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Is Red Bull's Dominance Over?

DUTCH GRAND PRIX 2024


Photo Credit: capitalfm.co.ke

F1 is back with a bang! With the season back under way after the summer break, we saw Lando Norris's domination and McLaren continue on with their stellar performance. Lando Norris winning Max Verstappen’s home race. Putting forth a statement that McLaren are here to win. Lando Norris winning from Max Verstappen, gave McLaren their first win in the Netherlands since Niki Lauda in 1985. It was a day for Max and Red Bull to forget.

 After Lando Norris qualifying on pole for the Dutch grand prix yesterday, we saw him lose the lead at the start for the seventh time from pole position. This time to Max Verstappen who got a quicker get away. We also saw George Russell gaining a place on Oscar Piastri at the start.

As the race progressed Lando started catching Max lap by lap. By the 18th  lap,  Lando was ahead of Max. Post that it was seemingly obvious who was going to win, with him building a lead lap on lap to Max in a well-earned second. In the end finishing almost 23 seconds ahead of Max. Becoming the only driver other than Max in the last two years to win grand prix by over 10 seconds’ margin. Today the Red Bull just did not have the pace of the papaya coloured McLaren car.

This has also helped McLaren as a to reduce the gap to Red Bull to only 30 points in the Constructors’ championship. Making it quite achievable for them to win it if they continue to perform like this. This also give them the chance to become the first team other than Red Bull to be leading the Constructors’ championship since Spain 2022.

Now moving to some other highlights of the event. Even though Oscar Piastri had a tyre offset compared to Charles Leclerc, he was stuck behind him after his pit stop and wasn't able to overtake him throughout the course of the race. Charles finished the race in P3 for the second time in a row. Ferrari ended with much better result than expected, finishing P3 and P5 which got them the much needed 25 points. It was a superb recovery drive from Carlos to come from P10 and finish in P5 at the end of the race.

Lewis Hamilton had a poor qualifying yesterday, which was hindered further by the three-place grid penalty given to him for impeding Red Bull's Sergio Perez. Yet, he managed to reach up to P8 to score 4 points for his team, a decent recovery drive considering he started all the way done from P14. But as team Mercedes were nowhere in terms of pace, not displaying the speed we have been seeing, in the last couple of races. Which was evident as George who was at P3 at the end of the first lap, ended up in P7 at the end of the race. They even tried the two-stop strategy by pitting both their drivers on the soft tires at the end but that effort too was all in vain, resulting in a disappointing P7 and P8 for them. 

Pierre Gasly of Alpine put up a stellar driving performance for Alpine bringing his car home in P9 ahead of Alonso in P10 rounding up the final points position. It was a horrible day for the Sauber team finishing P19 and P20.Also, a frustrating day for Williams who started from P18 and P19 due to Logan Sargeant not participating in the qualifying due to his free practice 3 crash and Alex Albon being disqualified due to his car's floor being 3mm wider than what the regulations permit. But none the less Williams gave their all.

The race marked the start of the second half of the season giving a lot of good take aways for some teams and learning points for others. As the teams gear up for the Italian Grand Prix next week in Monza, we will wait to see whether McLaren can build on their momentum or will some other team take the top step of the podium next week.


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