FORMULA 1
By Vlad Roman,
General Manager, Smart Games
Lando Norris put in an imposing performance in rival Max Verstappen’s backyard in the Netherlands. Arriving at Zandvoort, Norris felt he hadn’t “performed at the level of a world champion” so far this season – but there was no disputing his quality at the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, turning a pole position into victory for the first time in six attempts. The Briton’s pole lap was 0.356s quicker than anyone else and in the race, despite failing to lead into Turn 1 after another poor start, he came back to the front of the pack and then won by 22.896s – his biggest margin of victory of the season.
So great was his confidence and pace that he set the fastest lap of the race – on old hard tires – on the final lap to earn the bonus point and cut his deficit to 70 points over rival Verstappen.
Max betrayed by the Red Bull single-seater couldn’t continue his home Grand Prix winning habit and had to settle for 2nd place. For the first time since 2021 Red Bull started to feel the pressure, in the last four races they have scored 79 points, the same as Ferrari, one less than Mercedes and 57 less than McLaren.
Charles Leclerc was as shocked as anyone by the pace of his Ferrari after a difficult qualifying in which he and team-mate Carlos Sainz lacked the pace to fight in qualifying but the Ferraris came to life in the race for reasons the team has yet to fully understand, Charles took 3rd on the podium and Sainz finished 5th.
Oscar Piastri was disappointed to miss out on the podium, but fourth place makes him the best-placed driver in the last five Grand Prix with 92 points, and McLaren closes the gap to championship leaders Red Bull to just 30 points.
Mercedes came to Zandvoort in stellar form, having won three of the last four Grand Prix, their pace on Friday was encouraging, the Silver Arrows looking to be in contention for pole and victory however, they were disappointing in qualifying, Lewis Hamilton failing to make Q3 – and only managed P7 and P8 in the race.
The temple of speed at Monza has been transformed into the ‘Pista Magica’, as every year ‘tifosi’ flock to Monza with the dream of seeing a Ferrari driver standing on the top step of the podium.
After qualifying there was hope – even if McLaren and Mercedes looked strong – and on Sunday, the ‘Scuderia’s’ race pace and bold one-stop strategy helped Leclerc to victory, which brought the grandstands spilling onto the circuit for the fiesta moment when the Italian anthem was sung in unison – a moment no other team in the championship has ever had.
For the second time this year, it was a case of ‘dreams come true’ for Charles Leclerc, after victory on home soil in Monaco and victory at Monza, home to Ferrari. The Monaco man managed his tires to perfection to take his second win of the season and seventh of his career, also his third consecutive podium – after two third-placed finishes – which puts him 86 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen and just 24 points behind Lando Norris.
Oscar Piastri missed out on his second Grand Prix victory, the Australian was overtaken by teammate Norris but recovered with one of his best ever overtakes to take the lead, however after the second pit entry and despite his phenomenal race pace he had no time to reduce Leclerc’s advantage.
With Red Bull struggling at Monza, Norris knew it was the perfect opportunity to close the gap on title rival Verstappen – and he started well, taking consecutive pole positions for the first time in his career, but lost two places on the opening lap. In the end, he crossed the finish line third to close the gap to Verstappen to 62 points.
Sainz and Hamilton outpaced Max, who must forget the address of the Autodrom Nazionale at Monza, the three-time world champion complained of another difficult weekend in which he said Red Bull had to “change practically the whole car”. Starting from P7 he recovered a place to P6, 37 seconds off the winner at a track where he claimed his 10th consecutive victory last year. Perez was P8, with the team now just eight points ahead of McLaren in the constructors’ championship.
Williams was full of praise for new recruit Franco Colapinto, who finished 12th on his Monza Grand Prix debut. The Argentinian was called in as a permanent replacement for Logan Sargeant – and after qualifying 18th, he managed the hard tires superbly to make the one-stop strategy work.
The 21-year-old crossed the line just 13.852s behind Albon, who finished ninth – an impressive performance considering he had never led more than eight consecutive laps in the 2024-spec Williams before the weekend.
