DUTCH GRAND PRIX 2025
Oscar wins...but Lando did not even finish!!
Oscar secured his 7th win of the season by winning in Zandvoort. At the same time, his main rival for the championship, his teammate Lando Norris did not finish the race due to a mechanical failure in the closing stages of the race. Both had been close throughout the race with Lando being within 2 seconds throughout the whole race but in the end all in vain as he even lost the 18 points he would have got for P2. Now, Oscar has a 34 point championship lead which seems quite the impossible task for Lando considering both the drivers have the same car and are at top form in this season.
At the end of the day, McLaren will be happy that they are still the car to beat and are at top form as a team and with their drivers but will like to review where they went wrong with Lando.
The next big talking point of the race was Ferrari and their miseries. It was Ferrari's worst race of the season with their race ending in a double DNF. Hamilton was out even before half race distance due to him running wide at the turn 3 banking and then under steering into the wall due to the light rain. On the other hand, Charles Leclerc was taken out by Kimi Antonelli at the same corner when Kimi understeered into him. In the end, even though Ferrari looked like they had good pace, might have been the second fastest car in the race, yet they could not capitalize on it and get the big points. They will look to get a good result in their home race next week but in that race too Hamilton has got a 5 place grid drop due to ignorance of yellow flags on the lap to the grid.
Next on we have Mercedes who also had their bunch of problems. George Russell was doing well until he suffered bodywork damage due to a collision caused due to Leclerc overtaking him in quite a controversial way to say the least. Due to this he lost tons of performance and well could never get close to Isack Hadjar in front. In the end, he had to fend off Alex Albon to retain his position. On the other hand, his teammate Kimi was having a very decent race until that moment with Leclerc and then speeding in the pit lane which raked him up 15 seconds worth of penalties in the end which ruined his race, making him finish P16. In the end, Mercedes made inroads into Ferrari's lead with the gap now only 12 points but this was not at pure pace as it was clear that the Ferrari's were faster. In the end, not what they wanted and would look to find something more to beat the Ferraris.
Lastly Red Bull, the final team of the big 4. Well Max did all he could and was in a race of his own to say the least, mainly due to the carnage happening behind him. He finished the race in P2 for the second year running behind a McLaren. On the other hand, Yuki finally scored points in this race, finishing P9 in this race. This was his first points finish since Imola in May. Well honestly he did not have the pace but the carnage of Lando and the Ferrari's and many more helped him to get this points.
Next on we head to the headline breaking team VCaRB. They had tremendous pace all weekend long, with their drivers qualifying P4 and P8. In the race Liam was doing very well till he collided with Carlos and got a puncture, ruining his race and hampering the great run of points finishes he was having recently. On the other hand, his teammate had the best race of his life till now. ISACK HADJAR GOT HIS FIRST PODIUM IN FORMULA 1. An unforgettable drive by him which was inch perfect from start to end, defending the faster cars of Leclerc and Russell, just unbelievable driving from him. He was in touching distance of Max throughout the whole race and at times within one second, which is nothing short of extraordinary considering he had a slower car and was following the dutch lion, Max Verstappen. Incredible weekend by VCaRB. They are just 2 points behind Aston Martin and if they continue like this, will overtake them in the championship with ease.
Moving on to Aston Martin... they somehow like always perfected their strategy and got both their drivers to finish in the points, Stroll in P7 and Alonso in P8. Alonso did not look to be even in the points for quite some part of the race but still got the points due to the safety car which helped him. Similarly, Lance who started P19 this race looked he wasn't even going to be near the points considering how difficult it is to overtake in Zandvoort, yet somehow they pulled a miracle and made him finish ahead of his teammate who started 9 positions higher. Just a very good result for them which was just unexpected really.
Well honestly this team should have been talked more about but weren't... HAAS. What a result! They went from P18 and pit lane to P10 and P6, UNBELIEVABLE honestly. Oliver Bearman got the best strategy of his life time where the pit stops and the timing of the safety car was just perfect. Everyone was in awe when he came home to finish in P6, just unbelievable driving and pin point perfect strategy. Just one of the best results for the team of the season to make up so many positions on a day where they weren't looking fast enough.
Heading onto Sauber... they did not have the result they would have liked. They were neither fast in qualifying nor in the race and in the end just managed to finish in P14 and P15. Disappointing for them considering how they have turned around their season from the start to now.
Lastly, we head to the team with the least points in the constructor's championship, sitting dead last in it... Alpine. They are not terribly behind in terms of pace most of the season around which has been shown by Pierre Gasly a few times this season but in the end, in the race they always seem to lack either with strategy or pace. In this race Franco had the pace but just finished out of the points in P11 by just half a second. Sad for him, considering he is the only driver to score points this season till now. On the other hand, Pierre could only manage P17.
In the end, as always Zandvoort produced the unexpected result and showed us that even the midfield is as close as ever and have some great battles going on between them. They have shown that the midfield teams have minute gaps between them and are closing on the top 4 too. In the end, Zandvoort produced a brilliant race with changeable conditions as was last year.
Next on we head to Monza, the temple of speed, the track with the fastest average speed of the season. Will Ferrari make a comeback at their home even though Lewis has a 5 place grid penalty carried from Zandvoort or whether McLaren will continue their dominance or Max Verstappen somehow pull a miracle like he always does. Only time will tell...
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