[Scarlet_Rider]

Max Verstappen enters his home race not only as reigning champion and championship leader, but also a member of the Order of Orange-Nassau – as the Red Bull driver was on Thursday awarded a highly-ranked merit from the Dutch Royal Family.







Details of the Zandvoort track from Formula1.com

When was the track built?
Like Silverstone, Zandvoort was first opened in 1948, part of the wave of post-war motorsport enthusiasm that swept across Europe. Originally made up of a mixture of permanent track and public roads that snaked through the sand dunes of the Zandvoort resort town, the Dutch Automobile Racing Club – who initiated the plans for the circuit – brought in 1927 Le Mans winner Sammy Davis to consult on the layout for the original 4.2km track.

When was its first Grand Prix?
Formula 1 arrived in the Dutch dunes in 1952, with Alberto Ascari dominating the race as he led home a 1-2-3 for Ferrari. Formula 1 would go on to race on and off at the track until 1985 – before, in 2019, the announcement came that the championship would return to Zandvoort for 2020, after a 35-year hiatus. The Covid-19 pandemic meant that became 36 years and a 2021 date.

What’s the circuit like?
‘Really quick’, ‘pretty insane’, ‘crazy’ and ‘old-school’ were words used by the current crop of F1 drivers when asked to describe the Zandvoort track that many of them tackled in their junior category days. We’d also add ‘undulating’ to that list. The Zandvoort track swoops and flows through the sand dunes, creating a rollercoaster-like feel to the lap. And while the circuit was modernised in time for F1’s most recent return – including increasing the banking angle at the famous Tarzan corner to an Indianapolis Motor Speedway-trumping 18 degrees – Zandvoort remains a proper, challenging drivers’ track.

Why go?
Zandvoort combines a lot of enticing features for an F1 fan. There’s the historic track, which famously featured in John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix, and was the scene of many great F1 moments over the years (Gilles Villeneuve’s three-wheeled lap, anyone?). There’s the atmosphere, which with Max Verstappen on the grid is always guaranteed to be electric, and most definitely orange-hued. And then there’s the beachside location, just a 30-minute train ride outside of Amsterdam. What’s not to love?

Where is the best place to watch?
We recommend taking to either the first turn at Tarzan, or to one of the banked corners, either at Arie Luyendijkbocht – the final turn on the track – or Hugenholtzbocht. For F1’s 2021 return, the latter corner was both widened and banked into a parabolic corner, to allow cars to run side by side, and at the same speed, through it. Exciting is an understatement…

Sources:
https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2...s/Circuit.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...Yn6D8sHv1.html

[aim120]

The orange army is a disgrace, throwing flares on track.
In Q3 qualifying just as lewis was exiting the pit lane, they threw a flare near his car.

[DIY410]

Here is the video of orange army throwing a flare as Lewis exits the pit, onboard footage.
https://twitter.com/EdSpencer99/stat...K2hiuuwkPbPFhw

[Scarlet_Rider]

Ferrari bungle again! A very long pit stop for Sainz. The left rear wheel gun was placed dangerously as well and Perez had no choice but to run over it.

[VRJ]

Max Max Max SUPERMAX Max Max. He's faultless. Lap after lap, he's just perfect. 4 consecutive race wins. He would've won without the safety car as well. I guess lately a F1 race requires a safety car to get the race interesting. I still wonder why Mercedes didn't pit Ham for softs in the end? After the first safety car, Ham was quicker by 0.5 seconds. 12 seconds gap to Max with 22 laps to go. It would've been interesting watching Ham try to hunt down Max, but we had a second safety car. Russel overtaking Ham gave me a mini heart attack. It was a bit too close for Mercs liking. Hams radio message says everything. He is absolutely pissed off. At the end, only Ham and Per were on Meds while everyone were in Softs. Ferrari were a disaster today. They screwed up their strategy, left a wheel gun in Perez's way, did an unsafe release and ruined Sai's race because of a slow pitstop. Lec finally some good luck with the second safety car, although he can kiss goodbye to the WDC.

This race did give me Abu Dhabi 2021 flashbacks. Per left out only to cost Ham time? A safety car ruining Hamilton's race? Ham should've been P2.

Cheers!

[Scarlet_Rider]

What a race!! Amazing drive by Max and equally quick thinking by the Red Bull strategy team!! Would have been great if Red Bull strategist Hannah Schmitz would have been on the podium to collect the constructors trophy.

