It seemed like Max Verstappen had cruise control during the sprint race in Austria. Red Bull and the in-form Verstappen once again took home the honors and will look to carry this momentum to the race. However, the Dutchman was partly helped by Ferrari during the 100-km sprint on Saturday.

The reigning champion started in pole position and steered clear early in the race. The Italian team, however, had the pace to match Red Bull. Nevertheless, the battle between Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc for the 2nd spot increased the gap between Verstappen and the two Ferraris.

As a result, the Red Bull man was in a league of his own. Team advisor Helmut Marko was more than happy with the performance and even cheekily thanked their title rivals. “We accept it gratefully. Ferrari helped us in that they fought each other, so we easily had a two-second advantage. And then Max managed it confidently,” Marko revealed to Sky. (translated using Google)

In recent weeks, there have been debates surrounding Ferrari’s management of their drivers. Tensions boiled down in Silverstone as Sainz, rather than following team orders to back the pack up, went on to overtake Leclerc to win the race. And they let their drivers battle on the track in Austria as well. So, Red Bull is arguably the ones benefiting from this.

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Furthermore, Verstappen has an incredible record in Austria. He has won in this venue thrice and shares the record for most wins here with Alain Prost and Jo Siffert. The entire orange army in the grandstands will be behind him on Sunday as he starts on pole.

Red Bull chief advisor praises Sergio Perez for his incredible drive

While Verstappen enjoyed another comfortable race, Sergio Perez had to do it the hard way. The Mexican started from P13 because of a penalty he received after the qualifying session. But bounced back during the sprint race.

Of course, the lap 1 crash between Hamilton and Gasly helped him to gain positions. But his incredible overtake on Mick Schumacher, something Hamilton struggled to do, summed up his Saturday. Following this, he gained track positions and ultimately finished P5.

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Speaking of Perez’s performance, Marko added, “In the initial phase, he made sure that no damage occurred. We saw how difficult it was to overtake the Haas or especially Schumacher. And fifth is actually more than we expected. We have calculated sixth place and that is a good starting position for tomorrow.”

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Red Bull fans will gather in numbers to get their team over the line. Do you think we will see two Red Bull drivers on the podium once again?