Feature
What the teams said – Race day in the Netherlands
Special Contributor
Becky HartShare
McLaren
Norris once again couldn’t lead from pole, wheelspin doing for him off the line. He lost out to Verstappen, as Piastri lost out to Russell behind for the same reason. But from there, Norris bided his time, picked off the Dutchman on merit with an on-track pass and set about building such a lead the undercut was completely negated. He wound up with the biggest winning margin of the year and fastest lap to boot for an emphatic victory. Piastri had to work harder, with McLaren leaving him out so long he was undercut by both Russell and Leclerc. He managed to catch back up and pass the Mercedes, but despite catching Leclerc he just couldn’t find the pace to pick off the Ferrari.
Lando Norris, 1st
“This feels amazing! The pace was very strong, and the car was unbelievable today. I could get comfortable, I could push and get past Max Verstappen, and just go from there. Honestly, it was quite a straightforward race. It was still tough but very enjoyable.
“Thank you to everyone at the factory for delivering such a strong car, and the whole team here for executing the weekend flawlessly. Win number two in the bag, let's get some more.”
Oscar Piastri, 4th
"Some great points for the team, especially with Lando's win, but a little bit disappointing on my side. I made some good progress, but I got stuck in the dirty air behind the Ferrari, who had more pace than we were expecting, so I couldn't maximise the points on my side. However, we've got a quick car, so the next part of the season is going to be pretty fun. I am looking forward to it."
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
"We come away from the Dutch Grand Prix with a strong victory and further validation of the progress we are making as a team. On Lando’s side, he completed a dominant weekend with a comfortable victory and fastest lap, in addition to his pole position yesterday, giving further proof to the calibre of driver we know him to be. Oscar also delivered a strong weekend and was unlucky to finish just outside the podium places. He was caught in dirty air for a long period of the race, which limited his forward progress, but still brings home important points for the Constructors’ Championship.
“This weekend’s performance was enhanced by the new upgrades we brought to the track, which have proven to add competitiveness to the car, and my thanks go to the entire team for their work in developing, producing and delivering these upgrades. We will celebrate this victory and quickly turn our attention to next week’s Italian Grand Prix, where we hope to continue with the momentum we have built over the past several races. Thanks again to our entire team, our fans and our partners, and we look forward to racing again in Monza.”
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Red Bull
Verstappen had a great start, and was clean and away into the first corner. From there he led the opening few laps, but he couldn’t pull away from Norris as he started to overuse his tyres. Once Norris got past, Red Bull tried the undercut but to no avail. In the end, second was the best he could do for his home fans on a day the McLaren was just too quick. Perez didn’t get such a good start, losing out to Leclerc off the line. Following in the dirty air hampered his tyre life as well, but he did manage to hold off the charge of Russell late on with Mercedes trying to two-stop their way past the Mexican.
Max Verstappen, 2nd
“Today the start was good and we got a lead in front, which was a positive start. However, once I was overtaken it became about managing my own race as I know I didn’t have the pace to catch Lando. The car balance has been difficult this weekend, we just didn’t have the pace and we struggled with our tyres. I tried my best but it just didn’t work today and we had quite a big gap to Lando. We didn’t have our best weekend and we will go back and analyse what we can do better. It is my 200th race and it was nice to drive in front of my home crowd. Those races have gone by quickly and when I grew up this was something I thought about; I imagine I will look back and be proud of this moment. It was great to be here in front of home Grand Prix and in front of fans, but it is a shame as you always want to win for them."
Sergio Perez, 6th
“I had a great start but unfortunately was squeezed into turn one and then lost a position to Charles. In the beginning things were looking really good, but we just didn’t have the pace to keep up, as the other cars started to pull ahead. We were struggling with the grip on the hard tyre and balance all race. We have a lot of work to do, but it has been a good weekend in terms of understanding the car issues and we can go forward to take this as the base and to develop from here. I also feel like this is a very extreme scenario with the tail wind corners and we struggled more than other teams, Monza will be a different kind of track and we hope more positive. We will keep our heads down and be fully focused on getting to the bottom of our issues, we’ve got a lot of work to do to understand where the pace has gone, especially in the race, so hopefully we can get back up to speed in Monza next week."