The street circuit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, was the backdrop for the 17th round of the Formula 1 world championship. After the qualifying that propelled Leclerc to pole position on Saturday and Sunday’s start, after the win at Monza, after his fourth consecutive pole at the Baku circuit, it looks like Ferrari and Leclerk are on…
Oskar Piastri saw an opportunity and seized it! on lap 20 after the tire change and just moments after his race engineer told him to take care of the tires, he showed what he and the McLaren car could do, took the lead and never relinquished it until the end of the race. At the moment the Australian remains the most in-form driver, with the most points gained in the last 7 Grand Prix, two wins, two second places.
For Charles Leclerc, Baku is a curse, to start from pole position four years in a row without winning once is frustrating, on the other hand if it wasn’t for Monaco, there would have been 15 starts from pole position without a win. With Sainz it was a different story, he started from 3rd, got into a fight with Perez on the penultimate lap and they both ended up abandoned in the protective barrier on the side of the circuit. The incident not only helped Charles retain his podium place, but also promoted George Russell to 3rd.
Unlike Verstappen who started the race from P6, Lando Norris started from P15 and after a crazy recovery race got in front of Max, took the fastest lap point and finished 4th. The points accumulated by the McLaren drivers were enough to put the team at the top of the standings.
Ollie Bearman, the replacement for Kevin Magnussen – suspended for exceeding the allowed number of penalty points on his super license, became the first driver in F1 history to score points for two different manufacturers in his first two Grand Prix.
Marina Bay, Singapore’s night-time street circuit, the host of the 18th Formula 1 Grand Prix, has in previous years been a source of surprises and excitement for drivers, teams and fans alike. Why should this year be any different…. and it started on Thursday when FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem asked drivers to stop swearing on the radio – let’s not forget, though, that radio messages broadcast on TV are censored by the FIA, and a driver at the wheel of a single-seater running at over 300 km/h in a crazy race with 19 other cars of the same engaged in overtaking, hard braking, hard cornering, tension and maximum concentration, that’s all he can think about – how to let off steam more elegantly without using inappropriate words which, I’m sure, are also used by ‘gentle Ben’ in moments of tension far less than those in the race.
Lando Norris was the biggest winner in Singapore, turning a sensational pole position into a brilliant Grand Prix victory, he delivered one of the most commanding races of the year to overtake all drivers below 7th place by a lap, including veteran Fernando Alonso. The gap to title rival Max Verstappen was 20.945s, the second biggest of the season, now just 52 points separating them with six Grand Prix and three sprint races to go.
Max Verstappen, despite the Red Bull car not feeling at home on Singapore’s street circuit, managed with the help of the team and Daniel Ricciardo, who blew Lando’s fastest lap, to limit his championship rival’s race lead to just 7 points.
Oscar Piastri reconfirmed the good form he is in, coming back from a modest qualifying, where he finished fifth to take a super podium to third. It was the Australian’s fifth podium in six Grand Prix and seventh of the season. He is still the driver with the most points (156) from the last nine events, third place at Marina Bay brings him within 15 points of Charles Leclerc, and his result combined with that of his team-mate brings the McLaren team 41 points clear of Red Bull.
Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Sainz, Sainz, Alonso, Hulkenberg and Perez also scored points, but they all paled in comparison to Ricciardo’s stakes, arguably the most important weekend of his career. He started Friday’s practice well, but in qualifying on Saturday he was eliminated in the first segment and in the race all he managed was the fastest lap… and that seems to be the end of Ricci’s F1 career. The likeable Australian has started in no fewer than 258 Grand Prix and crossed the line first 8 times. His first 7 victories came in a Red Bull single-seater, and his last triumph was achieved, surprisingly, at Monza 2021 with McLaren.
Daniel has 32 podium finishes and his best result was 3rd place in the drivers’ championship in 2014 and 2016 with Red Bull. Throughout his career, Ricciardo has teamed up with the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
The Australian was keen to share a message on social media after making his departure from Racing Bulls official: “I have loved this sport all my life. It’s wild, wonderful and it’s been a real adventure. Thank you to the teams and people who have been part of it. Thanks to the fans who sometimes love the sport more than I do. It will always have its positives and its negatives. Still, it was fun and I wouldn’t change a thing. Until the next adventure”, were the words written by Daniel.
Thank you Daniel, hope to see you again!
