Dutch F1 GP Review

Welcome to Zandvoort, one of the newer additions to our F1 calendar. Having been won by the hometown hero Max Verstappen on all three occasions since its re-inclusion in the world championship, Zandvoort has a new King. Zandvoort is another race to be claimed by Lando Norris and the resurgent Mclaren team in their bid for the championship.

Going into the weekend, qualification saw grid penalties for Lewis Hamilton, who, after a poorer qualification started P14. Alex Albon’s Williams was disqualified, meaning a P19 start. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen started from the pit lane due to a parts change. William’s Logan Sargeant started P18, despite having missed qualification due to the aforementioned crashing in Free Practice 3.

From the start line, Lando Norris saw the lead slip once more from his pole position, continuing the rather amusing pattern of having not led the first lap in any of his 5 pole position starts. Having lost out to Red Bull’s Verstappen, Norris would reclaim the lead on lap 18. It is worth mentioning that Max Verstappen claimed to be struggling with his car, having made numerous radio call outs about a general lack of response in areas like steering and handling.

A rather quiet, yet productive drive from both Ferrari’s having started 6th and 10th, and finishing 3rd and 5th. Charles Leclerc, who finished on the podium, had a momentous drive in which he fended off Mclaren’s just-as-fast Oscar Piastri during the latter stint of the race, managing to keep the Mclaren behind him for the better part of the last 30 laps.

Alternatively, Mercedes wasn’t all there this weekend. After mediocre qualifications from both Hamilton and Russell, the race itself did little to repair the weekend. 7th and 8th positions are modest, but not what is needed when the constructors championship is still on the line.

Credit where credit is due, Perez managed to bring his Red Bull into okay points, at 6th, a sorry excuse for the rest of his season, but a small improvement on his recent 7th place finishes at both Belgium and Hungary.

Overall a very clean race, having no yellow flags nor safety cars deployed to interrupt the action. There is little to say of teams Kick Sauber, VCARB or Haas; a fairly straightforward and not so exciting weekend.

Williams’ excitement as mentioned before came during free practice, with Sargeant attempting to secure his mechanic’s jobs while giving up his own.