Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Dutch Grand Prix

Photo by Andrew Ferraro from Getty Images

We’re back!

The summer break is over, and we are in the final stretch of this Formula 1 season.

And boy, did things take a dramatic turn.

Here are the winners and losers from the Dutch Grand Prix.

Losers

5. Sauber

Sauber has had themselves quite a good season, but this was a week to forget, as both Sauber’s lacked pace, finished outside of the points, and lost massive ground on their rivals in the championship.

Still a while to go, but this was a hit.

4. The Stewards

I genuinely can’t fathom this race from the Stewards and their decisions on penalties.

First, they decided Charles Leclerc’s questionable move on George Russell would be investigated after the race, which isn’t out of the ordinary, but the incident happened before halfway through the race.

Surely they could have made a decision faster than that.

And then, we have the Sainz penalty.

In what universe is this Sainz’s fault at all, let alone worth 10 seconds?!

They just made no sense all weekend, and it has to be better.

3. Lewis Hamilton

Practice was rough. Qualifying was bad. He hit wet paint on the track and lost the car and had to retire.

Lewis has had a tough first year at Ferrari and needed some confidence.

This won’t help things.

2. Kimi Antonelli

I respect that Antonelli is young and hungry and wants to make his mark in F1, but he was on pace for a great result before needlessly divebombing and crashing out Charles Leclerc.

That got him a penalty, which led to him missing out on the points entirely.

There’s a difference between bold and stupid.

It was the latter.

1. Lando Norris

The engine failure is incredibly unfortunate, and puts Norris 34 points behind his championship rival Oscar Piastri.

But the bigger issue is that Norris was faster all weekend.

Until it mattered.

This has been a common occurrence this year.

Lando is quicker all weekend, and then Oscar finds an extra gear in the final stint of qualifying, takes pole, and ends up having better strategy during the race.

If he does lose the championship, it won’t be because of engine failures.

It will be those moments in qualifying.

Winners

5. Oscar Piastri

He had the extra pace in the fastest car, and got his first career grand slam in the process.

He’s doing what needs to be done.

4. Lance Stroll

Stroll had a horrible weekend, crashing in practice and qualifying.

Despite that, he still found his way up the order and finished 7th in the race after starting 19th.

The only day that matters is Sunday.

3. Oliver Bearman

As Oliver Bearman knows as well, after finishing 6th while starting from the pit lane.

2. Alex Albon

And as Alex Albon knows, who finished 5th after starting 15th.

If you can, I highly recommend watching Albon’s first lap of the race.

It is a masterclass of race craft and overtaking.

Beautiful to watch.

1. Isack Hadjar

Hadjar was lucky that Lando had an engine failure, as that place helped him get onto his first career podium in Formula 1.

But that was the only luck he needed.

He qualified 4th, maintained 4th, and was the lucky recipient of Lando’s engine failure to get the podium.

He has been the rookie of the year by a long, long way, and I can not wait to see where his career goes from here.

Isack Hadjar is a budding star.