Christian Horner, Team Principal
"Firstly, congratulations to McLaren and Lando, their car was in a different league today. We did everything we could and Max converted P2 into a lead at the start, but you could see he couldn’t compete with Lando’s pace. In hindsight the gamble we made with more downforce, following very little Friday running, perhaps wasn’t the best route. We need to understand where the deficit is to McLaren and how we can improve performance on our car, we have some idea and will work hard to do that. We are going to have to respond and I am confident we have the strength and depth to do that. Max has a 70-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship but we have to keep scoring as a Team and on the days we can’t win you have to finish second. Checo had a solid drive too and looking at his pace he looked strong, particularly in the second half of the race, which is positive. So, we have plenty of work to do but we have learnt a lot of lessons this weekend that can be very valuable, we have tried some things on the car that we have good data from to assess. We need to make sure we use that; it is time to digest what happened here and try to bounce back in Monza."
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Ferrari
Ferrari didn’t have the pace to compete in qualifying, but their race pace was much stronger. Leclerc picked up a place off the line, and then managed to cleverly undercut both Russell and Piastri to leap up into the podium places. From there he had to defend hard from the charging Piastri for lap after lap, not putting a foot wrong to secure his second straight podium. As for Sainz, he also made good progress up from 10th on the grid, the Spaniard with very strong pace from word go. He managed to pull off several overtakes too, on what was a very good day for the team.
Charles Leclerc, 3rd
"It’s not often that I would say I am happy with a P3, but today, I am extremely happy with the job the team has done on such a difficult weekend. We struggled in all sessions since FP1, and managed to put it all together when it matters most. We found the pace we needed, executed a perfect strategy, undercut our competitors and kept them behind. It feels great to start the second half of the season like this.
"Next up is Monza, our home race. We will give it our all to make our tifosi proud there."
Carlos Sainz, 5th
"This is a good result as we didn't expect to have such a positive race, especially after a very difficult start to the weekend. We executed a very solid race all along with good overtakes on track and a fast pace, especially with the hard tyre once I cleared the cars ahead.
"Charles also had a very good Sunday and I'm happy for the team. We'll definitely arrive in Monza in high spirits and I can’t wait to race in front of our tifosi!"
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal
"We were not very optimistic coming to Zandvoort, but today it went very well for both sides of the garage: we had good starts, good strategy, good pit stops, with both drivers managing their tyres very well. Charles was able to keep (Oscar) Piastri behind him and deserved this podium. We have to be positive and appreciate this, even if we have to keep in mind that (Lando) Norris was a long way ahead and really, we need to focus on getting wins, not finishing P3.
"Looking at the race, already on Friday, we felt we were in better shape on used tyres than with new ones. So, overall it has been a good weekend and we must build on this. There are still nine races to go, some of them will suit us better than others and we must see what we can do with the new package that is coming soon, but today has certainly been a confidence boost for the team. Tonight we will allow ourselves to enjoy this podium and as from tomorrow we will focus on Monza."
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Mercedes
Hamilton opted for a soft tyre start, and used that compound wo climb back into the top 10 from his P14 grid slot. He managed to make them last long enough to negate any time losses an early pit stop would have cost, and then was extremely quick on the hards. Meanwhile Russell had been running third in the early stages but was undercut by Leclerc. He couldn’t keep Piastri at bay and was about to lose out to Sainz when the team brought him in for a second stop, which lost him a place to Perez. In the end he didn’t get that place back so the second stop cost him, as he finished with his team mate right on his tail despite having started 10 places ahead.
Lewis Hamilton, 8th
"We knew today was all about damage limitation. We managed to work our way back into the points but ultimately, we didn’t have the pace to fight for much more today. If we had qualified better yesterday, than it may have been a little different. I enjoyed getting past several cars though and putting the Soft tyre to use in that opening stint. It felt good to move forwards but I’m a little disappointed as if we had a better Saturday, then the fight would have been for more points.
