The Red Bull driver needed to defend into Turn 1 and 3 against an initially strong Ferrari threat, but as Leclerc and Carlos Sainz went wheel-to-wheel, the defending champion was able to march away to a relatively smooth triumph.
The start was delayed and an extra formation lap called when Zhou Guanyu momentarily lost drive out of the final corner on his way to the grid when his Alfa Romeo's engine briefly switched off.
He was able to find drive and pull away, but not before one lap had been struck off the 24.
This came after Fernando Alonso - due to line up eighth - required a pitlane start when his Alpine would not fire on the grid for a technical issue that the team is still to identify.
The regulations permitting that the car cannot be touched with three minutes to go meant Alonso was left on the trolley and with the tyre blankets on.
Despite the possibility of a pitlane start, the two-time champion would not take part at all in the sprint race.
After the disruption, it was Leclerc who enjoyed the marginally better launch to force Verstappen to pull to the inside line and squeeze the Ferrari closer to the pit wall.
The Red Bull’s defensive work duly paid off as Verstappen swept into the Turn 1 right-hander in the lead, but a compromised line allowed third-starting Sainz to threaten.
With Leclerc battling Verstappen, Sainz was given room to dive ahead into the first corner and a strong exit enabled the Spaniard to move his Ferrari to the outside and attempt a pass.
He put his nose in front of Verstappen in the braking zone of Turn 3 but on the outside and off the racing line, he ran wide and then the subsequent oversteer on the less grippy asphalt allowed Leclerc to accelerate away faster and reclaim second place with a run into Turn 4.
The Ferrari squabbling allowed Verstappen to initially break away to the tune of half a second, an advantage the reigning champion then doubled at the end of the opening tour.
The Ferraris continued to dice, with Sainz seemingly carrying an early pace advantage to try and leapfrog Leclerc on the outside of Turn 3 into 4, with the red car appears to rub.
With the Ferrari pair allowed to fight, that left Sainz, who had locked up, to virtually stop as he was squeezed towards the gravel trap, in turn gifting Verstappen breathing space of two seconds.
Verstappen was able to stretch the legs of his Red Bull to take the gap up towards three seconds, but in the final few laps, Leclerc could lap a tenth or two faster to gradually chip away at the margin.
Verstappen would complain about his struggles on the medium tyres, but the pace swing was not enough to offer a threat as the Dutch racer eventually crossed the line 1.6s clear to extend his championship lead to 44 points – Leclerc having taken the bonus point for fastest lap.
Sainz completed the podium another 3.9s adrift of his team-mate as George Russell converted fourth on the grid in a lonely afternoon, his Mercedes W13 having received extensive repairs following his final-corner shunt late in Q3.
Sergio Perez in the sister Red Bull, who had started 13th after his Q3 times were deleted for a late Q2 track limits violation that initially went undetected, recovered to fifth place.
His impressive climb was aided by a first-corner collision that involved Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri being lifted into the air and spun around.
The French racer, starting 10th, had moved gradually to the left as he lined up the first right-hander, but in doing so left Lewis Hamilton pinched with the Williams of Alex Albon.
The lack of room left Hamilton’s front-right to make contact with Gasly’s rear left, prompting his car to hop into the air and spin down to an eventual 15th.
Perez had also made rapid moves on the two Haas cars before demoting Esteban Ocon, the sole remaining Alpine securing sixth ahead of Kevin Magnussen.
Magnussen narrowly had the measure of Haas stablemate Mick Schumacher, which left the German to ask his team for the Dane to check his pace and offer DRS assistance.
This came as Hamilton welded himself to the rear of Schumacher’s car and stuck his nose alongside at Turn 3 repeatedly, at one stage appearing to touch the Haas’ right-rear wheel, as he fought to claim eighth place.
The Mercedes was still unable to pass with DRS assistance owing to the Haas’ straight line credentials, but Hamilton eventually passed with good drive out of Turn 3.
Schumacher just left enough room to the grass for the W13 to take the position into Turn 3.
Valtteri Bottas used the dice to close but was not truly in the fight and settled in 10th spot.
Despite Daniel Ricciardo asking to be let past, Lando Norris headed a McLaren 11-12.
Lance Stroll (top soft tyre runner), Zhou and Gasly completed the top 15 ahead of Alex Albon, who was demoted to 16th with a 5s penalty for squeezing Lando Norris out of room on the exit of Turn 3.
Behind Yuki Tsunoda and Nicholas Latifi, Sebastian Vettel joined Alonso as a retiree.
The Aston Martin was called into the pits on the last lap with damage, Vettel having spun when he collided as he battled around the outside of Turn 7.
F1 Austrian GP: Full sprint race results
| Cla | Driver | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Max Verstappen | 23 | - | |
| 2 |  Charles Leclerc | 23 | 1.675 | 1.675 |
| 3 |  Carlos Sainz | 23 | 5.644 | 5.644 |
| 4 |  George Russell | 23 | 13.429 | 13.429 |
| 5 |  Sergio Perez | 23 | 18.302 | 18.302 |
| 6 |  Esteban Ocon | 23 | 31.032 | 31.032 |
| 7 |  Kevin Magnussen | 23 | 34.539 | 34.539 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | 23 | 35.447 | 35.447 |
| 9 |  Mick Schumacher | 23 | 37.163 | 37.163 |
| 10 |  Valtteri Bottas | 23 | 37.557 | 37.557 |
| 11 | Lando Norris | 23 | 38.580 | 38.580 |
| 12 |  Daniel Ricciardo | 23 | 39.738 | 39.738 |
| 13 |  Lance Stroll | 23 | 48.241 | 48.241 |
| 14 |  Zhou Guanyu | 23 | 50.753 | 50.753 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | 23 | 52.125 | 52.125 |
| 16 |  Alex Albon | 23 | 52.412 | 52.412 |
| 17 |  Yuki Tsunoda | 23 | 54.556 | 54.556 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | 23 | 1'08.694 | 1'08.694 |
| 19 | Sebastian Vettel | 21 | ||
| Fernando Alonso | 0 | |||
| View full results | ||||
