The summer break is over and the green flag is flying on the second half of the 2024 Formula 1® season.
Teams and drivers made their way to Circuit Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix™, with home hero Max Verstappen leading the Drivers’ Championship from his closest rival Lando Norris. The three-time World Champion started his 200th Grand Prix at Zandvoort and told the media on Thursday that he won’t be on the grid in 200 races time. Elsewhere, with silly season gradually drawing to a close, Aussie Jack Doohan announced his full-time F1 debut with Alpine, graduating from his role as the team’s reserve driver and joining Pierre Gasly in 2025.
Formula 1
Logan Sargeant missed Qualifying after a scary crash in FP3, and his teammate Alex Albon was disqualified from the session over an illegal floor, dropping him to the back of the grid. Kevin Magnussen started from the pit lane after his car was modified. An unfortunate Qualifying followed by a three-place grid penalty for impeding dropped Lewis Hamilton to P14.
A good start from Verstappen catapulted him into P1, passing Norris who started on pole. In the first lap, both Ferrari drivers made up one place, with Verstappen working on creating a gap at the front of the pack.
Lewis Hamilton got to work early, passing multiple drivers in the first two laps, while the Williams drivers started to shuffle up the pack. Oscar Piastri was in the DRS zone of George Russell, Leclerc and Perez trailing not too far behind. Speaking of DRS, a train was quickly building from Gasly in P7 to Tsunoda in P13.
Carlos Sainz passed Fernando Alonso on the outside of turn one and soon enough, he was on the tail of Gasly. One lap later, on the third attempt of trying, Sainz made the move stick, going wheel to wheel with Gasly, passing him on the inside.
Norris soon began to pick up his pace, inching closer to Verstappen, with the Red Bull driver reporting on the radio that he was struggling to turn in turn 10. By lap 17, Norris had caught up to Verstappen, who was on the radio reported lack of grip in his tyres. On the main straight on lap 18, Norris flew past Verstappen with clear air to push ahead and use the pace of his McLaren to his advantage.
Hamilton entered the pits on lap 24. On-track, Verstappen appeared to be struggling after reporting he was struggling to pick up pace and other drivers began to make a trip to the pits. On lap 28, after lacking pace, he changed his mediums for hards, Norris following suit. Drivers who pitted for fresh tyres continued to move through the pack.
Race control noted an unsafe release for Gasly, who left his pit box while a mechanic was still working on the car, but no further action was taken. Soon after, Stroll was under investigation for speeding in the pit lane and was handed a five-second penalty.
Piastri sailed past Russell on lap 40 as Norris extended the lead between himself and Verstappen to over 10 seconds. Verstappen’s tyres made him vulnerable as Leclerc began to close the gap. Sainz was closing in on Perez for P6 but the Red Bull driver defended and eventually lost his position.
The remainder of the race was plain sailing. Some entered the pits for the softs, others stayed out on hards and maintained position.
Lando Norris, after a difficult start, gave McLaren their first win at Zandvoort since 1985. On the final lap, he took the fastest lap of the race, leaving Zandvoort with maximum points this weekend.
No driver has won a race with over a 10 second gap from second place over the last two and a half years except Max Verstappen. Today, Lando doubled that, taking his second F1 win by 22.8 seconds, the largest winning margin of the season.
F1 Academy
F1 Academy hit the track on Friday for Practice and Qualifying. Dutch driver Nina Gademan made her debut as the Wild Card entry with support from The Female Quotient. Championship leader Abbi Pulling secured pole position for race one. Her closest rival, Doriane Pin, took pole for the second race. However, the rain came pouring on Saturday afternoon and race one ended before it began, postponed until Sunday morning.
From the front spot, Abbi Pulling had a perfect getaway. At the end of lap one, Abbi had pulled a gap of eight tenths between herself and Pin. Disaster soon struck for Pin when she was handed a five second time penalty for a false start, the same penalty given to MP Motorsport’s Amna Al Qubaisi. The pressure was then on Pin to build a gap to negate her penalty.
Battles between Lia Block and Hamda Al Qubaisi came down to the final lap, when Hamda took the inside line from Block for P8. Pulling sailed into the distance to take her fifth win this season by four seconds. Pin only managed to pull a 1.7 second gap between her and Martí, demoting her to P5 and securing second place for Martí. Dutch driver Maya Weug took the final podium position.
Nina Gademan made history in her debut race, as she became the first Wild Card entry to score points, finishing in fourth position.
Race two came soon after, where Pin dominated from lights to flag. Maya Weug took P2 from Pulling at lighs out, with the Dutch and the Brit fighting closely together for the duration of the race.
Contact for Martí with Nobels saw the Spaniard drop down the pack, while the stewards noted an incident between Emely De Heus and Bianca Bustamante. On lap nine, Gademan passed Nobels on the inside, with the Brazilian dropping to P6 after a brief trip to the gravel. Gademan was then handed a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with Nobels.
Fighting continued in the top 10, while Pulling was within touching distance of Weug up front. Pin took her second win of the season, Weug secured another podium at home in P2, with Pulling in P3.
This continues to be an exciting 2024 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™. Don't miss out on any of the action, all shown live from F1 Arcade London and F1 Arcade Birmingham. Get your next watch party tickets now!