"Strategy wise, we were looking at running to the end on the one-stop. I had a lock-up on the Hard tyre though and that meant we switched to the two-stop. It was a shame to lose the point for fastest lap at the end, but I should have put in a quicker effort earlier on."
George Russell, 7th
"Today’s race was an odd one. We didn’t have the pace and that was the case on all three tyre compounds. It felt that I was sliding around quite a lot, suffering from high degradation, and slowly went backwards. We will have to understand why that was as we were relatively quick on Saturday. Performance does swing circuit to circuit, but we have been up near the front in the past six races. I am therefore confident that this is an outlier.
"We will get to work immediately to understand why we were slower than our competitors today. We have another race next weekend in Monza and we will aim to put in a much better showing there."
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
"We had a bad race today. It was quite a contrast to the previous Grand Prix in Spa where we had set the pace and finished first and second on track. We clearly got some decisions wrong in terms of how we were running the car here. We will evaluate that quickly so we can avoid another race like this. It is bruising. Sometimes it is good to be bruised though to take a step forward.
"With George, we switched to a two-stop strategy as he was running out of tyre in his second stint. That higher degradation was likely in part due to some set-up decisions we took. We will need to do a full analysis to understand how much of it was down to that or other factors. With Lewis, we planned a two-stop race for him, although we were evaluating the one-stop midway through. However, he suffered a lock up on the Hard tyre and, with no risk behind, we switched him onto the two-stop strategy. His pace was good throughout though and that gives us encouragement. There is clearly lots of learning we can take from this weekend and hopefully we can bounce back next weekend in Monza."
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
"Overall, it has been a poor weekend. We will go away and pick through the data to understand why we were off the pace both in qualifying and race trim. Today we were lacking the speed to fight for much more than we achieved. We were not generating good grip and, consequently, were sliding around on the tyre. That led to higher degradation than our competitors and forced us into a two-stop race. We were on the back foot today, but we will be working hard to ensure that isn't the case next weekend in Monza."
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Alpine
Gasly started and finished ninth after a strong showing in the Netherlands. He managed to hold some faster cars at bay in the opening stages, pitted a few laps later than his rivals and then used that tyre offset to overtake. He had an entertaining tussle with Hulkenberg towards the end of the race, and managed to build enough of a gap to fend off Alonso late on. Ocon couldn’t quite enjoy his outing as much, as like many others, his race was marred by both being in a DRS train and also blue flags.
Esteban Ocon, 15th
“It’s a weekend for us to learn from as I came here with different expectations. Overall, a tricky race day and a tough weekend in general. Finishing in fifteenth was our end position and all I could achieve with cars ahead and traffic throughout on a track that is tough for overtaking. It is important for us to understand why we struggled here in particular and where we can improve, which we will do together as a team. On the other side, there are some positives to take away from Zandvoort where Pierre showed good pace and managed to score useful points for the team. We only have a couple of days to turn things around and come back stronger next week at Monza. I am looking forward to racing there again and see what some of the track changes might bring.”
Pierre Gasly, 9th
“It was such a fun race today and to come away with some points is always a nice feeling. I’m really happy with the progress we made as a team since Friday and, in the end, we managed to turn things around and come away as the best team after the top four. Off the line, I passed Fernando [Alonso] and Lance [Stroll] on the outside of Turn 1. That massively helped our race as I then had good track position and I could just manage the race and look after the tyres. After the pit-stop we had some overtakes to make and I had confidence in the car to brake and keep a good line on the outside of Turn 1. There were some exciting moves out there and we’ve come away with two points as a result. We are continuing to show signs of progress and hopefully we can keep that going.”
