The Summer break is done, silly season rumbles on and the paddock swung back into action at Zandvoort, hosting its fourth race since its return to the calendar.
An unsettled Friday and Saturday spiced up qualifying, whilst the race took place under sunny skies, which paved the way for the most dominant race victory of the 2024 season to date. Find out who hit the ground running and which drivers wished they were back on the sun lounger in the report cards for Round 15:
Top of the class:
Lando Norris – Qualifying: 1st | Race: 1st (+FL)
Dunking 23 seconds on the rest of the field is a pretty emphatic way to secure a second win in F1 but it wasn’t all completely smooth sailing for Lando.
Another pretty mediocre start of the race meant Norris ceded pole position on the opening lap for the sixth time in as many starts for there. It took 17 laps to reset and gather the momentum to breeze past Max Verstappen into Tarzan.
From there, he breezed clear into a comfortable margin, which he took to the chequered flag. With that gap, and having nearly four tenths over P2 in qualifying, expectations are high that we have a title fight on our hands.
Charles Leclerc – Qualifying: 6th | Race: 3rd
The Monégasque arguably should have received the Driver of the Day for dragging that Ferrari to a second consecutive podium, especially considering their non-existent pace in Practice and Qualifying.
Charles ended up nearly a second off Lando’s pole time and down in P6, whilst teammate Sainz was knocked out in Q2. Thankfully, Sunday was a much better showing for the Tifosi.
A strong start from Charles got him past Sergio Pérez into turn 1; he then undercut both Russell and Piastri to move up to third and put in McLaren equaling pace to hold off Piastri for a well-deserved haul of points.
Not only impressive race pace but being less than three seconds off Verstappen will give Ferrari some confidence heading into the next few rounds that more podiums are up for grabs.
Pierre Gasly – Qualifying: 9th (promoted from 10th) | Race: 9th
The Frenchman has made Zandvoort a happy hunting ground. P4 in 2021 and a podium in the changeable conditions last season, Pierre once again maximised Alpine’s suboptimal package to take home two more points.
The result was secured with some special moves at Tarzan, firstly cutting through the Aston Martin’s on lap one and memorable overtakes on Kevin Magnussen and defence against Carlos Sainz as well.
With no troubles for the cars in front, P9 is the best a midfield runner can hope for, so Gasly should be thoroughly pleased with his drive.
Honourable mention goes to Max Verstappen; it wasn’t quite the home race he was hoping for, but with the current package Red Bull are bringing, starting and finishing P2 was the best possible outcome to minimise the damage in both Drivers’ and Teams’ standings.
The struggle bus:
Williams:
Alexander Albon – Qualifying: DSQ (demoted from 8th) | Race: 14th
Logan Sargeant – Qualifying: DNQ (started 18th) | Race: 16th
There were new updates at long last for the team; confidence was high for a step-up in performance, but unfortunately, we didn’t see it at Zandvoort. In a damp FP3 Logan had a hefty smash with the barriers on the exit of turn four, which caused considerable damage to Williams’ already strained funds and wrote off all of the upgrades in his car.
To make matters worse, Albon performed strongly in qualifying only to see the floor be deemed outside the technical specifications, which resulted in his disqualification.
Starting towards the back, neither made much progression in rows and came home well outside the points. With rumours swirling on Logan’s immediate future following confirmation Carlos Sainz will be replacing him for 2024, Saturday’s accident could end up being the curtain call on his short F1 career.
Mercedes:
George Russell – Qualifying: 4th | Race: 7th
Lewis Hamilton – Qualifying: 14th (demoted from 12th due to penalty) | Race: 8th
Three wins in the previous four races, but the upgraded Mercedes fell rather flat amongst the sand dunes. Gambling on a two-stop strategy, both drivers ended up finishing within seconds of each other despite starting 10 positions apart.
George certainly had the better Saturday, whilst Lewis copped a penalty for blocking Pérez in Q1, but the Silver Arrows were a clear fourth-best on Sunday, which will be a huge disappointment to the team.
Not long to reset before the next round and get a grip on the car again, but both George and Lewis will be hungry for redemption at Monza.
Oscar Piastri – Qualifying: 3rd | Race: 4th
Like teammate Lando, Oscar had a difficult start to the race, but he couldn’t match his teammate’s recovery and came home over 27 seconds behind and off the podium.
We’re far from the “we need to have a conversation about Oscar Piastri” but this was one of the biggest gaps in performance between the two since the Aussie joined Norris at McLaren in 2023. The consolation is more solid points for the team which has cut the gap to Red Bull to 30 points.
Dishonourable mention goes to Yuki Tsunoda. Zandvoort hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the VCARB driver and this year was no different. A poorly executed two-stop strategy meant Yuki finished over thirty seconds and five positions behind teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Up next is the temple of speed, Monza. Last season saw a thrilling intra-team battle between the Ferraris and Red Bulls. Are we set for take two or will McLaren continue their momentum into victory? Tune in at 2 pm UK time on Sunday, 1st September, for round 16 of the season.
