In the recent sprint of the Austrian Grand Prix, McLaren missed another opportunity to prevent Max Verstappen from winning in Formula 1. Instead, McLaren drivers found themselves involved in a battle with each other. Despite an initial lead created by Verstappen, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were able to catch up to him once the DRS system came into operation. Norris made several attempts to overtake, successfully executing a bold maneuver at turn 3 on the fifth lap. However, Norris couldn’t completely close the door on Verstappen, who promptly retaliated and regained the lead at the following turn 4. Piastri took advantage of the situation and secured second place by overtaking Norris at the fast turn 6. While Piastri couldn’t keep up with Verstappen, he successfully defended his position against his teammate Norris. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz initially climbed to fourth place in his Ferrari but was overtaken by Mercedes’ George Russell, who then successfully defended his position against Sainz and Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes. Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc managed to improve his frustrating starting position of 10th and finished seventh, comfortably ahead of Sergio Perez in the disappointing second Red Bull, who finished eighth. Representing Alpine, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly dropped from their top ten qualifying positions and finished 11th and 12th respectively, behind Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. Stroll finished six positions ahead of his teammate Fernando Alonso, who lost two positions in a single incident when Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg pushed him off at the turn, allowing Daniel Ricciardo’s RB to also pass him.
