Zoom Zoom: Dutch Grand Prix 15! New team reveals their drivers for 2026! Messy practices, Ferrari's very bad day, Lando heartbreak, and a rookie shines bright!
- Colby Michaels
- 16 minutes ago
- 9 min read
Welcome back Zoomies from the F1 summer break! (Ya would not know it, since I had to write up the last 2 races before the break last week!) It's race 15 on the circuit, in the Netherlands/Holland, yet the race is called the Dutch GP - so confusing! Zandervoort is just a few miles away from the beach, so sand/dust will be blowing onto the track. Beautiful beachside view, though! Oh, if you love aa track that has high "banks" this one's for you! Some may ask what is this "high bank" Colby's referring to? Well, you see a lot of banks on tracks in NASCAR, my rudimentary description goes something like this: Imagine a spoon in a bowl, and you swirl that spoon around, slowly getting higher and higher till the spoon is out of the bowl; that's kind of what a high bank curve/turn is!
Anyhoo- a reminder of the standings: McLaren leads Ferrari by almost 300 points (!!!) for the Constructor's (team) Championship, while the race to keep on eye on is between McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who leads Lando by just nine points! The Papaya boys going to make for an exciting 2nd half!
Technically, this Dutch GP at Zandvoort is Max Verstappen's "home race", four- time champion Max and his Red Bull car are only fourth in the standings- his car this season isn't that good (but he has the lion's share of points between him and his RB teammate, Yuki Tsunoda!), so it has been on odd year....on the track. Earlier this year, Max and his girlfriend welcomed their first child, so there has been some joy in Max's life!
Paddock News: Some big F1 news came out last week, Cadillac, which will be the 11th team to be on the grid in 2026 has announced that Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will be behind the wheel for the team in Caddie's inaugural season! I know some folks are curious to see what Perez can show after leaving the Death Star confines known as Red Bull Racing!
The other surprising news for me is that Alpine's Franco Colapinto still has a racing seat at that team! Darth Flavio usually has a tight leash and will pull a driver for underperforming, which Franco certainly was before the break!
Speaking of grids, your usual Team/drivers pic, as usual switch Yuki and Liam Lawson, erase Doohan, and imagine Colapinto in the Alpine seat....for now:
Onto racing! All practices 60 minutes.
P1: 68 degrees, 11 MPH, with some gusty areas, partly cloudy. There is a lot of orange in the crowd, most of it for Max, put also for the McLaren Papaya boys! Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari does a full 360 spin, but is able to right himself and keep racing. Twelve minutes in, we get our first RED FLAG as Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli slides offtrack on the exit of Turn 9 and firmly beaches himself into the gravel near the wall! Kimi understeered and locked the brakes to get him out of this session. Car cleared after 10 minutes, and racing back on. No further incidents as the clock zeroes out, but wait, what's this? Max has beached his car in the gravel on his practice start! Now that's something you don't see! A very rare unexpected error by Max!
P2: A few degrees cooler, and a chance of rain for the afternoon practice. 12 minutes in, and we have a RED FLAG on turn 3 as Aston-Martin's Lance Stroll mangles his car, as Lance locked up his front tyres and crashed into the wall- Lance is okay! Car removed, track crew makes the crash area neat and tidy again, and we start racing after 13 minutes. Two minutes later, Sugar-Free Red Bull's driver, Isack Hadjar radios in that he has no power, and up goes a YELLOW FLAG, which is switched to a Virtual Safety Car, as Isack's practice is done, and the track crew are able to remove the car to a track exit. Meanwhile Lewis does another unintended donut, but is able to continue racing. With 20 minutes to go, Turn 1 claims Williams Racings driver Alex Albon, as he skids off into the gravel and taps the wall, losing the front wing, and beached the car is, so Alex's practice is over with the RED FLAG out.
In the pit lane, as George Russell's Mercedes was entering the pit lane, Oscar's McLaren dodged out into it, almost causing a collision! The stewards will be looking at THAT for sure, with potential fines to be handed down! Albon's car cleared, racing resumes with about 13 minutes to go. No further incidents or rain!
P3: Partly cloudy, mid 70's but winds coming from the sea could be a factor. Rain overnight, so track has been declared a "wet track". By the way, Lance's mangled A-M car has miraculously repaired (those mechanics are wizards!). Georgie and Fernando Alonso nearly collided as both were heading into the pit lane, Georgie bailed out back on track at the last second! Whew! No further incidents, so onto Qualifying!
A note on Qualifying: as it has been a while: in Q1 and Q2 the slowest driver lap times will star tin the back of the grid for the GP. Q3 determines the top ten, and pole position determined by the fastest lap. Similar set-up with Sprint Quali. Onwards!
Q1: 18 minutes. Partly cloudy, 68 degrees and windy. a few minutes in, and Lance spins out his Aston-Martin, into the gravel, and lightly crashes into the wall. Lance is able to to get back out on track to take the car back to the garage. and Lance's Quali is done. But Lance's radio exchange with the A-M pit wall may be my favorite of the season! After crashing, Lance radios in: "I've crashed the car." A-M pit wall: pregnant pause......then..."We are aware of that." #Dead Bottom 5/back of track for GP are: Stroll-A/M, Hulkenberg-Sauber, Colapinto-Alpine, and both Haas drivers, Ocon and Bearman.
Q2: 15 minutes. The wind gusts are making it tricky for the drivers. Ferrari's Charles LeClerc had to slow down on his first lap run, as a FOX crossed the track! What did the fox say? ( i could not resist referencing that one hit (WIERD!) pop song wonder!) I DARE YOU to click on the link to the video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE After that LSD trip, Back to racing, and no incidents, so next bottom five are : Kimi-Mercedes, Yuki Tsunoda- Red Bull, Pierre Gasly- Alpine, Albon-Williams, and Gabriel Bortoleto-Sauber.
