SS454
5th September 2021, 20:53
The 2021 Dutch Grand Prix around the revised Zandvoort circuit has to go down as a success. The track itself has to be considered one of the favorites for the driver's to drive flat out. The racing isn't spectacular as one should have expected given the nature of the track means overtakes are incredibly difficult. If you appreciate strategy, then the race was still pretty exciting.
Red Bull Racing had the car of the field and Verstappen drove a terrific race. He had to perform with forced early pitstops, different tire strategies, and Mercedes having 2 cars to try to spoil his day. Perez did have a great drive from the back of the grid, but his mistakes that put him in bad situation should not be ignored. He is currently on a string of costly mistakes that goes back to Spa where had he only drove to the grid, he would have scored points. Then fails to get the best car out of Q1 on Saturday. Then hurts his race by causing a huge tire lock up early in the race. Looking past the fact he is still half a second slower than Verstappen, he needs to perform better.
Mercedes was not as slow as they want to make out. They had pace, but were a few tenths off of Max in his Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton went on his usual rant about tires, yet continued to set personal bests and even in his post race comments said the tires were good. He also threw his team under the bus once again by publicly trashing on their strategy call that put him into traffic after the pitstop. The fact is, he is right. Mercedes didn't look to be on top of the strategies today. They decided Bottas was to be used completely as a pawn to help Lewis the entire race. It must be incredibly frustrating for Bottas when at no point did the team try to maximize his race. His brief fastest lap at the end of the race was hilarious.
AlphaTauri had another fantastic result in the hands of Pierre Gasly. If there is an MVP this season, it is without question Pierre Gasly. Consistently performs above what is expected from the car and puts in results, GOOD results. On the other hand, Yuki Tsunoda continues his decline. After a strong start to the season, he has failed time and again to perform and it is really costing the team in the Constructors Championship. He is securely a bottom 3 driver at this point.
Ferrari had a good result. Deep down I think many were thinking, or at least hoping for a better result. Through practice and even in qualifying the Ferrari's looked strong. Zandvoort is not a power track and rewards good handling. Unfortunately the Ferrari's just couldn't get that little bit extra out of the tires in the race. Despite that, they still scored huge points over McLaren which is vital to their season.
Alpine certainly looked better in the race than in qualifying, and a lot of that comes down to the experience and tactfulness of Fernando Alonso. A very aggressive start that could have ended in disaster at least 3 times, followed by a controlled tire preservation phase and then managed to pass Sainz late for 6th place. Alonso put his bid in for Driver of the Day with his performance.
McLaren had a miserable weekend. Very unusual to see the car struggle, particularly with Lando Norris. His poor starting position certainly compromised his race and the car and team were just not there to fight his way forward. The McLaren's were fighting hard just to keep from getting passed all day. Lando's contact with Perez could be called a racing incident, but Perez is correct that it was unnecessary and that Lando didn't leave him enough room. Ricciardo finishing behind Norris, and out of the points is just another blow to his confidence.
Aston Martin had a worse day than McLaren. Going from a car that can be on the podium to a car that wasn't even close to scoring points is a tough weekend. Stroll had the better positioning, but without the car performing, his limitations as a driver showed he was unable to extract every last bit of performance like the great drivers can do. He still outperformed Vettel, who could have had a much better race if qualifying went better, and he didn't spin himself out.
Alfa Romeo probably couldn't have expected a whole lot more. Giovinazzi must have felt sick to his stomach as he plummeted down the order after a fantastic qualifying result. It wouldn't be unreasonable to speculate the team set the car up for one lap performance and sacrificed race pace. It is always nice to see Kubica back in an F1 car and he performed quite good. I think his performance got better as the race progressed. And guess what, he finished ahead of George Russell once again.
Williams have definitely made improvements to the car. We have seen George Russell stun the world on Saturdays, and the car now seems to be an outside challenger for points in certain races. This weekend fell apart, mostly at the hands of their drivers. Russell of course spun out in Q2, which Latifi had to do one better by completely destroying his car a lap later. Russell did start 11th with optimal tire strategy, but didn't seem to have a chance of holding onto that position. Expect Monza to suit the Williams better.
Haas were really off the pace, but that is to be expected. What is interesting is the friction between Schumacher and Mazepin. We are seeing some moments between them on and off track. It could be fascinating to see if that develops further. Schumacher has the talent, and Mazepin has the money.
Driver of the Day: Max Verstappen. Despite most thinking Perez deserves the award, I disagree as Perez made his own mistakes which put him far back on the grid. The Red Bull was able to lap almost everyone, so naturally Perez was going to improve from last. Verstappen drove he perfect race and despite being in the best car, he was put under genuine pressure between the two Mercedes cars. In my opinion, he is worthy of Drive of the Day.
