Since qualifying, there has been some movement. Hamilton took a 3-place penalty for “hindering” Perez. He will start 14th instead of 12th. Because Alexander Albon, for his part, qualified ahead of Hamilton, was disqualified for a non-compliant flat bottom (a difference in the way of measuring between the FIA and Williams, the blunder). Magnussen had his battery changed and will therefore start from the pits. 19 cars on the grid.
The weather is nice but not too hot. Tyre management will once again be the key to this GP, as well as the start. It is almost impossible to overtake at Zandvoort if you don’t have a big difference in speed. The only very conceivable possibility: a mistake by the driver in front with the gusts of wind. Or wait for a tyre change. There should be two in this race, unless some at the back of the grid try a single stop by starting on hard tyres.
Lando Norris will have pressure from Verstappen at the start. But could count on his teammate Piastri to make the Dutchman lose time. Well, only Magnussen starts on hard. A large majority starts on medium, except Tsunoda 11th, Hamilton 14th and Bottas 16th.
Start – 72 laps
Huge start from Verstappen who takes the lead ahead of Norris. Russell also takes the advantage over Piastri. Gasly also made a huge start by passing the two Aston Martins, he is 7th. Sainz even passed Stroll. Verstappen got away from the DRS in less than 2 laps. The pace is impressive and we wonder if Red Bull has not sacrificed qualifying for the race.
For Norris now the question arises of how to regain the lead of the race. In pure rhythm, it seems that it is not going to happen. He will have to look at the degradation of the tires and perhaps count on a set of new mediums in addition to Verstappen. Magnussen made a mistake when braking, he went through the gravel and started again. At Haas we had braking problems all weekend, again? Well, we are settling into a classic routine at Zandvoort. Everyone has gusts of wind from time to time that destabilize the car, but no one can take advantage of them.
Sainz proves that it is possible to overtake since he does it on Alonso at the first corner, on the outside. He will now attack Gasly. On the next lap, the 11th, Sainz goes inside Gasly. The Frenchman tries to resist but has to give up in the following corners. Pierre must not make a mistake in the fight and not waste his race against a Ferrari. Sainz is 7th, Gasly 8th.
Lap 13, Albon comes in to change tires! It’s very early in the race. He goes back on hard for a very long second stint. Hamilton gets into the points by passing Stroll. And Verstappen starts to say on the radio that his car (leading the race) is not turning at turn 10. Tire degradation problem? In any case Norris comes back and should soon get back to the second behind, and have the DRS.
Tour 15/72
Tsunoda and Hulkenberg also come back to the pits. Mediums for Tsunoda, hards for Hulk. Hamilton still has his soft tyres from the start and keeps a good pace. Interesting. Norris has already joined Verstappen. Verstappen should quickly come to the pits and put on the hards. And at the start of the 18th lap, Norris overtakes Verstappen thanks to DRS and a higher pace. He will now try to widen the gap.
At McLaren we are confident and we feel very strong. In any case for Norris. Piastri for his part is under threat from Leclerc and outside the DRS zone of Russell. Verstappen uses the 199 Grands Prix he has already done (it’s his 200th this weekend), to stay in the DRS zone and get “pulled” by Norris. Hamilton has passed Alonso, and is behind Gasly for the gain of 8th place. Verstappen has been taken out of second and will lose time.
Leclerc harasses Piastri. Here it is the battle for the podium that is played out. Hamilton tries the inside on Gasly but the latter defends himself and keeps his place. Watch out for Lewis’s tires! Leclerc goes through the pits at the end of the 25th lap. He will try the undercut on Piastri and will have to pull off a crazy first lap. He comes out behind Alonso. Hamilton also went through the pits again. Russell covers Leclerc one lap later. Leclerc passed Alonso and passed Russell! At Mercedes we also lost a little time in the pits.
Piastri has no choice but to continue and try to erase the undercut. Verstappen in the pits! He starts again on hard tires just in front of Gasly. At McLaren, Norris is brought in one lap later to cover Max. The stop is not great, but it will be enough to start again in front of Verstappen. Piastri is the new leader. He is ahead of Perez and Sainz. Leclerc has passed Gasly who will be passed by Russell. But, he is not in the same race.
Tour 30/72
Perez is in the pits. Bad stop in 4.4 seconds. Perez sets off again just ahead of Stroll. It’s a waltz of tyre changes. Russell passes Gasly who doesn’t resist any more than that. 2.6 seconds for Carlos Sainz. Well done Ferrari. This allows him to come out just behind Perez and hope for the DRS. But Perez passes Alonso who hasn’t stopped yet. Alonso comes in at the end of lap 31. Piastri, Gasly and Magnussen haven’t changed tyres yet.
