The first points of the F1 season were still a dream for Valtteri Bottas.
Valtteri Bottas the top positions in the first sprint race of the F1 season melted away immediately. Bottas started from the ninth grid and was in prime position to grab his first points of the season, as points are awarded to the eight best in the sprint race.
However, Bottas immediately lost positions in the opening round. Later, it became clear from the TV pictures that the front wing of Bottas’ car had a broken end plate. It had disintegrated on impact with Guanyu Zhou, who had left the tenth frame. According to Autosport, the hit came immediately on the opening lap.
Bottas, who started from the ninth grid, finished in 12th place. Zhou was ninth. Points are awarded to the best eight from the F1 sprint.
Verstappen tight
He took the win in the F1 sprint Max Verstappen. Surprisingly, the victory did not come according to the easiest formula for Verstappen, who was surprisingly left in the fourth box in the sprint qualifying on Friday.
Verstappen complained about technical problems at the start of the 19-lap sprint race, but had them resolved with the team. According to Autosport, numerous changes were made to the steering wheel of Verstappen’s car, for example. When the problems were taken care of, Verstappen swept to the top and won. Second place went to Mercedes Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton and the McLaren that started from the pole Lando Norris had a tight fight for the top spot at the start. Hamilton didn’t give up, but forced Norris off the track. The younger Brit fell to seventh place in the opening round and far from the top.
Norris finished sixth.
There was also a really tight fight for third place at the end of the sprint race. With the Spanish With Fernando Alonso and With Carlos Sainz there was a strong reception. It ended with Alonso’s flat tire. Aston Martin’s Spanish driver had to stop.
Sainz’s aggressive racing tactics didn’t pay off either, but Red Bull did Sergio Perez took advantage of the Spanish duo’s hard fight and moved up to third behind them.
On Saturday, there will still be time trials for Sunday’s race at 10:00 a.m. Finnish time. Urheilu follows the events in its Sports Day Follow-up article.