Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix to increase his lead in the title race.
His lead over Leclerc was extended to 44 points.
After fighting off a challenge from Sainz, Leclerc was safe in second and his teammate lost the DRS.
Lewis Hamilton was eighth and George Russell was fourth.
The race was hampered by a tangle at the start that saw Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly pitch into a spin, and then get stuck behind the two Haas cars, before Hamilton overtook Mick Schumacher for the final point.
The starting order for Sunday's main event was unaffected by the sprint result, other than to allow Red Bull's Perez to recover ground from his 13th place finish.
Hamilton was hampered by the Mercedes' struggles in that area while Perez was helped by the Red Bull's strong straight-line speed.
Fernando Alonso's Alpine wouldn't start on the grid and he had to retire before he could turn a wheel.
At the beginning of the race, Verstappen defended hard against Leclerc, who was quicker than him.
Verstappen pushed Leclerc towards the pit wall, and their fight gave Sainz an opportunity to challenge his team-mate into turn one and turn three on the first lap.
By the end of the third lap, Verstappen was two seconds in front of Leclerc, who was fighting to hold off Saianz.
The Spaniard, who was less than a second behind Leclerc, was able to take second place on the exit of Turn Three, only for Leclerc to take the place.
From then on, Leclerc moved closer to the other side. He set his sights on closing down Verstappen once he was more than a second clear of Sainz. He said Sainz was hampered because he overheated his tires.
Verstappen was able to hold on despite the fact that he said the tires were tricky.
The world champion said that they had good pace at the beginning and were very close to each other. Tomorrow is going to be very interesting.
He told his team over the radio that they were quick. Tomorrow is when we can get them.
He was circumspect in his interview.
He said it was difficult. The first part of the race was about management. I was looking after my tires while Max pushed. I had a fight with Carlos and I was able to close in a bit, but it was very close.
Russell had a lonely race in fourth place, while Perez had a lot of fun in his climb through the field.
Russell lost only 1.5 seconds to Perez in the 10 laps to the end and Mercedes was encouraged.
The last sprint at Imola back in April was similar to the one Hamilton had today.
At the start, the seven-time champion found himself pincered, colliding with Gasly as the Frenchman came across.
The incident dropped Hamilton from what had been eighth place at the start, and he faced a difficult afternoon trying to make up ground in a car that lacked straight line speed.
After passing two cars, Hamilton was stuck behind the two cars of Kevin Magnussen and Michael Schumacher.
Hamilton struggled to get close enough to make a passing move at the end of the straights, despite being much quicker in the corners, because he had the DRS behind him.
With two laps to go, Hamilton overtook Schumacher to take the title.
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