2023 F1 Austrian GP Sprint shootout: Winners and Losers

The 2023 F1 Austrian GP sprint shootout once again saw Red Bull march to the top of the standings, with Max Verstappen securing another pole position. The session ran in somewhat mixed conditions and threw a few surprises here and there, with Mercedes having a shocker of a session.

Unlike on Friday when Ferrari was very competitive over a single lap, it wasn't the case here as both the drivers struggled to put together competitive laps and will start the sprint on the third row.

With the sprint just a few hours away, who would be feeling confident of getting a good result, and who would be on the back foot knowing there's not much at stake? Let's take a look.

2023 F1 Austrian GP Sprint shootout

Winner

Red Bull

Red Bull continues to show that the more running there is on a race weekend, the more speed the team is able to extract from the car. The conditions were challenging for everyone, but unlike its competitors, which tend to have a bigger variance in performance, Red Bull was hooked.

Christian Horner called Max Verstappen's pole position yesterday an incomplete result for the team, as Sergio Perez was not there alongside him. He won't feel that way this time around.

Loser

Mercedes

Lewis can make a passing statement that the sprint races don't matter anyway, but there is a bigger question that will get missed if the team is this dismissive. The result is a reflection on the race management at Mercedes that might not be as bad as Ferrari, but it certainly has its shortcomings.

This pitfall could come back to bite the team when the stakes in the championship are higher.

Winner

Nico Hulkenberg and Lando Norris

Are Hulkenberg and Norris two of the best qualifiers on the grid right now? If we look at where these two tend to put their respective cars, it's hard to deny.

Hulkenberg has out-qualified both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in the session, and he's done that in a car that is, for the lack of a better word, half Ferrari.

Similarly, the way Norris' performances take such a huge jump when the car is remotely competitive makes one wonder what he could do in a competitive car. The way these two have outclassed their teammates certainly raises intrigue over what these two could do at the sharp end of the grid.

Loser

Oscar Piastri and Kevin Magnussen

When your teammates catapult your car up the grid in the manner Piastri and Magnussen's teammates did at the 2023 F1 Austrian GP sprint shootout, it's not a good look. You can't look at the massive gulf in the starting positions as a team principal and be okay with it.

Both Oscar and Kevin will be looking back at the last few qualifying sessions where all of a sudden, their teammates are finding lap time hand over fist. The 2023 F1 Austrian GP is not an exception but a trend, unfortunately.

Winner

Lance Stroll

Lance Stroll is having a very impressive 2023 F1 Austrian GP and continues to be very competitive. The driver came into the race weekend on the back foot as there have been far too many races where his teammate has shown him up. For the Canadian, his aim is not really to beat Fernando Alonso.

His aim is to be competitive against his teammate, and he's doing it admirably at the 2023 F1 Austrian GP.

Loser

The Sprint format

Lewis dismissing his poor grid slot for the sprint by stating that the short race does not matter much is the intent that quite a few drivers and teams seemed to have adopted.

The fact that F1 is trying new things is great, but there is one major issue with the sprint format, the stakes are not lucrative enough, and hence it's hard to get too engaged with a strong or a weak result.

The 2023 F1 Austrian GP is the second of the six sprint weekends this season, and so far, it is yet to catch the imagination of the fans.