It’s the Austrian Grand Prix weekend in Formula One, and today marks the second sprint race of the 2023 season.
The starting grid for tomorrow’s Grand Prix has already been determined following qualifying last night, with Red
Bull’s Max Verstappen on pole and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc joining him on the first row at Spielberg.
The sprint shootout will begin at 11 a.m. today to set the starting order for the sprint race, which will take place at
3.30 p.m. The 62-mile race awards the winner a maximum of nine points, with championship leader Verstappen
hoping to increase his 69-point lead over Sergio Perez.
There’s a lot going on on and off the track in Formula One, including a dispute over whether teams should be obliged
to delay the construction of their 2024 vehicles. Lewis Hamilton believes Red Bull should not be permitted to work
on their new car yet, but Verstappen obviously disagrees.
Lance Stroll has asked for modifications to the course ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, following the tragic death of a
teenage racing driver on Saturday.
Dilano van ‘t Hoff, 18, died after being hit by another car on Spa’s Kemmel straight during a Formula Regional
Europe event in bad weather. And Stroll connected the event to the death of F2 driver Anthoine Hubert in 2019,
prompting F1 officials to consider further safety measures.
“What occurred today is unfair. That corner should be altered. “We’ve been saying this for years,” Stroll told
reporters.
“They should do something. We’ll be playing with fire in a few weeks. Again. We seriously need to consider what to
do with that.
Mercedes manager Toto Wolff has accused Max Verstappen of plotting a’revenge foul’ on Lewis Hamilton after
accidentally obstructing the Red Bull driver in the Austrian sprint qualifying duel.
Hamilton appeared to be in Verstappen’s path, which Wolff stated his engineers were responsible for, and the
Dutchman returned the favor during one of Hamilton’s laps. However, Wolff stated that it should not have been a
case of “an eye for an eye.”
“I think no one wants to be in anybody’s way because if you impede, you’re getting penalised, so that was not the
aim,” Wolff said in a statement.
“On the opposite side, Verstappen committed a retaliation foul on Turn 1. It was simply to ensure that Hamilton’s lap
was wrecked.
