Max Verstappen led the Sprint race from start to finish in Austria, while team-mate Sergio Perez made up eight places in what was a very tidy afternoon for Red Bull at their home race weekend.
Ferrari had both their drivers directly behind Verstappen from the start, but neither of them could get close to the Red Bull as it pulled away ahead of them. Instead, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were squabbling among themselves for second place, making life much easier for Verstappen.
George Russell kept hold of fourth while Perez made his way from 13th to fifth. There was no such improvement from Lewis Hamilton, though, as his Sprint was compromised when he was involved in a collision which sent Pierre Gasly into a spin at the first corner.
There was some confusion at the start, as the cars set off for the formation lap without Fernando Alonso. His Alpine team had left him still on his jacks and wearing the tyre blankets, and had to retire the car with a problem. And the whole pack did another slow lap after Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo switched off, forcing him to start the actual race from the pit lane.
And when the lights did go out, there was an immediate incident involving Hamilton as he was sandwiched between Alexander Albon and Gasly. The latter was the one who came off worst, though, as he made contact with the wheel of the Mercedes and was sent into a spin, forcing him to fall to the back of the pack.
Meanwhile, in the early stages Perez was making up for his grid penalty which had seen him dropped to 13th after exceeding track limits during qualifying. By the end of the 12th lap he was already up to fifth, a drive which included a particularly eye-catching overtake on Mick Schumacher at Turn 3.
Ahead of him, and falling further and further behind leader Verstappen, the two Ferraris were squabbling over second place – leading to both of them losing time. Sainz tried several times to poke past Leclerc, but the Monegasque was having none of it and was not shy about getting his elbows out to defend his place.
Albon was having a lively race, and incurred the wrath of the stewards early on when he ran Lando Norris off the road. He was slapped with a five-second time penalty for that move, and continued his rampage by understeering into the side of Sebastian Vettel – sending the Aston Martin into the gravel trap.
During the second half of the race there was little overtaking action, partly due to some of the gaps that had been opened up between cars. There may also have been some trepidation among teams, aware that the main race is still to come on Sunday and unwilling to risk a costly crash.
Hamilton was still trying his best to get past Schumacher, who was staying ahead courtesy of the DRS boost he was getting from team-mate Kevin Magnussen in front. The German defended successfully on several occasions, but eventually the Brit snatched eighth away, taking the final points place away from the Haas racer.
Full 2022 Austrian Grand Prix Sprint results
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
- Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
- Carlos Sainz – Ferrari
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Sergio Perez – Red Bull
- Esteban Ocon – Alpine
- Kevin Magnussen – Haas
- Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
- Mick Schumacher – Haas
- Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo
- Lando Norris – McLaren
- Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren
- Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
- Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo
- Pierre Gasly – AlphaTauri
- Alexander Albon – Williams
- Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
- Nicholas Latifi – Williams
- Sebastian Vettel – Aston Martin
DNS: Fernando Alonso