Oliver Oakes, Team Principal
“I’m pleased that the team comes away from Zandvoort with points on the board in a race where we were genuinely the fifth fastest team. We made good progress after a tricky Friday, which is credit to the work done overnight into Qualifying. There were good strategy calls in the race by extending the first stint, racing the Aston Martins and allowing the drivers to push to the end, so credit to them also. Before the race we were hoping to at least try and maintain position, knowing that would be difficult due to some cars being out of position behind us. Pierre drove a great race, crucially getting ahead of both Aston Martins early on and pulling off some good overtakes to pick up two crucial points for the team. Esteban’s day was a little compromised from the start after a difficult Qualifying yesterday, and he also ultimately finished where he started on a track that’s notoriously hard to overtake. With the double-header we don’t have long to wait until Monza, which we expect to be a little trickier for us.”
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Aston Martin
Aston Martin had both cars in the top 10, but they couldn’t stay there come the flag. Both dropped places at the start, and worse was to come for Stroll who picked up a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. That cost him any chance of points, but Alonso kept his head down and didn’t give up. He managed a late move on Hulkenberg to grab the final point on offer, but ran out of time to chase Gasly down.
FACTS AND STATS: Zandvoort top ten all previous race winners – for the second race in a row!
Fernando Alonso, 10th
“We knew that the top-four teams would take the top-eight positions today, so our fight was for P9 and P10. However, we didn't have the pace we needed and Pierre [Gasly] did a better job than us, so we had to settle for P10 and one point. It was a challenging race and we need to do more to understand the car to find where we can improve. We'll work through the data, both here and at the Campus, before racing again next week in Italy.”
Lance Stroll, 13th
“We knew we had some faster cars starting behind us today, so it wasn't a surprise to see [Lewis] Hamilton and [Carlos] Sainz passing us. From that point on, the focus was on holding position as we didn't really have the pace in the car to challenge for more. We'll debrief on this weekend and then shift our focus to Monza, knowing we need to keep pushing to bring additional performance.”
Mike Krack, Team Principal
“A disappointing Dutch Grand Prix - although we did manage to secure a hard-earned point. We knew it would be tough with some faster cars behind. [Pierre] Gasly managed to overtake Fernando on the first lap and we weren't able to get back in front at a track which doesn't provide many overtaking opportunities. With such fine margins, Lance locked up entering the pitlane which meant he exceeded the pit lane speed limit triggering a five second penalty but that didn't change the result. After a positive Qualifying we were still not quick enough today especially against the midfield challengers. We now need to refocus our energy and attention on the next challenge in Monza next weekend.”
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Haas
Magnussen was forced into a pit lane start after changing his car set-up under parc ferme. He bolted on the hard tyres from the pit lane and went the longest of anyone, but there was no Safety Car and once he did pit, he fell down the order. Hulkenberg went for a very early stop by contrast, and then tried to eke those tyres to the finish. But on very worn rubber, he lost out to both Gasly and Alonso late on to fall out of the points.
Nico Hulkenberg, 11th
“I feel a bit disappointed right now. After what was a very difficult weekend, we actually managed to turn around two meaningful sessions. It was looking very promising for a lot of the race but I don’t think we got the strategy right, or we might have been too aggressive with the pitstop, but I need to go back and understand more. At the end, Pierre (Gasly) and Fernando (Alonso) had much fresher tyres so I couldn’t fight back. It’s a shame as maybe a point or two would’ve been possible today but overall it was a good recovery from what was a difficult weekend.”
Kevin Magnussen, 18th
“Starting from the pit lane we knew it was going to be a difficult race – and it was. I think the pace looked decent from where I was although I still need to see the times of everyone, but it felt strong when I was fighting people. I had an off on lap one or two, and that cost me a place, and then I got stuck in traffic after the first stop. I don’t think we had bad pace and although we haven’t come away with much, the pace felt decent – not great, but not bad. Hopefully the next races with more medium downforce levels are going to be good for us.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
“Nico had a very good race, of course, he started the weekend off the backfoot which translated into poor qualifying position but from P12 he had a very strong race. We didn’t execute our strategy very well, we didn’t do certain basics well and I think we could’ve fought for P9 or P10 if we’d had better race execution. On Kevin’s side, we had to change his battery so he started from the pit lane. At this circuit, it’s very difficult to recover but I think we did the best we could. With the traffic and our car’s strengths and weaknesses in certain places, he couldn’t do a lot so he was limited. There are certain positives, like Nico’s performance was very strong and I think Kevin in clear air was strong as well, so there are positives, but we need to put it all together next weekend.”
