29/06/2024
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's Sprint the air temperature is 27 degree C, while the track temperature is 40 degrees. It is bright, sunny and hot.
The lights go green and pole-man Verstappen is among the first out, along with the McLaren pair.
On his way to the grid, Ricciardo reports "pulling to the right", while Gasly reports "big vibrations".
Perez (seventh) and Leclerc (tenth) both out of position due to their various mishaps in the Shootout.
Having made changes to his car under parc ferme conditions, Albon is starting from the pitlane.
All are starting on the mediums, only the Stake pair on fresh rubber.
They head off on the formation lap, all getting away cleanly.
The grid forms.
They're away... or rather they're not, as the "extra formation lap" sign flashes, signalling that the start has been aborted.
They head off on the second formation lap...
The grid forms... again.
They're away! Verstappen leads as the McLaren battle one another for position. Sainz passes Russell for fourth.
At the end of Lap 1, it's: Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Sainz, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, Perez, Magnussen and Ocon. Great starts for Leclerc, Magnussen and Stroll, while the Alpine pair have both lost three places.
The McLaren pair trade fastest sectors, as thy put the pressure on Verstappen. The McLarens almost touch in Turn 3 as Norris makes a move on Verstappen.
On Lap 5, Norris goes through on the inside of Verstappen in Turn 3, but the Dutchman subsequently reclaims the position in Turn 4. Indeed, Norris loses second also as Piastri nails his teammate who leaves the door wide open.
As the three battle for the lead, Sainz and the Mercedes pair close in.
"I'm clipping way too much, it's ****," says Verstappen who is under relentless pressure.
Russell is all over Sainz, trying to force the Spaniard into a mistake, the Mercedes driver eventually nailing the Ferrari heading into Turn 4.
Down in 8th, Perez has dropped 2s behind Leclerc, while Hamilton ramps up the pressure on Sainz.
Up front, after 9 laps, Verstappen has a 1.1s lead, while Piastri is 1.7s clear of Norris.
Down in ninth, Magnussen heads a DRS train that effectively comprises the remainder of the field.
Following their poor start, the Alpine pair are battling for 11th, the two getting uncomfortably close on a number of occasions.
Having dropped 2s behind Verstappen, Piastri finds himself under pressure from his McLaren teammate.
Ricciardo passes Sargeant for 16th.
In ninth, Magnussen has dropped the 'train', as has Stroll, and as a result it is the battling Alpine pair lead the rest of the field.
Norris is warned that he's had his "second strike" for exceeding track limits in Turn 1.
Hulkenberg forces Alonso wide, the Spaniard losing out to Ricciardo also as his weekend goes from bad to worse.
Verstappen begins the final lap 4.2s ahead of Piastri, with Norris a further 0.77s behind.
The stewards have noted the Alonso incident, which will be investigated later.
Verstappen takes the flag, ahead of Piastri, Norris, Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc and Perez.
Magnussen is ninth, ahead of Stroll, Ocon, Gasly, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Alonso, Sargeant, Albon, Bottas and Zhou.
"A good race between us especially with Max at the beginning, it was good fun," says Norris. "Probably some things I definitely should have done a bit better in my battle.
"The pace of the car was very strong particularly at the end of the race," he adds.
"Yes and no," replies Piastri, when asked if he is happy with second. "Obviously finished one spot higher than I started but I didn't quite have the pace in the second half of that.
"I thought Max and Lando were going to pave the way for me to come through at one point but not quite," he laughs.
"Once the DRS opens it's very hard to get out of it," says Verstappen, "it took a few laps and a few exciting battles, but once we cleared the DRS I could do a bit more my own race.
"It looked a bit better but you could see they have two cars pushing flat out to make it difficult for me. We had to work for it in that race."
Check out our Saturday gallery from the Red Bull Ring here.