On a side note, shout out to Nico Rosberg for some of the best post race comments to date. His tell it as it is comments are what the world needs and he isn't afraid to say it to the drivers or team bosses, including his previous boss, Toto Wolff.
Red Bull Racing had the car of the field and Verstappen drove a terrific race. He had to perform with forced early pitstops, different tire strategies, and Mercedes having 2 cars to try to spoil his day. Perez did have a great drive from the back of the grid, but his mistakes that put him in bad situation should not be ignored. He is currently on a string of costly mistakes that goes back to Spa where had he only drove to the grid, he would have scored points. Then fails to get the best car out of Q1 on Saturday. Then hurts his race by causing a huge tire lock up early in the race. Looking past the fact he is still half a second slower than Verstappen, he needs to perform better.
Mercedes was not as slow as they want to make out. They had pace, but were a few tenths off of Max in his Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton went on his usual rant about tires, yet continued to set personal bests and even in his post race comments said the tires were good. He also threw his team under the bus once again by publicly trashing on their strategy call that put him into traffic after the pitstop. The fact is, he is right. Mercedes didn't look to be on top of the strategies today. They decided Bottas was to be used completely as a pawn to help Lewis the entire race. It must be incredibly frustrating for Bottas when at no point did the team try to maximize his race. His brief fastest lap at the end of the race was hilarious.
AlphaTauri had another fantastic result in the hands of Pierre Gasly. If there is an MVP this season, it is without question Pierre Gasly. Consistently performs above what is expected from the car and puts in results, GOOD results. On the other hand, Yuki Tsunoda continues his decline. After a strong start to the season, he has failed time and again to perform and it is really costing the team in the Constructors Championship. He is securely a bottom 3 driver at this point.
Ferrari had a good result. Deep down I think many were thinking, or at least hoping for a better result. Through practice and even in qualifying the Ferrari's looked strong. Zandvoort is not a power track and rewards good handling. Unfortunately the Ferrari's just couldn't get that little bit extra out of the tires in the race. Despite that, they still scored huge points over McLaren which is vital to their season.
Alpine certainly looked better in the race than in qualifying, and a lot of that comes down to the experience and tactfulness of Fernando Alonso. A very aggressive start that could have ended in disaster at least 3 times, followed by a controlled tire preservation phase and then managed to pass Sainz late for 6th place. Alonso put his bid in for Driver of the Day with his performance.
McLaren had a miserable weekend. Very unusual to see the car struggle, particularly with Lando Norris. His poor starting position certainly compromised his race and the car and team were just not there to fight his way forward. The McLaren's were fighting hard just to keep from getting passed all day. Lando's contact with Perez could be called a racing incident, but Perez is correct that it was unnecessary and that Lando didn't leave him enough room. Ricciardo finishing behind Norris, and out of the points is just another blow to his confidence.
Aston Martin had a worse day than McLaren. Going from a car that can be on the podium to a car that wasn't even close to scoring points is a tough weekend. Stroll had the better positioning, but without the car performing, his limitations as a driver showed he was unable to extract every last bit of performance like the great drivers can do. He still outperformed Vettel, who could have had a much better race if qualifying went better, and he didn't spin himself out.
Alfa Romeo probably couldn't have expected a whole lot more. Giovinazzi must have felt sick to his stomach as he plummeted down the order after a fantastic qualifying result. It wouldn't be unreasonable to speculate the team set the car up for one lap performance and sacrificed race pace. It is always nice to see Kubica back in an F1 car and he performed quite good. I think his performance got better as the race progressed. And guess what, he finished ahead of George Russell once again.
Williams have definitely made improvements to the car. We have seen George Russell stun the world on Saturdays, and the car now seems to be an outside challenger for points in certain races. This weekend fell apart, mostly at the hands of their drivers. Russell of course spun out in Q2, which Latifi had to do one better by completely destroying his car a lap later. Russell did start 11th with optimal tire strategy, but didn't seem to have a chance of holding onto that position. Expect Monza to suit the Williams better.
Haas were really off the pace, but that is to be expected. What is interesting is the friction between Schumacher and Mazepin. We are seeing some moments between them on and off track. It could be fascinating to see if that develops further. Schumacher has the talent, and Mazepin has the money.
Driver of the Day: Max Verstappen. Despite most thinking Perez deserves the award, I disagree as Perez made his own mistakes which put him far back on the grid. The Red Bull was able to lap almost everyone, so naturally Perez was going to improve from last. Verstappen drove he perfect race and despite being in the best car, he was put under genuine pressure between the two Mercedes cars. In my opinion, he is worthy of Drive of the Day.
On a side note, shout out to Nico Rosberg for some of the best post race comments to date. His tell it as it is comments are what the world needs and he isn't afraid to say it to the drivers or team bosses, including his previous boss, Toto Wolff.