Verstappen wins Austria sprint with Norris third

The Austrian Grand Prix is live on 5 Live and the BBC Sport website

Max Verstappen fought off an early onslaught from the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to win the sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Norris challenged Verstappen hard in the early laps before losing second place to Piastri as the Briton challenged the Red Bull for the lead on lap five.

Norris came back at Piastri in the second part of the race but could not get close enough to mount an attack.

The Australian led Norris in a McLaren two-three ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes.

Russell passed Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari into Turn Four on lap eight but team-mate Lewis Hamilton was not able to follow him through and had to settle for sixth.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took seventh from 10th on the grid after a technical problem in qualifying and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez the final point in eighth.

The first half of the race saw six cars nose-to-tail at the front of the field as Verstappen led Norris, Piastri, Sainz, Russell, Hamilton and Leclerc, who made three places on the opening lap.

The McLarens look threatening behind Verstappen, their pace in the slow corners and long straights of the first sector offset by the Red Bulls in the sweeping faster corners of the second and third.

Norris mounted an attack on Verstappen, threatening him into Turn Four on lap four before his big move on lap five.

Norris attacked into Turn Three, leaving his braking very late, and claimed the lead into the corner only for Verstappen to come back at him and mount a very similar move into Turn Four.

That led to both running wide through the corner and Piastri took advantage to get alongside Norris on the exit.

The McLarens ran side by side towards Turn Six, and although Norris was on the inside, Piastri was slightly ahead on the outside and the Briton backed out to give his team-mate the place.

Norris bided his time and came back at Piastri in the closing laps but with his tyres now beginning to suffer could not quite challenge.

Norris said: “A good race, some things I should have done a bit better in my battle and I understand that. I tried to come back at Oscar in the end but I just couldn’t get close enough in the middle sector.

“I don’t think we could have gone with Max. I don’t think we quite had his pace today but tomorrow is another day.”

“Once the tyres get too hot, it’s difficult to do too much. I made the most of my opportunity, then I messed it up and left the be door open like an amateur but we can definitely give him a fight tomorrow.”

Piastri said: ”I saw the move was quite late and I knew there would be an opportunity on the exit. I was hoping I could get both. I had one opportunity to get Max a lap after but couldn’t get close enough.”

Verstappen said: “A good first lap but then once the DRS opens it’s very difficult to get out of it. We had to work for it in that race. A few things we have to think about to see what we can do better.”

There was a similarly tasty battle behind the top three after Sainz passed Russell for fourth on the opening lap.

The Ferrari did not quite have the pace of the Mercedes and Russell tracked the Spaniard before attacking into Turn Four on lap eight and claiming the place.

Hamilton stayed stuck in Sainz’s dirty air behind the Ferrari and Leclerc was unable to attack, despite being with the group in the opening laps, after being told to lift-and-coast to protect his car’s reliability.