Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Dutch Grand Prix
Photo by Peter Fox from Getty Images
I’ll tell you what.
For a track that’s very difficult to overtake on, that was a very exciting race!
So let’s just jump into it.
Losers
5. Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo just recently returned to Formula 1, and is unfortunately right back out with a broken hand.
He made the right decision to hit the wall as opposed to hitting another car and it was in no way his fault, but it is still very unfortunate for him.
4. Zhou Guanyu
Zhou was having an absolutely fantastic race, but the difficulty with rainy conditions in Formula 1 is that you need to be on the ball 24/7.
Zhou made one simple mistake, and his fantastic race went right into the wall for no points.
3. Logan Sargeant
Not only is Williams getting faster, but Logan Sargeant is getting faster.
He’s improving in races. He’s improving in qualifying.
But as I said above, you need to be on the ball.
In qualifying, one tire onto the wet line ruined his chances at a higher grid spot, and the race found him spinning off the track and crashing as well.
The pace is improving.
Now, it’s time for the race craft to improve.
2. Sergio Perez
This weekend was so up and down for Checo.
His qualifying wasn’t good enough, but a brilliant strategy call in changing conditions got him the win.
Then, team strategy gave the lead to his teammate Max Verstappen.
A bummer, but not the end of the world!
And then, a bad pit stop right before a red flag and speeding on pit lane, which is a completely inexcusable error, took away a podium from Checo and turned it into a 4th place finish.
1. Charles Leclerc
I don’t even know what to say about Leclerc’s race.
It was just sad and quite frankly upsetting.
The team said he had damage, and I hope he did, because if not then Ferrari has even more to explain for than they previously did.
Winners
5. Alexander Albon
Albon said after the race that he was disappointed with 8th but needed to remind himself to be happy.
As he should be, his qualifying was excellent and he got another 4 points for Williams.
It’s not his fault they were put behind the 8 ball due to a bad opening strategy when it rained.
4. Fernando Alonso
Alonso is finally back on the podium for the first time since Canada.
It looked like Aston had stagnated a bit, so that podium has to feel good for the team.
3. Max Verstappen
A trickier race for Verstappen this week, but it was still a race win which brings his total to 9 in a row, one away from the Formula 1 record.
He’s on an insane run right now.
2. Lewis Hamilton
Speed is the most important thing in Formula 1, but the second most important thing is consistency.
Hamilton started 13th after a dreadful qualifying, and Zandvoort as I said above is one of the hardest places to pass people. It wasn’t going to be easy for him to get a quality finish.
But sure enough, he kept his head down and stayed out of any possible trouble, and just rode all the way to a 6th place finish.
It’s surely not where Lewis wants to be, but it was still a good race.
1. Pierre Gasly
There was so much turmoil going on at Alpine, with many high figures leaving the team during the summer break.
So Gasly’s podium could not have come at a better time for moral.
