F1. Netherlands 2024 Review

By Gavin Huet, Chelsea Wintle and Aiden McLaughlin

Driver of the day

Aiden – On the face of it, race winner Lando Norris seems the obvious choice. Although he lost the lead from pole (again), once he regained it from Max Verstappen on lap 18, he wasn’t challenged and ending up beating the hope favourite by 23 seconds, the largest margin  of the season so far. My mind wandered towards Lewis Hamilton, who made his way through the field from 11th to a comfortable eighth, as well as Charles Leclerc who took an unexpected podium place, but Norris didn’t panic when he went behind and used the best car to the best effect to clinch the victory. The cherry on top was the extra point for the fastest lap.

Gavin – Given Lando Norris can only go backwards when starting a race, this week I will hand the accolades to Charles Leclerc. A gritty performance in a Ferrari that looked off the pace all weekend and yet he ended up on the podium in P3 after starting in P6. Both Ferraris found pace (Carlos Sainz starting in P10 and ending in P5), but Charles had a good strategy that saw him undercut two rivals, before holding back the McLaren of Oscar Piastri who eventually had to settle for P4 when it looked like he was going to hunt down the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

Chelsea – Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque put in a surprising and impressive performance. After qualifying in 6th, he finished the race in 3rd, after holding off Oscar Piastri – who was on newer tyres and in a far superior car – for 30 laps. Of course, Lando Norris was utterly dominant during the race, finishing 22 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen – but how quickly our expectations rise. Norris losing the start to Verstappen yet again means I can’t give him the certificate this week.

 

Moment of the weekend

Aiden – The pole position lap of Norris was something very special and set up Sunday to a tee. 0.356 of a second isn’t much to me and you but in Formula One terms, on this track, it was huge. Norris still needs to work out those starts to take full advantage but jeez, McLaren are giving him a great base to work from.

Gavin – Logan Hunter Sargeant in the Williams putting his tyres on the grass before hitting the barriers and ending up in flames on the track (see the Bonus Picture of the Week) – which just about sums up, and has ended, his F1 career.

Chelsea – Logan Sargeant crashed out of final practice after running on to wet grass, which is sadly not a shocker in itself, but it did spell the end of his F1 career. Williams wasted no time in substituting 21-year-old Argentine Franco Colapinto for the remainder of the season, and rightly so. Colapinto has a Kiwi connection, having raced in the Toyota Racing Series during 2020 and taking a victory at Hampton Downs. I wonder what he thought of Hamilton.

 

Hot take of the weekend

Aiden – Max is going to hold back on his natural inclination to fight, fight, fight for the rest of this season. As per my cold take, this is still very much his title to lose. If he’s consistent, and keeps picking up second places, perhaps with the odd fastest lap, it’ll be enough. He’s shown enough ability to be able to do that. The worst thing he can do is fight too much, find himself out of a race and end up with no points, because that’s when Lando will really start to close that gap.

Gavin – McLaren is currently the best car on the grid with Lando beating Max by over twenty seconds. If that car was a track and field star it would have the anti-doping people really interested. At the same time the Red Bull appears to be stagnating, so much so that the Constructors Championship is definitely undecided, and even the Drivers Championship is under threat.

Chelsea – The drivers’ trophies for this year’s race were among the best I’ve seen. Designed by Studio Piet Boon in collaboration with Robbie Williams (yes, that one) they hark back to early motor races held in the Netherlands, and are adorned with themes of mental health and the pressures of stardom. Here’s to more adventures in trophy design, and special thanks to Lando for not dropping this one.

 

Cold take of the weekend

Aiden – Norris is 70 points behind Verstappen with nine races left. If Norris wins every race and picks up an extra point in each for fastest lap, he’ll get 234 more points. If Verstappen finishes second in each race, he’ll get 162 points. The difference is 72 points. So, despite the way the tide has turned, the defending world champion rightly remains favourite to pick up his fourth world title.

Gavin – Ferrari needs to understand how they ended up being competitive, but it would be very Ferrari to not understand what happened. The weight of expectation from the tifosi in Italy this weekend will as usual be huge and this added pressure on the team will not be helping. And whilst Ferrari went from looking out of sorts on Friday and Saturday to really competitive on the Sunday, Mercedes experienced the opposite. Poor Lewis Hamilton, he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Chelsea – All eyes will be on youngster Kimi Antonelli as he takes part in FP1 this weekend at Monza. While he is widely believed to be taking Lewis Hamilton’s seat at Mercedes from 2025, the team are stubbornly stopping short of announcing him. There has been an enormous amount of hype around Antonelli, so this weekend and the week leading up to it will test his mettle.

Bonus Pictures of the Week

Logan Sargeant doing a RayGun is not the crossover I was expecting this weekend.

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