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RB
Tsunoda gambled on a soft tyre start, but it didn’t work out today. He was forced into an early stop which sent him to the slower two-stop strategy, and he spent much of his race in a DRS train. Ricciardo benefited from the various penalties to start P13 after exiting in Q1 yesterday, and he turned that into a 12th place finish. But Zandvoort didn’t seem to overly suit the RB, and neither driver looked likely to score points today.
Daniel Ricciardo, 12th
“We didn’t get points today but I feel much better than yesterday and I’m more pleased with how the day went. I was frustrated after qualifying as it didn’t help starting from the back, but today I was able to put together a better race, as I really felt we had a strong showing. We were in that kind of midfield battle, and I think the cars in front of us were a bit faster, especially Pierre (Gasly), so we probably couldn’t do much more. I’m happy with the bigger picture of the race; in terms of pace we pushed during the times we had, catching Lance (Stroll) and Nico (Hulkenberg) towards the end of the race. Hopefully, in Monza, we’ll be even more okay putting it all together from start to finish, and qualify better to have an easier Sunday.”
Yuki Tsunoda, 17th
“We split the strategy across the garage, but this time it didn’t work, especially on my side. We knew that it was going to be 50:50 with 2 stops, but the lap we pitted was too late and the timing was wrong. Using the soft tyre and losing a position at the start was unideal for sure, and then I was just stuck in traffic and always behind dirty air. I finished the race way behind where I started, which was pretty frustrating. We certainly could have done better as a team, but we can learn from it, improve and work on things for the future.”
Laurent Mekies, Team Principal
“Of course we wanted to start the second part of the season with a better performance than today’s. From qualifying onwards, it became clear that we were missing some performance compared to our nearest competitors and dropping your relative performance by just a tenth or so is the difference between fighting in the top 10 or not. We tried a few things in the race to make up some positions and took a bit of a risk by putting Yuki on a two-stop race, but it clearly did not work and he was stuck in traffic for most of the race. Daniel had a good go at staying with the Astons in front all race long and drove a strong, consistent race, but this was not enough to get points today. It was not the smoothest weekend for us but one that we will certainly learn from as a Team, and we will come back stronger. Overall, we are well aware that we need to bring more speed to our car in order to keep fighting at the front of the ultra tight midfield and everyone is absolutely flat out in Faenza and in Bicester to bring more developments to the car soon.”
Jody Egginton, Technical Director
“We have a lot to review from this weekend. Yuki’s strategy did not pan out as we wanted and this made his race difficult for him. Daniel’s race pace was reasonable and he was able to fight with the cars around him. However, today’s race has confirmed that there is now next to no delta in race pace between the teams towards the front of the midfield. As well as delivering our planned aero developments, we need to be focused on extracting more from our cars in qualifying and in the first laps of the race, as both of these aspects of the weekend are critical in maximising opportunities in the last phase of the race. With Monza next week, we will be focused on addressing the key points from this weekend in order to be as well prepared as possible to extract everything possible.”
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Williams
After a very difficult Saturday, things were more straightforward for Williams on Sunday. Both drivers saw the flag with minimal dramas for starters, and Albon was even flirting with the points at one stage. But having been forced into an early stop thanks to traffic, he had to pit again and that cost him too much time for any chance of points.
Alex Albon, 14th
"It was a tough one today. Being out of position at the start meant we unfortunately didn’t have the pure pace to get through the midfield battle. If we started where we should have, P9 was likely possible for this circuit, but that’s just how it is. Unfortunately, our championship rivals are the ones that benefited the most from this, which is a bit of a double whammy. We did try different things with our strategy but were covered off by other cars in front of us who were trying to help their teammate, so it’s a bit unfortunate. In terms of silver linings, it’s positive that the upgrade worked and the car is strong, so we’ll take the challenges and learnings from this tough weekend and try to focus on Monza."
