifying session.
As was the case on Saturday, it'll be Verstappen once again starting on pole.
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