Verstappen takes pole again, Russell gets grid penalty: this was Saturday

This Saturday was a special Saturday. It was the first Saturday that the sprint race was tried. Where Mercedes will probably not be too happy with the format at the moment, we won't hear Verstappen complain.

The Dutchman took pole position again, something he has been doing quite often lately. He overtook Lewis Hamilton at the first corner after his bad start and didn't give this lead away. Where the Mercedes looked strong during qualifying, it must be said that the race pace of Red Bull is still a bit too high for Mercedes. Despite that Mercedes has a strategic advantage with two drivers in the first three.

Perez and Sainz crash

Sergio Perez took too much risk in the sprint race and ended up in the gravel trap. He miraculously managed to limit the damage, but despite that he will start tomorrow's Grand Prix from the pit lane. Carlos Sainz also had a moment and lost a lot of places. He would eventually have to live with eleventh place.

Russell gets penalty, Sainz gets away with it

The reason for Sainz' loss was the action of George Russell. He was given a three place grid penalty for causing a crash, in this case that of Sainz. Instead of ninth place the young Briton will start 12th in his home race. Carlos Sainz moves up a place in the grid. The Spaniard also had to go to the stewards to account for returning to the track in a dangerous manner, but he received no penalty.

Sprint race provides entertainment

It took some getting used to for everyone. The fans, the drivers and the team owners. Still, the sprint race provided the necessary entertainment. The action of Verstappen near Hamilton, the crashes of Perez and Sainz and the fantastic overtaking actions of Fernando Alonso. Although there is still a lot of room for improvement, a lot happened during the 100km sprint race.