In Pictures: Netherlands 2022
Formula One arrived at an iconic old school racetrack, Zandvoort, Max Verstappen’s home Grand Prix.
There was a test with the gravel as it was glued together, in an effort to minimize drivers getting it on track when running outside of it.
FRIDAY
Free Practice 1 started 1/2 past 12 local time, and after just 10 minutes, we had the first red flag of the session, local hero stopped his RB18 on track, "Something wrong with the gearbox" he reported, with some smoke coming out the air box. While that was happening, Mick Schumacher was just beginning to do a start practice when the red flag was deployed, but as it was a forgivable error, no further investigation was deemed necessary.
The session resumed with about 40 minutes left on the clock. And in the end, it was a Mercedes 1 -2 as George Russell tops the charts, followed by Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, and Daniel Ricciardo, the Top Five.
Just before the start, it was announced that Oscar Piastri is to race for McLaren from 2023, ending weeks of speculation and controversy between McLaren and Alpine.
The start of FP2 was delayed by 15 minutes as the F2 Qualifying took longer than scheduled. And cars came out as soon as the green light was shown, except Latifi and Gasly. Verstappen immediately went to the top of the charts, but his RB18 kept smoking from the back. By half time, it was both Ferrari on top with Leclerc just 0.004 faster than Sainz. 13 minutes to the end of the session, Yuki Tsunoda went off at turn 10 and got stuck in the gravel trap, bringing out a red flag. The session resumed with just under four minutes left on the clock, which allowed many a driver one fast qualifying simulation run. The final standings were Leclerc from Sainz, followed by Hamilton, Norris, and Russell. Verstappen finished eight, Perez twelfth.
SATURDAY
It was a beautiful day at Zandvoort, a bit on the hot side and with a light breeze accompanying a gorgeous blue sky. Perfect for some car racing. Practice started slow, with just Sergio Perez’s Red Bull coming out as soon as the light turned green. Followed by Vettel a couple of minutes later, then Stroll, then the AlphaTauri. Surprisingly, after 8 minutes, it was only Checo Perez doing some laps, everyone else was in their respective garages.
Slowly, cars started coming out of the pits and into the track for some proper laps. Verstappen only needed one flying lap to get to the top of the charts with a 1:12.309. At this stage of FP3, his closest competitor was more than 1/2 a second behind. Verstappen came in for new tires and his next lap, a 1:12.196.
Finally, for the last third of practice 3, the first qualifying simulations from Williams, with Albon going third fastest, then came Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz going fastest, with a 1:11.971. With just 15 minutes left in the session, the fastest sectors were Vettel in S1, Sainz in S2, and Albon in S3. Then came Leclerc, with a lap 0.339 faster than Sainz. Then Russell jumped to P2. Indeed, Mercedes had entered the chat as the German team battled head-to-head with the Italians.
In the end, it was Leclerc leading the way into Qualifying, closely followed by Mercedes’ George Russell (0.066 slower), Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton, and Perez, the Top-Six.
QUALIFYING
A hot afternoon it was, 80°F (27°C), with a light breeze, and just 31% humidity. Track temperature nearing 102°F (40°C)
Q1
A few drivers came out early on, especially those down the table trying to get into Q2, a battle between the Haas, Williams, AlphaTauri, and Alfa Romeo. Then came the big boys with Verstappen setting the benchmark, a 1:11.317. But after a thrilling Q1, Bottas, Magnussen, Ricciardo Vettel, and Latifi could not get through to Q2.
Q2
With 13.54 minutes left on the clock, the first red flag of the session as an orange flare was thrown on to the track, ruining Alex Albon’s flying lap. After a few minutes, Q2 resumed and Verstappen set the benchmark, a blistering 1:10.927. In the end, Gasly, Ocon, Alonso, Zhou, and Albon were knocked out of Qualifying. On the other end, Sainz did the fastest lap, from Russell, and Verstappen.
Q3
As happened in Q2, Verstappen was the first to get out, setting a high benchmark with the fastest lap at the time, a 1:10.515. Then came Leclerc, bettering Verstappen’s lap by 0.059 of a second.
The final part of Qualifying saw a blistering lap from Leclerc, bettering his previous lap, but the Pole belonged to Max Verstappen with a 1:10.342, just 0.021 from Leclerc’s lap. Third, came Sainz, 0.092 behind Verstappen’s time. Russel and Hamilton were not able to complete their laps as Perez spun his RB18 bringing out a yellow flag in the final corner. So, in the end, it was Max Verstappen, followed by Charles Leclerc, and Carlos Sainz the Top-Three.
SUNDAY
Circuit Zandvoort was packed with orange, even more than the day before, with the vast majority supporting local hero Max Verstappen. Weather-wise it was cooler than on Saturday, breezy, humid, and cloudy, although rain was not expected.
Both Red Bulls and both Ferraris started on softs (red) tires, but the Mercedes started on mediums (yellow), splitting strategies at the front.
Fantastic start for the Dutch Grand Prix, with everyone respecting spaces, albeit Hamilton did touch Sainz’s Ferrari but without harm to either driver.
