With the summer break over, it's time for the last ten races of the season, starting with Max Verstappen's "home race" in the Netherlands! If you read the last Zoom Zoom, you are aware of the significant driver changes.....for 2025. Seems like 2024, this same team/driver grid still applies:
And before we get to the track, and the Max eye candy...BREAKING NEWS! F2 Driver, and Aussie, Jack Doohan has been promoted to take the Alpine F1 seat vacated Esteban Ocon for 2025! the above driver lineup picture going to look a lot different in 2025! Oh, and the Mercedes seat that is being vacated by Lewis Hamilton moving over to Ferrari is still open!
Geek note: McLaren's Oscar Piastri is the ONLY driver who has completed every lap (845) in the 14 races this season! ( Now we can start the curse clock I've put on Oscar!). ALso, just learned in the last three races, Oscar has been racing with a BROKEN RIB! 5G Force will do that to a driver!
Welcome to F1, Jack!
So for this race, held in Zandvoort, Netherlands, we have rain, we have wind, and high humidity to start. The track itself is only a few miles from the beach, so could we get sand on the track as well? Intermediate (light rain) and Wet (heavy rain) tyres may see some action on this first practice session. Short track, btw, with 14 turns, some are very interesting curves-wise.
P1: Late starts as drivers wait for the track to warm up, all drivers on Wet tyres, and several gravel visits by drivers as the tyres are cold going out on a wet track. Halfway thru, rain has let up, and track and tyres warmer, so now on the Intermediate tyres. Some drivers near the end of this 60 minute practice have now switched to Soft tyres (fastest tyre). No othe news, let's see how the conditions are later for P2.
P2: Later in the day, and the brellies and ponchos are packed away as the skies are clear, and track is dry, but the tail and cross winds could be an issue. Almost all medium tyres for the drivers to start. On turn one, the tailwind, is sliding cars into the gravel early. And after 20 minutes, Turn 1 claims it's first victim as Haas' Nico Hulkenberg's back tyres lock up and off into the gravel and into the soft wall. Nico is fine, car is done for the day. Red flag for a few minutes, and what Ferrari discovered is that Carlos Sainz's gearbox has called it a day. At 28 minutes to go, almost all drivers are know racing on soft tyres. Last notes- Sauber driver Zhou and the Sauber team WILL bet a monetary penalty for an "unsafe release" ( Has nothing to do with an ex of mine!), by leaving the garage into the pit lane and nearly taking out RB's Riccardo who was also exiting the the garage into the pit lane- that is what i officially an unsafe release! Eye Candy time with Max!
Max be like, "You KNOW I have won this race for the last three seasons, bitch!"
P3: Saturday racing, and the ponchos and umbrellas are out as a steady rain, winds, very overcast, and sand on the track from the beach. Chilly as well, at 68 degrees and 95% humidity, and all drivers using the Intermediate tyres due to the slick track. Must be Groundhog Day( the movie) as Nico Hulkenberg once again had his brakes lock up and drove off the track and bumped the wall, messing up his front wing. a few minutes later, Red FLAG as Williams driver Logan Sargent had a huge crash into the barrier on turn three, as his tyre caught some of the wet grass on a turn sending him viciously into the barrier; Logan getting out of a car that is on FIRE ( he is okay)! Safe to say, Logan will not be racing in Quali's. Should mention during this extended red flag, that 10 drivers have NOT even touched the track yet to establish a lap time. and after 45 minutes of barrier repair, we have a stampede of cars getting into the pit lane. Two minutes of practice racing we have left. And Max did dip over the "concrete" white line, to get ahead, black and white flag dropped on him by the stewards.
A note on how Qualifying works: There are three quick races to determine grid position for the GP race. First quali the last five drivers are cut, second quali again, last five drivers dropped, and 3rd and final quali determines the top ten on the grid and the ever important pole (1st) position. This also applies to the Sprint Qualis, you will just see me use SQ1 to show the difference.
