Max Verstappen predicts a “tricky” race despite leading every lap to win the Sprint on Saturday at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion’s only threat came in the opening few hundred metres as just held Charles Leclerc at by on the run to the first corner.
After that, however, it was plain sailing for the Red Bull driver, although he doesn’t expect to have quite such an easy ride on Sunday.
“It was like a sprint should go, quite flat out!” Verstappen said in parc ferme. “It was alright, it was a decent race.
⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️
⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️LIGHTS OUT!!!
Verstappen keeps the lead
At the back Gasly spins at Turn 1 #AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/GAPJ8wDEVl
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 9, 2022
“We had good pace at the beginning. It was just the first few laps and they were also fighting a little bit, so I had a bit of a gap
“I think after that we were very closely matched, so it was good. I do expect tomorrow it’s going to be a very interesting battle again.
“Of course, the race is always going to be quite a lot longer,” he acknowledged. “It’s going to be quite tricky on tyres.
“[But] the car is good, just a few things to fine-tune. Overall we’ve been really competitive again this weekend.”
The cheers could be heard all across the Styrian mountains when Verstappen crossed the finish line, as his legion of fans celebrated what they hope will be the first of two race wins for their man this weekend.
“It was great to see,” Max noted. “Got a lot of smoke at the end, with all the orange!”