Max Verstappen holds off Sergio Pérez to take the F1 Sprint in Austria

Qualifying for the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix is in the books, and it is Max Verstappen on pole yet again, ahead of the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr.

But today is a whole new day.

It is a sprint race weekend for Formula 1 this week, and under the new format, today is a “Sprint Saturday.” That means a stand-alone “Sprint Shootout” to set the grid, followed shortly thereafter by the F1 Sprint race itself.

Points are on the line, with the top eight finishers getting something to show for their efforts.

As we saw during qualifying on Friday for the Grand Prix, staying within track limits could be an issue for drivers during today’s “Sprint Shootout.” For example, Sergio Pérez failed to advance to Q3 after having his lap times deleted during Q2. As Verstappen noted following qualifying on Friday, sometimes you just have to survive and advance.

We will have you covered throughout “Sprint Saturday,” from qualifying through the Sprint race itself. So check back early and often for updates! Until then, you can take a look back at Friday’s qualifying for the Grand Prix, read over our storylines for the Austrian GP, and check out all the F1 coverage at SB Nation.

All updates are in Eastern.

Update 11:08: Verstappen and Pérez are having a little chat after climbing out of their respective RB19s. “Seems to be simmering down” is the description from the F1TV commentary box. But there are smiles, so maybe that post-sprint debrief will not be as frosty as expected.

Update 11:05: Verstappen comes across the line P1. Here is the top eight:

Verstappen
Pérez
Sainz
Stroll
Alonso
Hülkenberg
Ocon
Russell

Russell was just 0.009 seconds behind Ocon for P7.

Update 11:04: Instead of Russell catching Hülkenberg, the Haas driver is surging himself. He gets past both Ocon and Norris for P6.

Russell then gets past Norris for P8.

Update 11:03: Russell is closing, just four seconds behind Hülkenberg, but he is running out of laps.

Update 11:01: Russell is up to P9 with three laps to go, and he is 8.353 seconds behind Hülkenberg for P8. He may come away with just a single point, but it would still be one heck of a call.

Update 11:00: Hülkenberg is back in the points, in P8 on his set of mediums.

Update 10:57: Haas makes the gamble as well. Hülkenberg and Magnussen both come in for a set of mediums. That pulls Hülkenberg out of the points, as he rejoins the fight in P12.

Norris is in P8, but how long will he stay there on the inters.

Albon and Leclerc have come in as well. Russell is up to P10. This could end up a brilliant call for the Mercedes driver.

Update 10:56: DRS has been enabled, which could open things up a bit. Stroll gets by Hülkenberg for P4.

Russell is not along on the slicks, and Piastri comes in to make the same change. But Russell has posted the fastest first sector of the F1 Sprint race so far.

Update 10:55: Russell comes out of the pits with a set of softs, now in P20 but if it works, it could be a legendary call.

Update 10:53: Norris gets by Leclerc, something we thought was coming.

Russell rolls the dice, coming into the pits for a set of slicks.

Update 10:52: A “street brawl” is unfolding between Ocon/Leclerc/Norris, as described by the commentary box on F1TV. Leclerc looked to have the inside line for a moment against Ocon for P8, but the Alpine driver widens his elbows a bit, and holds on.

Meanwhile Albon riding in P7 is loving the street ball behind him as he stays in the points for now.

Update 10:51: Sainz gets by Hülkenberg for P3. As we have seen before with Haas, the one-lap pace is great, but the race pace, and tyre degradation issues, linger.

Update 10:50: Pérez finally gets by Hülkenberg. You knew it was coming.

Leclerc and Norris are locked in a fight for P9 at the moment, but it seems — similar to the Pérez/Hülkenberg situation — just a matter of time before the McLaren gets past the Ferrari.

Update 10:48: Hamilton gets by the Haas as well.

Pérez is just 0.401 seconds behind Hülkenberg.

Update 10:46: Pérez is reeling in Hülkenberg at the front of the field.

The Mercedes duo of Russell is reeling in Magnussen in the middle of the field. Russell passes the Haas driver, and Hamilton is lurking just behind Magnussen at the moment. Russell is in P11, Magnussen in P12, and Hamilton in P13.

