We’re finally back racing! The Dutch Grand Prix, a sleeping beauty since 1985 delivered us the first bit of on-track action we’ve seen in a while.
With beautiful banking and an even more beautiful location, the Zandvoort track is not one which will be easily forgotten by the fans. Home hero Max Verstappen commanded the weekend brilliantly in front of his army of fans and deserved the win he got. Unfortunately, teammate Sergio Perez did not manage to finish on the podium, although the Mexican driver managed to finish 8th on track following a pitlane start (due to a change of energy store), no easy feat. This impeccable drive earned Perez the “driver of the day” award as voted by the fans.
With this win, Max now regains the world championship lead from Lewis Hamilton, who brought home his Mercedes to finish second. However, Mercedes still lead the constructor’s championship due to excellent results from both drivers. Red Bull will be anxious to regain this lead too in Monza next weekend.
Red Bull weren’t the only team to leave Zandvoort grinning like the Chesire Cat. Ferrari managed to bring their drivers home 5th and 7th, awarding them with a brilliant points haul which pushed them ahead of McLaren to take 3rd in the constructor’s championship – the main goal for the team this year. With Norris finishing 10th and Ricciardo 11th, the Woking-based team struggled this weekend, but will likely be ready to bounce back by the time we reach Monza.
Race week overview
The week started with the devastating news that Kimi Raikkonen, a Formula 1 veteran who had been involved in the sport for more than 20 years would retire from racing at the end of the 2021 calendar. Many drivers shared their admiration of the Finnish driver by sending heartfelt messages to their fellow colleague. Kimi has left a legacy in the sport, during his time at his different teams, we were gifted with his brilliant driving and his interesting personality.
On Saturday morning, the F1 community was notified that Kimi had tested positive for Covid-19 and would not be participating in the Dutch GP while Robert Kubica, with little practice on the circuit, would replace him for the weekend.
More talk continued about who would get that second seat at Mercedes danced throughout the paddock and even some chatter about the second Red Bull seat emerged when Pierre Gasly mentioned that talks had taken place with management at Red Bull for that seat.
At a track unfamiliar to most, there was a lot of excitement heading into the weekend. The Red Bull of Max Verstappen showed his pace right from the beginning all the way through qualifying, although Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes bridged the gap when he just missed out on pole position by 0.038s. The Ferraris looked in control of the midfield battle when they took 5th and 6th in qualifying while their rivals McLaren could only muster 10th and 13th.
With the sun blazing and the fans roaring the race was set to be a good one. It provided some classy overtakes by Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso but also, even more drama for the two Haas drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. As Max took the chequered flag surrounded by his orange army in Zandvoort it was clear as day that this intense title fight was getting ever more exciting. We head to Monza this weekend, the temple of speed where we expect to witness an amazing race after the triumphant Pierre Gasly got his first race win.
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