Verstappen: Close between us, I expect a tough battle

Indeed after the Sprint, second-placed Leclerc declared that Ferrari could beat Red Bull. While Verstappen's victory appeared relatively easy, he was aided by the Ferrari duo squabbling more than once during the curtain-raiser today.

This is what Red Bull's reigning F1 World Champion had to say afterwards: “It was good. It was like a Sprint should go: flat-out!. A decent race, we had good pace from the beginning and after that we were very closely matched.

“Of course, Ferrari were also fighting a little bit, so I had a bit of a gap, and then after that, we were quite similar in pace. So I do expect it’s going to be a very interesting battle again. Of course, the race tomorrow is going to be a lot longer, so it’s going to be tricky on tyres.”

Verstappen mania right now has usurped what the likes of Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna enjoyed in their heyday; in fact, similar to the Valentino Rossie faithful who made pilgrimages to watch the MotoGP legend all over the world. Ditto Max.

No surprise then that the Orange Army turned Red Bull Ring - orange (!) of course - a sight that must be impressive from space no doubt, if the aerials on the day were anything to go buy. All there to cheer on their star, boo their less liked driver and release as much orange smoke as they can in the process.

Verstappen, who seldom fails to deliver for them these days acknowledged: “It was great to see, quite a lot of smoke at the end there with all the orange, but it was alright.”

As for race day, when the big points will be dished out, Verstappen said: "It’s going to be very important to make good strategy calls during the race as you never know what can happen, it’s not going to be straightforward but I’m looking forward to it.”

Verstappen’s eight-point haul means his lead over Perez in the 2022 F1 drivers’ standings is up to to 38 points.

After qualifying shenanigans relegated Sergio Perez to 13th on the grid, Red Bull's veteran was in fine fettle today: "I think that was the maximum we could possibly do, while we cleared [many cars], George was a bit too far ahead, so it was the best we could do in terms of damage limitation.

"It was a good race and recovery, I had a good start and kept out of trouble, it was tricky with Lewis and a lot of people going side by side into turn three. There are lessons we can take from the Sprint race to make sure we are on the podium tomorrow.

"Patience will be key on Sunday; I want to get a good start and get in the mix straight away in the race.

"I made up four places in the first lap today so hopefully tomorrow is the same. We are still to unlock some potential from the car so we can look forward to the race," added Perez, voted Driver of the Day for his efforts.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was chuffed with his lads: “It was great to get the pole yesterday and to get the victory in the sprint race and retain that for the race tomorrow is fantastic.

"Max hit the tyres very hard to break the DRS, it’s quite a long stint and Ferrari were saving their tyres, but that’s the strategy we chose and what you take out at the beginning you get back at the end.

"Max managed it well and it was a reasonably comfortable race for him.

"Yesterday was a tough penalty for Checo but he had an incredible first lap today, he managed to pick off the cars and made up eight places to get back up into P5, which was only one place behind where we thought he should have been.

"It's going to be a fascinating race, you can see the Ferraris are quick so we need another good start, a great first lap and to get our heads down.

"The support we’ve had here in Austria at the Red Bull Ring has been amazing, for the Team and for Max in particular from the Orange Army. The fans everywhere in the world have been fantastic but it’s great to be racing at home and it sets us up for an exciting race," added Horner, echoing Verstappen.