Netherlands GP Qualifying Report

There was bad news at the start of Qualifying: there would not be any more rain over the race weekend.

With Aston Martin making improvements the floundering Williams may now struggle to make it out of the first Qualifying session.  There were no incidents or accidents and Piastri, last year's pole-sitter, was fastest.  In the end Albon went through but Sainz was out followed by Alonso, Stroll, Bearman, Bottas and Perez.  It was Ocon and the Audis that made great laps.   Tsunoda, standing in for Lawson, who is standing in for Hadjar, was seventh quickest and showing that he is getting to grips with the new regulation cars quickly.

The second session was as exciting as the first, in that it wasn't.  This time the McLaren of Norris was fastest.  Out went Gasly, Tsunoda (only two places behind his team mate), Hulkenberg, Colapinto (who could not put together a good lap), Ocon and Albon.

Then we were halfway through the final Qualifying session and rain came down.  Most drivers got out early and put in their hot lap.  Norris hit the sweet spot before the track became too wet.  For a minute we watched the clock tick down to zero with no one on track before pole was confirmed.  Norris took pole showing a true resurgence for McLaren.  Russell and Antonelli completed the top three.  Behind them were Piastri, Hamilton, LeClerc, Verstappen, Lawson, Bortoleto and Linblad.

I will make sure I have a crossword or two to complete during the race.  Or maybe a little Sunday snooze?

Netherlands GP Sprint Report

 The wind was blowing in off the North Sea in the Netherlands.  The Spaniards, Sainz and Alonso had retreated to the pit lane to start the race.  On the formation lap, Norris seemed to be napping as Russell led the cars away.  Perez was wheeled away by his mechanics at the back.

Everyone was awake at the start and Russell led them all away pretty much in order apart from Antonelli who moved forwards.  It took a couple of laps for Perez to come out from the pit lane and a few more before Hulkenberg took his car back there to retire.

18 laps later another car retired, that of Sainz and we saw our first on-track overtake, LeClerc on Norris for second place.  It was a good move but not enough to sustain the entertainment for a whole race.

It did start to rain on the last lap but there were no more overtakes.  I would be interested to see how Channel 4 make a highlights package out of this race.  It was a thoroughly dreary race only made worse by techno music.

Netherlands GP Sprint Qualifying Report

We arrived at Zandvoort to breaking driver news...Albon and Sainz would be staying with Williams!  No, Verstappen had signed for four more years with Red Bull, ending all exciting speculation that he would be with a different team next season. 

There was change at Red Bull though, Hadjar had damaged his wrist over the holidays so Lawson was moved to stand in at the main team from Racing Bulls.  Tsunoda was brought in from the cold to drive in that seat.

Into the lap-setting and Antonelli was quick to go off through the gravel in the first session.  Alonso did something similar.  Aston Martin had brought upgrades to the last race and now it was their power unit provider, Honda's turn to bring the goods but the drivers were out in 19th and last places.  The six drivers out were Bearman (who seems to have lost it compared with the flailing Ocon), Sainz, Stroll, Bottas, Perez and Alonso.  It turned out a piece was broken on the wing on that slowest car.

The second session passed off with no incidents.  Lawson and Tsunoda were the best of the rest but that was still a good showing in new cars to them.  Behind them were Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Ocon and Albon.  The Williams is really struggling at this track (and the rest of them really).

There were quite a few drivers who could have taken Sprint Pole but in the end it was Russell, who will not stop going on about getting engaged.  Norris and LeClerc took the other "podium" places then Piastri, Antonelli, Versappen, Hamilton, Gasly, Bortoleto and Linblad.  It's good to see the two top drivers in the championship a little further back and having to work for it.

Andrea Stella warned that despite his drivers starting in great positions there was lots of uncertainty for the Sprint.  The weather may be a problem.  It would be interesting to see how it all pans out.