Next lap, Kevin Magnussen went off, sliding his Haas on the gravel trap and just kissing the barriers, holding his VF22 intact and able to continue.
Sainz came in on lap 15 to change tires but Ferrari did a Ferrari thing, having only three tires ready and ending up losing more than 12 seconds, sending Sainz out in 11th place, behind Bottas’ Alfa Romeo. This error promoted Hamilton to third, behind Leclerc and ahead of Russell.
On lap 17, Leclerc pitted, decent pitstop for the Monegasque driver. He came out fourth, behind Russell, now third. Next lap, Red Bull called race leader for his stop, decent stop also, coming out third, about five seconds ahead of Leclerc. Hamilton was now leading from his teammate Russell. But Verstappen was coming out really fast and caught up with Russell, passing him with relative ease at the end of the Start-Finish straight, despite the Briton’s best effort to defend the position.
On lap 30, Hamilton came into the pits for a change of tires, fresh hards (white), coming out in fifth but possibly not needing to stop again. A lap later, Mercedes called Russell in, decent pitstop as well, coming out in fifth, ahead of Sainz.
On lap 36, Hamilton tried to pass Perez for third, but just could not with the Mexican. Hamilton did complete the pass a lap later.
On lap 45, Yuki Tsunoda stopped his AlphaTauri on track reporting loose tires but was told everything was ok. Leclerc came in a lap later. Good stop by Ferrari, although he lost places to both Mercedes, coming out fourth. Tsunoda came again to the pits, losing more than 45 seconds. But stopping a few corners later with a broken differential, bringing out first a yellow flag, then a VSC on lap 47. Red Bull took advantage of it and pitted Verstappen for hards, Mercedes decided to double-stack Hamilton and Russell, both now on mediums. Ferrari unlucky with bad timing with both cars.
On lap 55, Valtteri Bottas stopped his Alfa Romeo at the end of the start-finish race, bringing out the yellow flags on sectors 1 and 3. A lap later the Safety Car was deployed. Red Bull called Verstappen in for red tires, coming out third. Russell took advantage of the situation and asked the team to change his tires, the team complied and fitted used softs on Lap 58, he retained his P3 place while Verstappen moved up to P2. The Ferraris also went in for softs, while Perez opted for mediums.
On lap 60 the race resumed and as much as Hamilton tried to keep the Red Bull number 1 behind, he couldn’t as Verstappen jumped him at the end of the straight. Four laps later Russell overtook a very angry Hamilton. And on Lap 66, Hamilton lost third place to Leclerc.
Fantastic racing from Sainz, defending from Perez, who was defending from Alonso and Norris behind. But while Sainz and Perez were fighting for P5, Sainz was slapped with a five-second penalty for an unsafe release during his previous pit stop.
In the end, Verstappen crossed the line to the jubilation of the home crowd to win the Dutch Grand Prix for the second consecutive time. George Russell finished second, and Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari. Hamilton ended up fourth. Sainz finished fifth but with the penalty applied was dropped to eighth, promoting Perez to fifth, Alonso to sixth, and Norris to seventh. In ninth came Esteban Ocon, and Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10
Verstappen also got the Fastest Lap bonus point and was voted Driver of the Day by the F1 community.
QUOTES FROM THE PODIUM
““Today was quite eventful and not a straightforward race at all, we had to make the right calls and it all worked out well in the end. Mercedes was very quick on the harder compound which we didn’t expect, so it made it more difficult for us as we were less compatible with the hards. We managed everything quite well and we made the right calls on the strategy so well done to the Team here and back at the factory. It’s always special to win your home grand prix but this year I had to work even harder for it. It’s incredible to win again in front of this crowd, we’ve had unbelievable support here and I’m proud to be Dutch.””
““It’s been an incredible reception here, a really special feeling for all of us drivers to come racing in Zandvoort and in Holland. As a team we showed incredible pace today, I know the team result wasn’t quite what we hoped for, but this gives us a lot of confidence and a lot of faith going forwards. It’s incredible to see three different teams on the podium and we as Mercedes are slowly getting closer to that top step, so let’s keep on pushing. Not an easy decision for the team to make with the final safety car, when you’re in front with track position, you’ve got a shot to go for the win which is what we did. But this is what we as Mercedes are here to do, we’re here to win. And the 2000 people back in the UK, at Brackley and Brixworth, are all working to get us that win, so today we took a decision to give us the best chance of that. Our qualifying performance yesterday probably cost us most this weekend because if we were on the second row, I think we’d have been fighting even more for the win. But from race one in Bahrain, being a second off, to this weekend and having the fastest race car is incredibly impressive and everyone in the team should be very proud.””
““We’re not particularly happy with P3 today after having started second, but we were just not fast enough. The first stint was really good on the soft compound. I was quite confident, but on the Mediums, things became trickier, especially with Mercedes being so strong on the Hards. We were unlucky with the Virtual Safety Car, but I don’t think it would have changed much for us. We’re off to Monza next. Although, on paper, it doesn’t look like it will be the strongest race for us, we’re always extremely motivated going there. It’s our home race and I can’t wait to see our tifosi again.” ”