At McLaren they are perhaps trying to keep Piastri on the track as much as possible and eliminate a stop? Gasly in the pits. He starts again 12th ahead of Alonso, but behind Albon. Piastri in the pits! Hard tires, 2.4 seconds of stopping. Norris takes the lead again. Piastri starts again 5th ahead of Perez. At the end of the 34th lap, the entire pack is on hard tires. Well, Alpine was under investigation for an “unsafe release” …. a mechanic let his hand hang in front of the right front tire, probably to adjust the wing by one notch. No penalty but Gasly must have an asymmetrical wing …
We’re past the halfway point, we have Norris ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc. Russell is 4th ahead of Piastri, Perez, Sainz, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Magnussen in 10th position. Stroll took 5 seconds for too high a speed in the pits, braking at the sign too late. Piastri passes Russell! Here he is 4th.
But this crazy overtaking! Well, these overtakings… Magnussen was leading a little train and all these great people overtook each other on the straight. Magnussen lost 4 places, and Gasly pulled out all the stops since he found himself 10th. Alonso passed Albon. Magnussen returned to the pits a lap later, he waited for a safety car that never came. Piastri caught up with Leclerc. He could overtake the Ferrari driver and force RedBull into its strategy.
Tour 45/72
Norris has a lead of almost 12 seconds over Verstappen. Piastri is 7 seconds behind, and especially just behind Leclerc. Sainz has a run-in with Perez. After 3 attempts, Sainz finally passes Perez who was defending hard. Lap 49, Hamilton goes through the pits. It is a “free stop” because he had a 30 second lead over Hülkenberg’s Haas. He starts again on soft tires and will try to get the point for the fastest lap in the race.
Red Bull was tempted to stop Perez to counter Hamilton. But isn’t the gap already too small to try that? They give up. Piastri is still behind Leclerc. Fastest lap in the race for Hamilton. And by far. If there was a safety car now, Hamilton and his fresh soft tyres would probably be a big winner.
For McLaren, the one-two is slipping away as Piastri is not passing Leclerc quickly. Russell pits? Strange strategy. Or did they feel they were going to pass Sainz and are trying to move over? He goes back on the soft, behind Perez, but in front of Hamilton. Albon also pits on lap 56. Gasly seems to be hanging on to his 10th place, but he is closing in on Hulkenberg and could pass him for another point.
Piastri is still behind Leclerc. It looks like we are heading towards the end of the race without too many tyre changes now. Norris is 16 seconds ahead.
Tour 60/72
And Gasly goes around the outside! It must be said that his tires have 20 laps less than Hülkenberg’s. In the end, we had a lot of overtaking on the track. Hülkenberg could lose his point because Alonso is coming back to him. Was the one-stop bet too hard for Haas? There you go! Alonso has passed Hülkenberg and takes the last provisional point.
Hamilton hammers home the point for the fastest lap in the race. He even catches up with Russell who doesn’t have a “crazy” pace. There are a few laps left and we don’t see Hamilton attacking Russell. But who knows… If the positions stay like this until the finish, McLaren would come back to 31 points behind Red Bull.
Norris now has a 20 second lead. Very solid race from the McLaren driver who didn’t panic when Verstappen passed him at the start. Piastri has given up on Leclerc.
Arrival
The cherry on the cake for Norris is the fastest lap in the race he took from Hamilton! Just imagine, with used hard tires he beat a car (admittedly with more fuel) on new soft tires. Today Norris did a Verstappen. Next GP next weekend at Monza.
2024 Drivers Ranking
If Verstappen still has a very comfortable lead of 70 points, he sees his lead shrinking and his pace in the race no longer being huge, or even as here no longer being at all. There are 9 races left and everything can still be decided. It should be noted that Perez is still 7th.
Pos.PilotesPoints1 Max Verstappen2952 Lando Norris2253 Charles Leclerc1954 Oscar Piastri1795 Carlos Sainz Jr.1726 Lewis Hamilton1517 Sergio Pérez1398 George Russell1229 Fernando Alonso5010 Lance Stroll2411 Nico Hülkenberg2212 Yuki Tsunoda2213 Daniel Ricciardo1214 Pierre Gasly815 Oliver Bearman616 Kevin Magnussen517 Esteban Ocon518 Alexander Albon419 Zhou Guanyu020 Logan Sargeant021 Valtteri Bottas0
2024 Manufacturers Ranking
With Perez’s performance, Red Bull is seriously threatened by McLaren at only 28 points! Ferrari is being overtaken by McLaren for 2nd place. Alpine adds two points to its total and clings to 8th place. Barring a miracle, Haas, 14 points further back, is untouchable.
Pos.ConstructeursPoints1 Red Bull-
Honda RBPT4322 McLaren-
Mercedes4043 Ferrari3754 Mercedes2735 Aston Martin-
Mercedes746 Racing Bulls-
Honda RBPT347 Haas-
Ferrari278 Alpine-
Renault139 Williams-
Mercedes410 Kick Sauber-
Ferrari0
