Verstappen was unstoppable!
It was a day that made Holland proud, although the race, as expected, did not give us plenty of action. That being said, the overtakes we did get, mixed with an incredible track, and a bonkers atmosphere, still made it good to watch!
This weekend could not have gone any better for Verstappen, as he clearly showed his ability to perform under the most extreme pressures, in front of an expectant crowd. That car was in a class of one over the weekend, possibly down to the new upgrades they had at Spa. The team did everything right too, in covering the moves of Mercedes, with good clean pit stops. With Max back in the title lead, momentum is on their side, however the high speed Monza circuit could not be as good for them. It is crucially they are flawless for the rest of the season, which is not easy. We always knew that Perez was a Sunday man, and he showed that again at Zandvoort, with brilliant passes, combined with superb race pace. All he needs to focus on is Saturday, and he could really be a pain for Mercedes if he sorts that out. Considering they were able to take new engine components, it makes the weekend look a bit better for him.
Mercedes shouldn’t be unhappy with how things turned out. As much as their strategy could have been slightly better, Red Bull had the pace to counter any challenges they attempted. Lewis actually did well to stay with Max, and that’s what he needs to keep doing all year, in pressuring the Dutchman as much as he can, to see if he makes an error. Bottas was no match for the top 2, as you would expect, and his tyres were gone when Max overtook him, so you can’t blame him too much for the lack of defence really. The most interesting part of the race in my view, is that Bottas defied team orders, by going for the fastest lap, although Lewis got it back in the end. This to me is a clear indication he isn’t staying with the team for next year. If that is the case, the internal team relationship could get very tasty as we head towards Abu Dhabi!
AlphaTauri’s race pace has been a bit hit and miss this year, but this time they certainly knocked it out of the park. Gasly controlled 4th place all race, pulling away from the Ferrari’s in parts of the race. He is really becoming one of the best drivers in F1 at the moment. Tsunoda never really did anything of note all weekend, which is better than crashing, yet still he needs to be nearer to his teammate.
Much like Gasly, the Ferrari’s had a quiet race for the most part, Leclerc believes he had slightly better pace than the Frenchman, but couldn’t get within 3 seconds of him due to dirty air. They decided to go deeper into the race before pitting, and you could see Charles was closing on his friend in the closing stages. Carlos was not pleased at all with their race pace, as he thought it was similar to the disaster they had at France. He was pipped by Alonso on the last lap; however, 7th is still a good result as they continue to recover from last year. Most importantly, it has put them over 10 points ahead of McLaren in the constructors.
Alpine ended up about where they deserved to be in the race. They were a major bottleneck in the first stint, as Alonso seemed to be taking care of his tyres much more than others. After that though they could gap those behind on the most part, and close in on Sainz. Ocon was pretty equal with his teammate for pace, it was probably just the dirty air that hurt him compared to Fernando. These was some crucial points in the fight with Aston Martin.
McLaren were on the back foot going into the race, and Daniel didn’t have the pace to move forwards in the race, possibly due to wearing his tyres in behind other cars. Norris on the other hand, could go longer on the first stint, which gave him the tyre advantage for the rest of the race, unfortunately he was just too far back to put it too good use in the end. The defensive move he put on Perez wasn’t penalty worthy, yet I think it was a bit too aggressive, especially as wheel to wheel contact like that can end badly.
Aston Martin much like McLaren, had their work cut out in the race to come away with a good result. They couldn’t do it in the end, not due to a lack of pace, more so as they couldn’t get out of traffic. Stroll was stuck behind Russell for the majority of the race, who wasn’t able to move forwards really. Vettel was in a similar position, and spinning the car at Turn 3 didn’t help matters.
Giovinazzi was the unluckiest yesterday, as he was running just inside the points, until he got a puncture early on in his second stint, ruining his race. With Perez and Norris coming through the field, it is not guaranteed he would have got points, but it is still a tough blow to him, as he fights to stay in the series. Kubica can hold his head high now, as he filled in very well for Kimi having come in at the last minute, especially on a technical track like this.
Russell as I said before was holding strong track position for a good part of the race, but it was on the wrong side of the points. Then he got a penalty for speeding in the pits, followed by some gearbox issues, which ended his day. At least these issues happened on a day where points weren’t possible for them. Haas is having an internal meltdown at the moment, with both drivers not speaking to each other, after a series of events between the two of them. Personally, it looks to be a fuss over nothing, as these issues happen in racing, and Mazepin is the one getting hot headed about it.
Verstappen may have the title lead back, but with the gap being just 3 points, there is no room for error by either side. Plus, going to Monza, the Mercedes has looked slightly better in terms of straight line speed, so it could well swing back the other way by the end of the triple header!
-M
Thank you very much for reading this article! To keep up to date with when they go out, and to see my reactions to races and other news, follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/MeaningofMotor1
Also, if you want to support me, I have a Patreon Page at: https://www.patreon.com/meaningofmotorsport
Meaning of Motorsport 