Mighty Max Maintains Momentum, but should Hamilton have had his moment?

Analysis of the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix – By Joe Murphy

The race around Zandvoort this past weekend threatened to fizzle out after Yuki Tsunoda’s premature retirement. Max Verstappen had the lead comfortably and was extending over his Mercedes challengers. However Valtteri Bottas’ car made events when it came to an abrupt stop towards the end of the main straight. The Dutchman still managed to take a win after retaking the lead from the seven time World Champion with what looked like ease. There are multiple takes from what this race offered us, so let’s get stuck into it.

Max sends Orange Army home happy…

He may have not had it all his own way, but reigning World Champion was almost a winner that was never in doubt, around his native Netherlands. The vast majority of fans were there to see one man and one man only take a maximum points haul, and the 24 year old did not disappoint. With 26 further points towards his already collected total, thank to the help of his fastest lap, he extended his lead in the Championship standings over Leclerc, Perez and Co behind. With the driver now only a few wins off the record number in a single season, the Dutchman will be aiming to create more history over the coming weeks. Starting with Monza next week.

Should Lewis have had it?

Friend of the Channel David Croft and Jenson Button, with the help of Nico Rosberg, seemed to suggest that Lewis Hamilton was in a prime position to win the race on Sunday. It was true that he did front the field with a dozen or so laps to go after a stellar stint that out paced the Ferrari pair, but was he ever really in contention? What seemingly wasn’t picked up was that Lewis needs a lot of luck to claim a win this season. The pace of his Mercedes isn’t at the level of the Red Bull. Simply put, it was impressive enough that he put himself in with a sniff of victory. Its just true that he will need a lot more luck if he is to stand on the top step by the end of the year and keep his 15 year run going. By the way Verstappen breezed by, regardless of the tyre difference, Hamilton fans shouldn’t hold their breath. It seems more likely that we see a George Russell victory than one for his more experienced counterpart.

Quiet race for Charley but Sainz of incompetence across the garage…

Death. Taxes. And Ferrari ballsing up their race strategy. The three things that are guaranteed in life, it seems. Whilst Charles Leclerc claimed an impressive third place (impressive considering how fast his Ferrari was over the course of the weekend), Carlos Sainz suffered with a number of errors from people around him. A misplaced wheel gun will result in a hefty fine for the Red team, you’d expect. Furthermore, not having the tyres ready for his pit stop meant the Spaniard was sat there waiting for over 11 seconds. If that wasn’t enough, he received a 5 second penalty for an unsafe release despite his protests to the decision. This mistake by someone else saw him drop three places to finish in 8th place and only claim 4 points. It’s displays like this, where the driver does little to no wrong, that continue to pile the pressure on team bosses and strategists at the Italian team. It is also the reason why the slower Mercedes team have the Scuderia now firmly in their sights in the standings.

Lando and Danny world’s apart again…

Although there is now officially an end in sight for the failed experiment that is Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren, this didn’t stop yet another result where only one driver was in any way competitive. Lando Norris found himself in a strong position for the vast majority of the weekend whereas the Australian’s weekend was summarised by an exit in Q1, something that was a slight surprise but can hardly be considered a huge shock. To an extent, the pressure is of as his future at the team is now no longer under threat. However, his future in the sport is and he needs to find his form of old and work out what is going wrong at the moment. Otherwise, his long term future in the sport remains in doubt. Looking back a couple of years, that’s absolutely unbelievable to say but sums up the state of his run with the constructor.

Alonso consistency key for Alpine’s P4 hunt…

We alluded to this in our podcast. Fernando Alonso is right up there with the likes of George Russell in terms of most consistent racer of the season. A great performance full of class and a demonstration of the Spaniard’s wealth of experience meant he claimed his tenth consecutive points finish in a run that started in Spain all those months ago Remember also, this is in an Alpine. Arguably the 8th or even 10th quickest car on the grid. Therefore, points finishes aren’t always guaranteed, as his French counterpart, Estaban Ocon, can attest to. If Alpine are to edge McLaren to fourth in the constructors standings when Abu Dhabi rolls around, then runs like this are going to prove invaluable. Both driver and team will have their fingers crossed that this run can continue to Monza and beyond.