Update 10:43: Verstappen extends his lead over Hülkenberg to 3.652 seconds.

F1TV replays the radio from both Verstappen and Pérez from their dust-up on Lap 1 and, let’s just say the post-sprint debrief might be a bit chilly.

Update 10:41: Fascinating battle shaping up between Ocon and Leclerc for P8. Ocon opened the door for Leclerc on Lap 5, but Leclerc could not complete the overtake and the Alpine driver holds onto P8 ... for the moment.

Update 10:40: Lap 4, here is the current top ten:

Verstappen
Hülkenberg
Pérez
Sainz
Stroll
Alonso
Albon
Ocon
Leclerc
Norris

As a reminder, the top eight come away with points in the F1 Sprint race.

Update 10:38: Verstappen has pulled away a bit, with a 1.685-second lead over Hülkenberg.

Update 10:35: Lap 1 concludes with Verstappen in P1 and Pérez in P3. Pérez had the lead out of the start and through Turn 1, but the duel between the two Red Bulls opened the door for the Haas driver.

Norris has slid back from P3 down to P10.

Update 10:31: Bottas indeed ducks into pit lane to make the switch to intermediates.

Update 10:31: 19 of the cars are out on intermediates.

The one who is not? Valtteri Bottas, who has a set of mediums.

The idea is that if the track dries out quickly enough, that might open the door for him to surge through the field from P19. But with Pérez locking up on the formation lap on a set of intermediates — and Bottas struggling to catch the field on the mediums — he might try and make a quick change before the start of the race.

Update 10:25: Lawrence Barretto’s pink coat on the F1TV pre-race show is fantastic. I want one.

Update 10:20: Christian Horner says on F1TV “this is where he should be” regarding Pérez starting up front alongside Verstappen.

Update 10:04: With the F1 Sprint under 30 minutes away, rain is falling at Red Bull Ring. Drivers are doing reconnaissance laps at the moment, with many of them on the intermediates given the wet conditions.

Update 10:02: With Leclerc’s penalty, here is the starting grid for the F1 Sprint:

Update 9:56: Leclerc, however, did not avoid a penalty. He was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Piastri during SQ1, as discussed below.

Update 9:54: Hülkenberg gets the photo of honor ahead of the F1 Sprint race. The Haas driver qualified in P4, and unlike the Canadian Grand Prix, where his P2 was taken away due to a penalty, Hülkenberg will start the race in P4 after avoiding a penalty for an “unsafe release” during SQ3. There was an awkward moment when Hülkenberg pulled away from his pit stall and ran over one of his own tires:

Haas was summoned to meet with race stewards following SQ3, but the stewards only imposed a fine, which is suspended as long as the team has no further incidents this season. Stewards were “impressed with the quality of the team investigations and report, and in particular, the corrective actions proposed to avoid a similar incident in the future:”

Update 6:52: That will do it for the Sprint Shootout. We will be back in a few hours for the Sprint race itself.

Update 6:48: Verstappen trackside notes that “you had to be on the track at the right time” given the improving conditions throughout the three qualifying sessions. “Today, let’s see over a stint how we will perform.”

“It’s quite difficult,” notes Verstappen on track limits.

Update 6:44: Verstappen looks to be locking up pole position for the F1 Sprint.

Checkered flag is out, but final laps are concluding. Hülkenberg goes into P4.

Pérez makes it a Red Bull front-row lockout, as he goes into P2.

Here is the top ten:

Verstappen
Pérez
Norris
Hülkenberg
Sainz
Leclerc
Alonso
Stroll
Ocon
Magnussen

Hülkenberg posted his lap on a set of mediums, which is rather impressive. Again, we see good one-lap pace from Haas. But the big question for Guenther Steiner and company is their race pace.

Update 6:40: Just eight minutes to work with here in SQ3. Times are coming in, and they are coming down from what we saw in SQ1 and SQ2. The early top five:

Verstappen
Norris
Pérez
Sainz
Hülkenberg

Both Sainz and Hülkenberg posted those on mediums.