[Revvatron]

The gap between Mercedes and Ferrari in terms of pace isn't that much anymore. Wonder if it is the technical directive or the pace of development that's the factor. At this rate holding onto 2nd place in constructors looks a big challenge ��

[Turbohead]

This race has really made me appreciate strategy engineers at these racing teams! Man! They need to come up with the best strategy at the nick of time while literally anything can happen.

Congrats to Max! What a drive!

But I felt Hamilton drove a phenomenal race too and was let down by the medium tire choice at the end. He could've won. The Mercs might be back!

Perez seems to have gotten into a rut recently with rather poor performance as of late irrespective of the tire choice at the end of the race.

Feeling horrible for Sainz! Ferrari killed his race twice today. Leclerc barely managed to stay on the podium thanks to Lewis's tire strategy

Overall an eventful race! The only people who need to chill are the fans getting into a fight on social media.

[aim120]

Its only due to bad call of mercedes not to put on the soft on Lewis, that saved ferrari to get a podium.

Also because the safety car led everyone to the pits, mercedes would have lost track position if they pitted both cars, since they where all close behind the safety car, George would have had to wait to change tires had mercedes double stacked.

[SShandilya]

The race had a lot of elements of 2021 championship. Nice memories !

Just feel gutted for Hamilton, it was a great drive and should’ve ended with P2 atleast if not for the botched up strategy by Mercedes. I wonder why didn’t they bring him when everyone was shifting to softs.

Russel was amazing. Drove well and was always in the game and really was aware enough to call for softs which mattered.

I feel bad for Sainz and Leclerc. At this point, Ferrari crew is just a joke. Everyone waits for there screw up to have a nice fun light moment during the race. Ferrari has really let down both of their drivers who have always drove beautifully.

For Redbulls, Max drove well and never let the pressure showcase in his race. Nothing much to say for him, it’s just his year and well deserved too
Perez seems to have either forgotten what he’s fighting for or is okay to finish P3 or P4 and call it a result. His drive just isn’t there forget Max but the Ferrari duos are driving better and now the challenge from Mercedes, let’s see if he fires up in coming races.

Off topic, really manifesting a podium for Alonso. He’s a shark and ready to bite at every opportunity. Only guy who grabs screen apart from top 3 constructors drivers and whose presence is felt in top 5-6

[Mat095]

The Driver standings after the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Driver Championship has went from “Max Vs Leclerc” to “Perez Vs Leclerc”. Sad state of affairs at Ferrari with the drivers facing the worst of it.

[nevin007]

What a race. VSC and a late safety car forced teams to go for pitstops and it opened up the race. The Mercs were alive today and might have gone for first win had there been no safety car. Most strategies by Mercedes are spot on, but they should have pitted Lewis as well. Those mediums lost the temperature and car isn't good to bring tyres back to temp soon.

Originally Posted by SShandilya

Off topic, really manifesting a podium for Alonso. He’s a shark and ready to bite at every opportunity. Only guy who grabs screen apart from top 3 constructors drivers and whose presence is felt in top 5-6

He is actually a shark. His skills have made the difference. Starting out of top 10, he accumulated important points and team added another 4 over Mclaren. Because of all the Piastri saga, I really wish Alpine finish 4th in constructors.

[Revvatron]

Originally Posted by Mat095

Attachment 2354904

The Driver standings after the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Driver Championship has went from “Max Vs Leclerc” to “Perez Vs Leclerc”. Sad state of affairs at Ferrari with the drivers facing the worst of it.

True, all the excitement of wheel to wheel battle between Verstappen and Leclerc from early rounds have just disappeared. Forget "Perez vs Leclerc", at this rate we would be seeing "Leclerc vs Russell" who is just 13 points behind

[Scarlet_Rider]

Sincerely hoping for Ferrari to pull up their socks for the next race which is their home race. Else they would lose their 2nd place in the constructors standings within a couple of races.

[Hatari]

Spicy race!

Driver of the Day for me is Fernando. Mega attacking stint on the Hards and some outstanding defending on the Softs after the SC.

Ferrari need some in serious introspection. Getting ready for a pit stop when there is no rain/safety car pressure is very concerning.

I was looking forward to Max chasing down Lewis on the final stint before the VSC/SC disruptions.

Russel took the correct call to switch to Softs post SC, shame Lewis did not make the same call, knowing that the Mercs take longer to get the hard tires upto temperature.