Q3: 12 minutes. and the top ten are: Oscar on pole, Lando-2nd, Max-3rd, Isack-4th (!!), Georgie-5th, Charles-6th, Lewis-7th, Liam Lawson-8th, Carlos Sainz-9th, and Fernando rounds out the top 10 for Sunday's GP!
Dutch Grand Prix: 72 laps, over 2.6 miles per lap with 14 turns. Overcast with a chance of light rain. Over 305,000 attendees for this race weekend. Orange is the color of choice, either Dutch orange for Max, or Papaya orange for the Papaya boys of McLaren. Almost all drivers starting on Medium tyres, with Haas starting on Hards. Ollie starts last from the pit lane as Haas gave him a new power unit (keep that in mind!). And it's LIGHTS OUT and Oscar gets a good jump out ahead on the first turn, Max, who is running on soft tyres to start, gets a little weebly-wobbly, but is able to over take Lando for 2nd, while Fernando's A-M car slid back five spots, while Williams Alex Albon has jumped into the top ten after the opening lap!
Lap 9 sees Lando do a beautiful job of overtaking Max and is now chasing his Papaya teammate Oscar, who is 4.5 seconds in the lead. Light rain falling at start of Lap 20. No position change in the top 10. Yuki pits to switch out Softs for Hards ( I forgot Red Bull had both drivers on Softs). Lap 23, Charles pits for change to Hard tyres, and right after that, his Ferrari teammate, Lewis Hamilton, CRASHES into the bank on Turn 3. Safety Car deployed, and almost all the other drivers rush into the pit lane (except for the Haas drivers- still on their Hards) like it was a Black Friday sale at a Nintendo or Nike store to change to Hards, except for Max, who chooses Medium tyres. Turns out Sir Lewis tyres clipped on the now wet paint that painted around the Turn 3. Drivers have this now noted, as it is a DNF (DidNot Finish) for Lewis. Safety Car ends on Lap 26, and its Oscar, Lando, Max, Isack, Georgie, Charles Liam Lawson, Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon and Alex in the top ten. Liam and Carlos collide, both suffering damage but are able to pit and change tyres and back out onto the track. Lap 31 Virtual Safety Car out due to debris on track from Carlos William's car! Cheers from the crowd for the marshal for removing that piece of carbon fiber. Green flag up on Lap 32, and immediately Charles goes elbows out and muscles his way past Georgie for the overtake to take 5th place (Little does Charles know that Georgie's padewan is going to unleash his inner Sith later in a quest for VENGEANCE!). (Cue ominous music!)
Very much to Carlos surprise and chagrin, he is slapped with a 10 second PENALTY for that collision with Liam. Carlos wants to see the stewards after the race! The commentators agreed that the contact was NOT penalty worthy, that is should be noted as a "racing incident". Steady pace of racing for several laps, Mercedes has Georgie switch with Kimi, as Georgie's car has some damage from Charles bumping Georgie out of his way. Lando now just one second behind Oscar for the lead. Lap 52 sees Kimi pit to change to soft tyres, and one lap later, Charles does the same, BUT....as Charles comes out from the pit lane onto the track, padewan Kimi releases his inner Sith dark side and avenges his Mercedes teammate Georgie by clipping the rear of Charles Ferrari, sending Charles safely into the grassy area, but his race is done for the day.......Okay, Kimi made an overly aggressive overtake move on Charles, a rookie mistake, but I thought MY version y'all would find a bit more entertaining, especially if you are Star Wars fans! :)
Anyhoo, Safety Car out, and another stampede to the pit lane to change tyres, Papaya Boys get new Hards, While Max and others go to Softs, Haas finally changes Ollie and Esteban's tyres (53 laps) to Mediums, as do some of the other drivers as well. Carlos served his very questionable 10 second penalty under this Safety Car, so he can race "freely" again. To no one's surprise Sith Lord Kimi is slapped with a 10 second PENALTY and a 5 second PENALTY for unsafe release/speeding when he pitted before ruining Charles and Ferrari's day!
Green Flag on Lap 58, and Oscar still holds the lead over Max, but Max on new soft tyres is pushing Lando, as Lando for is under a second, so DRS is available to Lando. Ah, but on Lap 65, the Lando Heartbreak I alluded to strikes Lando, as smoke comes from his car, and he and his McLaren car are done (DNF) due to a mechanical failure. An absolutely heartbreaking moment for Lando and his fans, as he did absolutely nothing wrong to now drop behind Oscar 34 points in the Drivers championship. <sad emoji insert here>. Yellow Flag in effect now. Green light on Lap 68, and Max chasing Oscar down!
And your Dutch GP 25 winner is Oscar Piastri, with Max 2nd, and Isack Hadjar, in his rookie year, takes 3rd place on the podium. Gleeful celebration over in the Sugar-Free RB garage!
Georgie in 4th, Alex in 5th, Antonelli in 6th, but because of the penalties, he drops all the way back to the end of the order, so Ollie, who if you recall, started last at 20th, finishes with his highest placement of his young career, in 6th, the Aston-Martin drivers, Lance (!!!) in 7th and Fernando in 8th, Yuki in 9th, and Estebon rounds out the points in 10th!! (Both Haas drivers got points!
Fan vote driver of the day goes to Kimi...just kidding, Isack deservedly got the lion's share of the fan vote! Kimi secured the Sith Lord's vote! :)
Off to Imola, Italy next week , which is Ferrari's home race!
I got permission from artist Napquenn1 on Instagram and Threads to post her work here on my blog- it was these two panels that inspired my lil padewan Kmi joins the Dark Side story from above! Their work is so cute, fun, and adorable- definitely check out their site for more like this- always makes me laugh! (Oscah!).
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