Update 6:34: Thanks to his P3 finish in SQ2, Esteban Ocon gets the photo of honor for SQ3.

Update 6:31: Here is the top ten for SQ2:

Verstappen
Sainz
Ocon
Leclerc
Norris
Magnussen
Alonso
Pérez
Stroll
Hülkenberg

The teams with both drivers advancing to SQ3? Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Haas.

Update 6:30: Under pressure, Leclerc posts a lap that gets him into P4.

The eliminated drivers in SQ2 are as follows:

Albon
Gasly
Tsunoda
De Vries
Russell

Update 6:28: Two minutes remaining and since we do not get to say this too often, here is your current top five:

Ocon
Verstappen
Magnussen
Pérez
Sainz

Update 6:26: Mercedes announces that Russell will not run in SQ2, meaning he will start the F1 Sprint race in P15.

Update 6:24: With five minutes remaining, the current bottom five is as follows:

Hülkenberg
Gasly
Tsunoda
De Vries
Russell

Russell is still in the garage, having reported a hydraulic issue at the end of SQ1.

Update 6:23: Early times are in for SQ2. The current top five:

Verstappen
Norris
Ocon
Magnussen
Pérez

Times are still slower than what we saw yesterday.

Update 6:19: Here is the classification for SQ1:

Update 6:17: Sainz gets the photo of honor for SQ2 for delivering that lap late in SQ1 to not just advance, but to take the fastest time of the session.

Also, a shout-out to Nyck de Vries. The AlphaTauri rookie is under tremendous pressure at the moment, but his SQ1 performance sees him clock in at P8.

Update 6:16: Hamilton had a lap time deleted that would have been good enough to see him through to SQ2. Instead, he’ll be watching along with the rest of us.

Update 6:13: Sainz goes to the top of the timing sheets. A tremendous effort to salvage what was looking like a disaster.

He’s followed by Verstappen, Nico Hülkenberg, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso in the top five.

The biggest shocker? Lewis Hamilton comes in P18. Hamilton is out. Pérez is P14, Leclerc P15.

The five drivers eliminated:

Zhou Guanyu
Piastri
Hamilton
Bottas
Sargeant

Update 6:12: Norris is to the top of the table.

Leclerc will be investigated for potentially impeding Piastri:

Update 6:10: Concern at Ferrari. Sainz is still in the pits, and F1TV shows a clip of Oscar Piastri being held up by Charles Leclerc. Not only might Leclerc see a penalty for impeding, he is currently sitting P18.

Sainz comes out of the garage and he might get one shot at a flying lap.

Update 6:08: Albon goes to the top of the sheets for a moment, but the times are slower than we saw yesterday. The rains overnight and into the morning have likely washed away a good deal of rubber, meaning it might take some time for the lap times to come down as the track “rubbers in” again.

Update 6:07: Sergio Pérez, who failed to advance to Q3 yesterday after having multiple laps deleted for exceeding track limits, has another early lap deleted for the same reason.

Update 6:05: Verstappen to the top of the timing sheets with a run on the mediums, but his time is immediately deleted for exceeding track limits.

That was a big issue yesterday.

Update 6:03: Williams has decided that the intermediates are unnecessary, as both Albon and Sargeant have come back into the pits to switch to slicks.

Carlos Sainz Jr. radios into his team that he might have a brake wire failure, and he’s been told to come into the pits.

Update 6:00: Cars are queued up and the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant are out front, each with a set of intermediates.

Update 5:58: Just about time to get rolling out in Austria, which means only one thing.

Opening titles!

Update 5:49: According to F1TV the track has been deemed “wet” by race officials, so we may potentially see some laps on intermediates.

Update 5:24: Before things get underway, we can take a moment and study this fascinating bit of data viz from @FDataAnalysis. This depicts the acceleration, braking, and lateral acceleration drivers experience at Red Bull Ring:

This is one of the many fascinating accounts well worth following.

Update 5:19: Courtesy of F1 journalist Albert Fabrega, a look at the tyre compounds each team has remaining as we enter Sprint Saturday:

Update 5:17: Looks a little wet in Austria today:

Update 5:15: Good morning friends and welcome to Sprint Saturday.