Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

Red Bull's Max Verstappen took a controlled victory in the sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix to edge further ahead in the championship.

The Dutchman beat Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, extending his lead over Leclerc to 44 points.

Leclerc fought off an early challenge from Sainz but was safe in second once far enough ahead of his team-mate to lose the DRS overtaking aid.

Mercedes' George Russell took fourth and Lewis Hamilton eighth.

Hamilton's race was hampered by a tangle at the start that saw Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly pitched into a spin, and then getting stuck behind the two Haas cars, before eventually overhauling Mick Schumacher for the final point.

The sprint result made little difference to the starting order for Sunday's main event, other than to enable Red Bull's Sergio Perez to recover ground from his 13th place to finish fifth, where the Mexican will now start the grand prix.

Read the full report here

Image source, Getty Images

Can there be any orange flares left in Austria?

The Red Bull fans have their man on pole position for tomorrow's race but the two Ferraris are looking to be a big part of the fight come the chequered flag.

You can have a lie in on Sunday, then get up and join us again for build-up to the Austrian Grand Prix from 12:30 BST.

I'll leave you with Andrew Benson's report.

Enjoy your Saturday night.

George Russell has just asked if you get a point for fastest lap today. Can't be giving that many leg-ups over the weekend, George! Just tomorrow that extra present comes into play.

1, Red Bull - 340

2. Ferrari - 278

3. Mercedes - 210

4. McLaren - 73

5. Alpine - 70

6. Alfa Romeo - 51

7. Alpha Tauri - 27

8. Haas - 22

9. Aston Martin - 18

10 Williams - 3

1. Max Verstappen - 189

2. Sergio Perez - 151

3. Charles Leclerc - 145

4. Carlos Sainz - 133

5. George Russell - 116

6. Lewis Hamilton - 94

7. Lando Norris - 58

8. Valtteri Bottas - 46

9. Esteban Ocon - 42

10. Fernando Alonso - 28

11. Kevin Magnussen - 18

With points for the top eight drivers in the sprint race, let's take a quick look before we sign off how the championship standings are shaping up.

Mick Schumacher has just spoken to Sky Sports and the Haas driver said that while the battle with Lewis Hamilton was "fun", he believes he shouldn't have been put in that position in the first place as he was faster than team-mate Kevin Magnussen. A debrief is order over at Haas tonight.

Another rung on the sprint weekend ladder achieved for Max Verstappen.

Do you think the Dutchman will convert his pole position into a race victory at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday?

You know what to do. Give me your thumbs below...

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Medals handed out for the sprint race instead of a trophy.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who will start P3 on the grid: "I had a good start, a couple of fights at the beginning with Max into Turn three, and then Charles into Turn Three again. It was good fun, like it should be, racing.

"Probably overheated a bit the tyres, running behind Charles. I had to back off and finish the race.

"First of all, we will need to improve a little bit the pace because we were strong at the beginning of the race and then little by little it looked like we were going to match him.

"But tomorrow we will go through different compounds so I think anything can happen. But it's important that we are both in the fight and try our best to beat Max."

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who starts second on the grid: "It was frustrating. The first part of the race was all about managing but Max was very quick, he was pushing quite a lot at the beginning so I was just trying to control my tyres to attack at the end. Then I had a small fight with Carlos. At the end I was closing a little bit, it was very close overall. Tomorrow is the race and hopefully we can have a good start and put a bit more pressure on Max."

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who takes pole position for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix after winning the sprint race: "It was great to see the fans - a lot of smoke at the end!

"It was alright, it was a decent race, a good pace at the beginning and I think after that we were very closely matched, so it was good. Like a sprint should go; quite flat out.

"I had a bit of a gap and after that it was similar in pace [with Ferrari, so I expect tomorrow it is going to be interesting battle again because the race tomorrow is going to be a lot longer, so it's going to be quite tricky on tyres.

"The car is good, just a few things to fine-tune but overall we are really competitive again this weekend."

Shall we have a listen to what the top three drivers had to say?

Also, a great day's work by Sergio Perez. The Red Bull man was dropped down to 13th place after having all his Q3 lap times deleted after Friday's qualifying session but he made up eight spots through the field to finish fifth.

I know the sprint divides opinion but that was a great scrap between Lewis Hamilton and Mick Schumacher.

So, Max Verstappen will start on pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix at Red Bull's home race, Charles Leclerc will line up alongside him and Carlos Sainz and George Russell will be on the second row.

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull, 8 points)

2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari, 7 points)

3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari, 6 points)

4. George Russell (Mercedes, 5 points)

5. Sergio Perez (Red Bull, 4 points)

6. Esteban Ocon (Alpine, 3 points)

7. Kevin Magnussen (Haas, two points)

8. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes, one point)