Wonder if he is as fast at surf paddling as he is on the race track!
Quali 1: Afternoon and the sun is out, 75 degrees, track is dry, for this 18 minute Q1. All drivers are using the fast Soft tyres. Drivers are flying on this Q1, no incidents, so the bottom five drivers are: Bottas/Sauber, Ocon/Alpine, Zhou/Sauber, Riccardo/RB, and after what happened in P3, Sargent of Williams did not even enter the track. Quali 2: 15 minutes for this quali, and no incidents to report other than an impeding (get out of my way!) between Hamilton and Perez. Speaking of Sir Lewis, shocker of the day is he has ended up in this Q2 bottom 5, along with the other surprise, Sainz of Ferrari! RB's Tsunoda, and both Haas cars/drivers, Hulkenberg and Magnussen round out the bottom. Quali 3: 12 minutes for top ten grid position and the ever important pole position! And for the 4th time this season, Lando Norris puts McLaren on pole position! Along side him in the front row is Max Verstappen, followed by Piastri, Russell, Perez, LeClerc, Alonso, Albon, Stroll and Gasly. Of note, first time this season that the Aston Marin drivers (Alonso and Stroll) are in the top ten grid. Looks like we may have a very exciting Grand Prix on Sunday! Oh! and I have the answer to what determines how many laps in a race! If its a longer track (more turns, more track to cover) less amount of laps to complete; if its a shorter track like this one in the Netherlands (14 turns, shorter track), its more laps to complete...ahh logic, how I love thee!
The thirst trap Max in a towel pic!
It's Grand Prix Sunday at Zandvoort, Netherlands that will have 72 laps to win this GP, and it's a gorgeous sunny day at the track. I will also note that of the 305K who attended the races this weekend, 45,000 fans cycled themselves to the race, as Netherlands is big on clean energy! We have some penalty news after yesterday's qualifying. That impeding incident that involved Hamilton and Perez has resulted in Hamilton getting a three spot grid penalty, dropping him back to 14th on the grid. It was also learned after qualifying that Alex Albon's Williams car floor had been measured and found to be too wide, this was a Williams upgrade that did NOT go well, so Albon will start in the back of the grid. And the Max Verstappen fans are out in full orange force for their home town hero, who will be the 23rd F1 driver to drive in his 200th race!
And it LIGHTS OUT, and once again Max overtakes Lando on the first turn for the third time that these two drivers have been 1-2 on the front row to take the lead. Almost all drivers on Medium tyres to start, with Lewis on Soft tyres, and has already made up three spots to move into 11th after 14 laps. On Lap 18, Lando makes a brilliant move to overtake Max to take the lead for the first time in this race! Lap 25 sees a lot of drivers making pit stops, switching to the HARD tyres; Lando and Max, Oscar, Sergio Perez and Gasly haven't pitted as of yet. Lap 35, and all drivers have pitted and on Hard tyres. Lando still in the lead over Max, with Charles LeClerc, George Russell, and Oscar rounding out the top five, about halfway thru this race. PENALTY ALERT! Aston-Martin's Lance Stroll picks up a five second penalty for speeding into the pit lane...a huge no-no!
It was status quo for the rest of the race, but in the end, your Netherlands Grand Prix winner is McLaren's Lando Norris, capturing his 2nd career checkered flag of this year and his career, winning over Max by a smashing 22.8 second lead, which is almost unheard of (unless your name is Max)! Third place goes to LeClerc, with Paistri fourth, Sainz 5th, Perez 6th, Russell and Hamilton 7th and 8th, Gasly 9th (first top ten for Gasly this season!) and rounding out the points in 10th is Alonso! Lando also clocked fasted lap of the day for another point, and was voted by fans (again) as "Driver of the Day".
Off to Italy for the 15th race on this years circuit! We definitely now have a race for both the Drivers and Constructors (Team) championships between Lando and Max and their teams McLaren and Red Bull! And now for the latest Leo click-bait!
Ciao bella till next week!
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