Logan Sargeant, 16th
"Firstly, A big thank you to everyone for getting the car turned around for today, it’s greatly appreciated from my side as I know how much work goes into it. Nonetheless, I lacked a little bit of pace today. We tried to make the one-stop work which was tricky with a lot of defending and blue flags to deal with, but it was always going to be tough from where we started."
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director
"The race unfolded today as we expected, with many drivers going for the one-stop strategy on Medium and Hard tyres. Alex had a good start picking up a few places but then got stuck, so we decided to pit him early and go for a two-stop.
"During the race, he managed to pass a few more drivers and ended the race in P14. With Logan, we decided to stay out and go for the one-stop. He had a good last stint holding Tsunoda and Magnussen behind him on old Hard tyres and finished in P16. A frustrating weekend for the team but we are looking forward to Monza as the new package has shown a good step in performance and should suit the car."
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Kick Sauber
It was a day to forget for Kick Sauber, who remain the only team yet to score this season. They split strategies at the start, with Bottas trying the soft tyres for a quick getaway. It almost worked as he did make up places but couldn’t hold onto them as the C3 rubber started to wear. From there, they both went backwards to be the only team to finish two laps down after both needing two trips to the pits.
Valtteri Bottas, 19th
"This has been arguably our weakest weekend of the season, and the race just confirmed this. We had a really good start and climbed to a decent position: everything was under control for the first few laps but we soon realised we couldn’t keep up with the cars ahead. That’s when reality struck, we were just not fast enough in the race and that’s where we ended up. I hoped things would improve with a different tyre compound, but we tried them all and they wouldn’t make a difference: I believe this unique circuit amplifies our weaknesses, as it highlights the sensitivity of our car: the bankings, the surface, the camber and the wind – they are all working against us here. I know we haven’t made a step back, this weekend gave us a lot of things to take in for the future and lots to learn. Most importantly, next week’s track in Monza is going to be very different: I have higher hopes going into the next race. As a team, we need to continue working hard and keep pushing not to lose confidence, as we still have many races ahead of us.”
Zhou Guanyu, 20th
“This weekend has been tough for us, definitely not what we wanted coming back from the break. We were quite far off compared to our main rivals throughout the weekend as soon as the track turned dry, which is how we ran today’s race. In any case, it will be important for us to understand why we struggle so much on high fuel – as the changes we implemented didn’t quite work for us. We had prepared for a difficult race today: I struggled with grip from the opening lap, and quickly found myself unable to keep up with the pack. Things should be better for us in Monza, on a different track layout which should also be less impacted by windy conditions. Our car has been quite sensitive to extreme conditions so far, and we must work on that for the remainder of the season.”
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative
“Today has potentially been the most difficult race of the season for us. Without any retirement in front of us, we finished at the bottom of the field in P19 and P20, being lapped twice – a hard picture of our current race pace. We obviously lack performance in race conditions, and we have also seen that we experience higher tyre degradation than our competitors. So, no matter the strategy, we can’t change the result. We found ourselves in a very difficult situation and we need to understand whether today’s performance is more related to the track characteristics, due to wind conditions and corner balance. We must have a strong reaction as we need to change the trajectory of this season as soon as possible – starting from Monza.”
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Pirelli
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director
“A very intense race, where we witnessed one driver and one team – Lando Norris and McLaren – demonstrate clear superiority over his rivals and team-mate. Behind him, there was a great battle within the two groups of teams which have emerged this season: the leading group, made up of McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes and the rest of the field, all fighting for the remaining points.
“In terms of strategy, we had our predictions going into the race confirmed, namely that the one-stop was the quickest option. From the small amount of data acquired during free practice and based on earlier simulations, we expected to see more cars run the Soft to benefit from its performance advantage over the Medium, but probably, the majority of teams decided to tackle the first stint more cautiously given there was not much information available to them. In fact, the Soft proved to be up to the task, as was evident with Hamilton, as he was the driver who made up the most places from his grid position, starting on the C3 and then opting to use it again for his third stint.”
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