Since its return to the championship in 2014, the Austrian Grand Prix has become an event of great importance at a sporting level for Formula 1, based on interesting races and of importance for the development of the championships. On this occasion, and after the second sprint race of the season, the event presents an interesting angle in the first four places, which are identical to the classification on Friday.
Max Verstappen was able to defend his pole without too much trouble on Saturday, and will have to endure a second round of attacks from the Ferrari cars, who already had an interesting cat-and-mouse duel. Charles Leclerc will have the initiative in the first instance if he does not end up overtaken by a Carlos Sainz who yesterday issued a clear warning that he does not intend to lift his foot against his partner, from whom he is barely separated by a dozen points. That yes, if both are neglected, George Russell could take advantage of the situation to overcome them.
Having recovered almost everything lost due to his Q2 suspension yesterday, Sergio Pérez will start in fifth place and with clear options for a podium. He shares a row with Esteban Ocon who hopes not to have to suffer a mechanical breakdown again like the one he had at the end of the sprint race. Just before starting that one, Fernando Alonso suffered it electrically, and it left him without even starting, turning his seventh position into nothing. Now, from the last row, he will have the difficult task of moving between the slipstream trains to get back to the points zone.
Just behind, Lewis Hamilton will also have a second round duel with the Haas, trying to make up for his poor start yesterday, and the McLaren drivers have before them the challenge of sneaking into the points zone, which will be defended by Valtteri Bottas at the start of the event. He will have three DRS zones for this, all consecutive, in which the opportunities will not be lacking.