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The Dutch Grand Prix was
incident-packed and exciting, ending in victory for Oscar Piastri. Having
started from pole, he went on to set the race fastest lap and led from
lights out to chequered flag, thus securing the first Grand Slam of his
young career. It was the Australian’s ninth win, thus equalling his fellow
countryman and manager Mark Webber and his team-mate, Lando Norris who had
to retire today. It was win number 201 for McLaren, its fifth at Zandvoort.
Max Verstappen made it to the podium in second place, the first time the
Red Bull driver has finished in the top three since the Canadian Grand Prix.
This was his fifth podium from five races at Zandvoort, with three wins and
two second places. In third spot, Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) secured his
maiden podium, making him the youngest French driver and fifth youngest
overall, to finish in the top three, at the age of 20 years, 11 months and
three days. It was the Italian team’s first trip to the podium since the
2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which was also down to a French driver, when
Pierre Gasly finished third.
THE DAY ON TRACK
All three slick compounds came into play right
from the choices made on the starting grid. For the opening stint, 14
drivers chose the Medium, four went with the Soft and two opted for the
Hard.
The C2 compound saw the most use, covering almost
50% of all laps completed (658 laps, 48.28%) followed by the Medium (399,
29.27%) and the Soft (306, 22,45%). The longest stint overall was completed
by Bearman in the Haas who did 53 laps on the Hard, while Verstappen went
furthest on the Medium (30) with Lawson heading the list on Softs with 25.
MARIO ISOLA - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
“Despite earlier predictions to the contrary, this Grand Prix was
unpredictable right to the end, especially because of the many
neutralisations following crashes and retirements. Piastri won not just
because he had a very good car, but also because he perfectly managed all
the crucial moments, especially the three restarts after the Safety Car
periods.
“As for the tyres, the most positive aspect to emerge from
this weekend is that, even though we brought a softer trio of dry weather
compounds here than last year, all three of them proved to be competitive in
the race, as can be seen from the way the mileage was divided between them
(as mentioned above). The Hard did the bulk of the work, delivering a good
level of performance over very long stints, for example from the two Haas
drivers who covered over two thirds of the race on one set of C2s. This
compound actually behaved better than it had done in the three free practice
sessions, so that the drivers were able to push hard immediately after the
restarts. Those like the McLaren and Aston Martin drivers who had been able
to save both sets for the race were thus able to benefit from this. As for
the Medium and Soft, their performance was pretty similar, which is
important, especially in the case of the softer of the two.
“Now we
move on to Pirelli’s home Grand Prix where we will celebrate with all the
fans the milestone we reached today, namely 500 Formula 1 Grand Prix
participations, making us the tyre supplier with the most appearances in
motor racing’s blue riband category. It is a source of pride and the result
of the passion, expertise and commitment demonstrated by so many men and
women working at Pirelli since the 1950s. We will start counting again from
Monza!"
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