Starting from pole at the Red Bull Ring, Bagnaia fended off the fast-starting KTM duo of Brad Binder and Jack Miller on the run to Turn 1 to take the holeshot.
Quickly pulling a gap to Binder in second, Bagnaia on his factory Ducati increasingly came under less threat as the 14-lap contest ticked away, reaching the chequered flag 2.056s ahead for his fourth sprint win.
Bagnaia’s sprint victory now puts him 46 points ahead in the championship over Martin, with Marco Bezzecchi 59 adrift.
Binder was second while Pramac’s Martin completed the podium, but is currently under investigation for triggering chaos at Turn 1 on the opening lap.
Left in 12th after having multiple laps deleted in qualifying for exceeding track limits, Martin came charging into Turn 1 looking to make up ground.
But he nudged Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo as the field bunched into the first right-hander, which sent the Frenchman into the side of the slow starting Aprilia of Maverick Vinales.
This all led to Martin’s team-mate Johann Zarco, VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi and RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira crashing out, while Quartararo, Vinales and Ducati’s Enea Bastianini were forced to pick their way through the chaos and tumbled down the order with the incident currently under investigation by the stewards.
At the end of the opening lap, Bagnaia and Binder were already starting to drop Miller, who was a second adrift come the end of the second tour.
Source: Autosport