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For a few laps, it looked like a Formula 1 race. Lewis Hamilton started on pole of F1's first ever sprint qualifying race, but he had a poor start and lost the lead to Max Verstappen before turn 1. Behind the leaders, the field made the aggressive moves you would expect on the opening laps of a grand prix. Fernando Alonso passed six cars in the first lap, while Verstappen defended his lead from Hamilton's aggressive moves three times in the first two laps.
By lap 5, that flow had changed. With no tire changes necessary and no real advantage to taking serious risks, the field seemed to calm down. Most of the battles over the final twelve laps were between Alonso and the cars he passed early. Hamilton never lost contact with Verstappen, but heavy blistering on both of their right-front tires forced both to avoid a serious fight. Verstappen went on to win, Hamilton would finish second, and Bottas would round out the points-scoring positions in third.
The race saw two incidents. In the first, Carlos Sainz Jr. spun while battling George Russell in the back of the top ten. Sainz would finish 11th, while Russell would finish 9th in a race that, unfortunately, does not award points for drivers off the podium. The second saw Sergio Perez lose control of his car on corner exit, spinning into the gravel. He would finish a distant 20th and his car will likely need repairs before tomorrow's race.
Other than the two incidents, the sprint race left a grid that looks quite a lot like one set by time trial qualifying. Red Bull and Ferrari lock out the top three, Ferrari and McLaren take the next three spots, and the mid-pack is as aggressively close as it has ever been. It was a race that demonstrated to teams how high the risk of running hard in this session can be, all while showing how limited the rewards really are.
F1 will hold two more sprint races before the end of this season. If the organization is happy with the program, it will be expanded to some, but not all, races next season.
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Max Verstappen Wins F1's First Sprint Race - RoadandTrack.com
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